Beetle Juice Beetle Juice was an ambitious film from the start. Following up the beloved cult classic more than 35 years after its initial release was always going to require equal parts skill and care. This long-awaited sequel took several risks by introducing new characters and leaving some fan favorites, like the Maitlands, in the past. However, one of the biggest challenges Beetle Juice Beetle Juice faced included not one, but three main antagonists.
This cinematic trend rarely works well. It's not weird to have a main antagonist and a secondary antagonist who either works for the main antagonist or provides a subplot. When more than two villains come into play, however, the story usually becomes confusing as each antagonist tries to fight for screen time. Incredibly, the Beetle Juice The sequel handled this usually problematic trend with ease.
Beetlejuice The Villains of Beetlejuice, Explained
As mentioned, Beetle Juice Beetle Juice features three main villains, excluding the Ghost with the Plus. These three villains include Delores, Betelgeuse's first wife, Jeremy, a misguided teenage boy from Lydia's hometown, and Rory, Lydia's boyfriend/promised boyfriend.
Delores was a cult leader in life
Delores, played by Monica Bellucci, is the first antagonist to appear on screen in Beetle Juice Beetle Juice. Her introduction was incredible. Delores' ghostly form is in pieces and stored in multiple boxes. Delores rebuilds her body by tapping each piece into place. Soon after, she finds a caretaker and demands to know where Betelgeuse is. When the man doesn't give her the answers she wants, she picks him up and sucks his soul out of his body, leaving behind a shriveled husk.
Later, after Betelgeuse discovers that Delores has returned and is looking for him, he explains his relationship to her. Before Betelgeuse died, he met Delores, a beautiful and mysterious woman who ran a cult. Because they both loved chaos, Betelgeuse fell in love with her faster than he could have imagined. They married, and on their wedding night, Delores poisoned him. Delores believed that if she killed her husband and consumed his soul, she would gain immortality. This is likely where Delores' soul-sucking abilities in the afterlife come from.
Before Betelgeuse died from the poison, he took revenge and attacked her with an axe. He managed to cut her into several pieces, ensuring that she could not suck his soul to complete her immortality ritual. This explains why Delores is broken in the Afterlife and must rebuild herself. Long story short, Betelgeuse and Delores killed each other on their wedding night. Betelgeuse ruins Delores' plans and pushes her into a series of revenge in the Afterlife, in search of her ex-husband.
Jeremy seems too perfect for Astrid
After Lydia agrees to marry Rory at her father's funeral, Lydia's daughter Astrid rides her bike into town. Distraught, she nearly crashes into several vehicles and loses control of her bike. It crashes through a wooden fence and into Jeremy's backyard. Jeremy (Arthur Conti), a teenager about Astrid's age, is reading in a treehouse. Astrid's crashing into the tree catches his attention and the two become fast friends.
Astrid feels like she's finally met someone she can be herself with, and Jeremy is eager to develop their relationship. Jeremy invites Astrid back for Halloween, where she gets a quick glimpse of Jeremy's distressed parents before going up to his room. What Astrid doesn't know is that Jeremy is a ghost who has haunted the property for years. Not only is he a spirit, but he's also a murderer who killed her parents. He died shortly after their murders when he fell from his treehouse and broke his neck.
Astrid is the first person Jeremy meets after his death who can see him. Just like Lydia, Astrid can see and communicate with the dead. Jeremy decides to take advantage of Astrid, tricking her into swapping her soul with his. She will be trapped in the afterlife and he will be able to return to the world of the living. Jeremy almost succeeds in his plan as well. If Lydia hadn't come to save her daughter, Astrid's life would have been gone forever.
Rory is a gold digger
From the moment audiences meet Rory, they know something is wrong with him. Rory is Lydia's “attentive” boyfriend. He is involved in everything Lydia does, including her incredibly successful television series, Ghost house. Rory tries to paint himself as the perfect boyfriend, but all he does when he's with Lydia is manipulate her into doing what he wants. He even manages to guilt her into agreeing to marry him at her father's funeral, even though she's uncomfortable with the idea.
Astrid, Lydia's daughter, and Delia, Lydia's stepmother, both openly dislike Rory. Neither approves of Rory and they don't understand what Lydia sees in him. Lydia defends him by repeatedly saying that Rory loves her and that that's enough, but Astrid and Delia don't trust her intentions.
Unfortunately for Lydia, Astrid and Delia are right about Rory. Rory is desperate to marry Lydia because he wants to ride the wave of her success. He knew he would get more out of her fortune as her husband than he ever would as her manager, so he locked her into a one-sided relationship.
