Tim Burton directs this dark supernatural fantasy about newly dead married couple Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) who are navigating their new ghostly existence in their old home. When the house is sold to an obnoxious new family who begins to remodel the house into a garish postmodern monstrosity, the Maitlands are determined to scare them off, so they hire “bio-exorcist” Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), who wreaks havoc on them and the offending family, The Deetzes—father Charles (Jeffrey Jones); his second wife, Delia (Catherine O’Hara); and daughter from his previous marriage, Lydia (Winona Ryder), plus their interior designer Otho Fenlock (Glenn Shadix).
Keaton is a force of nature—hilarious and offensive. The Maitlands quickly regret their decision to hire Betelgeuse, but by then it’s too late. Meanwhile, the ghosts discover that Lydia can see them. Can she become the liaison between the living and the dead so they can all live in peace?
The film is a blast from beginning to end, with amazing special effects and a brilliantly bizarre story. It took home the Best Makeup Academy Award as well as Best Visual Effects and Makeup from the British Academy Film Awards. Classic! (92 min.)
—Glen Starkey