Beetlejuice

Stupidity: Barbara and Adam can obviously interact with physical objects (the statue horse, holding the door shut, etc.) but when trying to scare the Deetz's they tried visual stunts rather than throwing or moving objects.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Barbara and Adam are not aggressive, intimidating people. Maybe they could have thrown and moved objects, but that would be almost violent. They would rather try a few visual stunts, instead of possibly hurting someone and/or damaging something in the house.

I respectively disagree with this. One of the visual tricks Barbara and Adam tried was her holding a bloody knife over his decapitated body, that in itself would have been violent and aggressive if they had been seen.

But they weren't violent and aggressive. They weren't threatening violence or aggression to anyone. They didn't commit an aggressive or violent act in front of anyone. They were just trying to scare them, just like wearing the sheets earlier.

Suggested correction: They first off didn't really understand how to interact with the physical world and secondly they didn't realise yet they were invisible.

lionhead

I'm not sure the point of this correction because we see none of this is true. Barbara picks up a physical object and moves it without thinking about it. Then she looks at herself in the mirror with the horse and sees she doesn't have a reflection.

Bishop73

I have to agree. Even if Adam and Barbara couldn't be seen, the noose that Barbara "hanged" herself with or even the knife she was holding still should have been seen as they are physical objects and a knife, to the Deetz's, would be floating in midair and would probably scare them off.

Stupidity: If none of the Dietz (aside from Lydia) can see the ghosts of the Maitlands, why were they hiding out of the window when they went up into the attic after Delia's critics left? They could've been standing there in plain sight and none except Lydia would know that they were even there.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: They didn't know who could see them and who couldn't at that time.

Other mistake: If the Maitlands cannot be seen in a reflection being ghosts, then Lydia would not have seen them in the attic window in her camera, as that uses a mirror to reflect the image through the viewfinder.

jerimiah

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: However, when Lydia moves the camera away from her face to get a better look, she had both eyes open when using the camera (with her right eye looking through the viewfinder). This is a recommended technique to help get a perspective and keep one's focus on the subject. This means she could have seen the Maitlands with her left eye, the one that had a direct view of the window.

Stupidity: Juno adamantly warns Adam and Barbara against getting help from Beetlejuice, but then proceeds to freely tell them exactly how to conjure him. She even snubs them when Adam asks how to get back in touch with her should they need her assistance again.

Phaneron

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: I think she was giving them more of a warning against conjuring him accidentally by saying his name three times. Didn't she tell Adam that she wasn't available when he asked? That might explain the snub.

If she was warning them about accidentally saying his name three times, then it also would have been wise for her to tell them in that same moment that they could make him go away by saying his name three times again, but she didn't. She also said she wasn't available to help them in that moment, not at a later date like Adam was asking. By refusing to answer Adam's question, she made it more likely that they would turn to Beetlejuice for help.

Phaneron

Revealing mistake: When Barbara and Adam are digging up Beetlejuice's grave, you can see that a piece of cardboard states "FRAGILE" or something in small print which is proportional to Barbara and Adam at that time. However, the lettering should be ten times larger if the cardboard was proportional to the actual model. (00:44:35)

More mistakes in Beetlejuice

Beryl: Paranormal? Is that what they're calling your kind these days?
Otho: Don't mind her. She's still upset because somebody dropped a house on her sister.

More quotes from Beetlejuice

Trivia: The model tree falling over after Beetlejuice kicks it was never supposed to happen. This caused Michael Keaton to ad-lib the "nice fucking model" line. Tim Burton enjoyed it so much he kept it in the film.

More trivia for Beetlejuice

Question: When the Maitlands return to their home after it's been altered by the new owners, Juno tells the Maitlands that they should be thankful that they didn't die in Italy. What did she mean by that?

zendaddy621

Answer: Italy is the center of the Roman Catholic Church, which includes exorcisms as a real-life ritual. Presumably, ghosts in Italy are at greater risk of encountering trouble in Italy because of this reason.

Answer: It's in reference / added on to her previous statement about being quiet/peaceful: Italy, presumably, has a louder, more raucous group of the living.

Answer: Italy, is a trendsetter. There would be constant art-deco changes that conflict with the Maitland's personal taste. In comparison, the Deets' are pretty tamed.

MasterOfAll

Chosen answer: When the Maitlands first meet their case worker, Juno, they tell her how miffed they are with the new family that has moved into their home. Juno glances around the peaceful house and remarks, "Things seem quiet here. You should thank God you didn't die in Italy." The case worker's name, "Juno," is a traditional Italian girl's name; and we see (when she smokes a cigarette) that Juno's throat has been slashed open from side to side, implying that she died a very violent and grisly death. Based on her personal experience (probably being murdered in Italy), Juno is commenting that the Maitlands could have died a far worse death under far more horrific circumstances, and that they really have little reason to complain.

Charles Austin Miller

I'm Italian: there's literally not a single female being, girl or woman, who has (had or have) this name in this country. Let alone being "traditional." "J" is not even in our original alphabet, go figure. I also think it's about us Italians being noisy and the place being quiet, that's all.

You may be Italian, but you're not informed. While the formal Italian alphabet (derived of Latin) does not have a "J" character, the letter "J' is used in modern Italian writing every day. "Juno," in your limited world, would be spelled "Diuno," who was a Roman goddess (queen of the heavens). As this pertains to Beetlejuice, she is a Roman goddess in charge of organizing.

Charles Austin Miller

Juno slashed her own throat. It says earlier in the movie that people who commit suicide become civil servants, which is what Juno is as their case worker. The beauty queen at the desk implies the same when she talks about what happens to people when they die. She says "if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have had my little accident" holding up her slit wrists, implying that she wouldn't have committed suicide if she knew she'd become a civil servant (as a desk girl).

It's never stated or established that Juno committed suicide.

Charles Austin Miller

I really think she was supposed to have had a tracheotomy due to her smoking.

Brian Katcher

More questions & answers from Beetlejuice

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.