All three villains have one thing in common with the ghost with the most
Their methods are eerily similar
In the original Beetle JuiceBetelgeuse becomes obsessed with Lydia Deetz. He sees this young woman as his ticket out of the afterlife. She is young and easily manipulated, making her the perfect candidate for his plans. It's not that Betelgeuse wants to hurt Lydia, but he wants to marry her because getting a marriage contract with her will earn him a one-way ticket back to the world of the living. While his plans are temporarily thwarted, he attempts another marriage in Beetle Juice Beetle Juice.
Betelgeuse doesn't care what he has to do to get what he wants. He manipulates the situation at every possible turn. When Astrid disappears into the Otherworld, he forces Lydia to agree to marry him before willingly helping her save her daughter. During the wedding ceremony, he even uses his power to prevent Lydia from speaking and speaks in her place. In Lydia's voice, he tries to force the marriage by saying:
“I'm Lydia Deetz and I'm sane. The man next to me is the one I want. You asked, I say. Yes, I love that man.”
This is a quality that all three antagonists have in common. Beetle Juice Beetle Juice share with the titular character. Everyone uses the facade of romance to get what they want. It's the simplest form of manipulation. Make someone think you love them so they'll let you get close. Delores did this to Betelgeuse when they were both still alive. He fell in love and married her, only to die on their wedding night. He might have been able to foil her plans for immortality, but he still lost his life.
Jeremy also plays on the idea of romance. When Astrid realizes that Jeremy is a ghost, he says that he wants them to be together, but for that to happen, he has to come back to life. He tricks her into reciting a spell that she doesn't understand and that will trade her life for his. She does this because she truly believes that Jeremy wants to be with her and she wants to help him. She has no idea that he is a murderer who only wants to use her to gain his freedom.
Rory played into this form of manipulation too. To give him credit, he was in it for the long haul more than anyone else. Rory had a real relationship with Lydia. He made her believe for a long time that he was in love with her and that he could make her happy. He proposed to her and it was in the church where they were supposed to get married. If Betelgeuse hadn't intervened, Lydia might very well have married a man who would have taken her for all she was worth.
Beetlejuice saves the day
Despite its many (many) flaws, it is useful
Betelgeuse may not be a good guy, but it's hard to deny that he's incredibly effective at what he does. In Beetle Juice Beetle JuiceBetelgeuse helps foil two of the three villains tormenting the Deetz family. Sure, he does it because it will help strengthen his position, but he still keeps everything he promises. When Lydia realizes that Astrid has been taken to the Otherworld by a murderous ghost, she calls Betelgeuse for help. Not only does Betelgeuse translate the text that Jeremy tricked Astrid into reading, he also agrees to take Lydia to the Otherworld to save her daughter.
“I need you to help me save my daughter. But how do I know you'll keep your word?”
Yes, Betelgeuse demands that Lydia marry him in exchange for his help, but you can't blame a guy for trying to secure a better future. Not only does Betelgeuse whisk Lydia away to the afterlife, he also actively helps foil Jeremy's plans. When Jeremy is on the verge of consolidating Astrid's life in exchange for his, he makes the mistake of handing his note to Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse gives him a fake stamp of approval and sends him plummeting into what appears to be the fiery pit of Hell.
Betelgeuse doesn't stop there, though. He also has to get Rory out of the way if he wants to marry Lydia. He does this by crashing Lydia and Rory's wedding and forcibly injecting Rory with a truth serum. Rory confesses that he was only there for Lydia's money and that he never believed she could see ghosts. Betelgeuse even provides a black and white striped boxing glove for Lydia to punch Rory with.
Beetlejuice 2 manages to do what most movies fail to do.
Despite Beetle Juice Beetle Juice While the film is full of sinister characters, it manages to balance them incredibly well. This is largely due to how the antagonists are dispersed throughout the film. Delores is hunting Betelgeuse. She doesn't care much about anything other than getting revenge on the man who tore her apart. Rory is focused on exploiting Lydia, and Jeremy's attention is on Astrid.
All three of these antagonists give Lydia, Astrid, and Betelgeuse common ground and a reason to work together. Sure, Betelgeuse is also antagonistic in the way he wants to forcefully marry Lydia, but without him, Astrid would have been long gone. Having three similar yet unique characters lead the main trio together worked beautifully without feeling too heavy-handed or overwhelming.