Beetlejuice 2's Goofs

In Beetlejuice 2, one of the more grotesque and darkly comedic moments involves Delores (Monica Bellucci) reassembling her face using a staple gun after sustaining damage. When she first finishes putting herself back together, the staples on her face are spaced roughly 1.5 to 2 inches apart, with a total of 10 staples running from her chin to her forehead. However, in a later scene as she walks toward the camera—an action that seems to be her primary function in the film—the number of staples has mysteriously increased to around 21, now spaced much closer together at about 0.5 inches apart.

This continuity mismatch adds an odd, almost surreal undertone to Delores’ appearance, fitting perfectly within the chaotic and visually eccentric world of Beetlejuice 2. The inconsistency also contributes to the absurdity of her character, whose stitched-together, Frankenstein-like visage embodies the film’s love for physical, over-the-top visual gags. It’s a reminder of Tim Burton’s penchant for embracing the bizarre, even in the smallest details, and how Beetlejuice 2 thrives on its dark humor and grotesque charm.

Delores’ unsettling habit of calmly repairing herself—staples and all—becomes a recurring visual motif, underscoring her unrelenting nature as one of the film’s antagonists. Her slow, deliberate walk toward the camera in multiple scenes may feel excessive, but it’s a deliberate stylistic choice that highlights her menacing presence and the absurd theatricality that defines the Beetlejuice universe.

In Beetlejuice 2, Lydia’s husband, Rory, is revealed to be working as a civil servant in the afterlife, a position previously established in the original film as being reserved for those who died by suicide. However, dialogue in two separate scenes clarifies that Rory’s death was accidental, creating some confusion about how he ended up with this afterlife job.

The movie offers a potential explanation through a newspaper Beetlejuice reads, which includes an article about how afterlife authorities frequently misclassify non-suicide deaths as suicides. This bureaucratic error could explain why Rory ended up working in the civil service despite his accidental death. However, the exact details of Rory’s demise remain ambiguous. It’s hinted that he may have voluntarily entered a highly dangerous situation—essentially a “suicide mission”—which might blur the line between accidental death and intentional risk-taking in the eyes of the Afterlife Bureaucracy.

This subplot not only ties into the original film’s rules but also highlights the chaotic and poorly managed nature of the afterlife, which is a recurring theme in Beetlejuice 2. The film leans heavily into the idea of a crumbling afterlife system, with understaffed departments and constant clerical errors, creating a comedic yet unsettling backdrop to the story. Rory's misclassification as a civil servant underscores the absurdity of this world, while also adding layers to his relationship with Lydia as she grapples with his presence in this strange new reality.

In one scene, Lydia’s daughter, Astrid (played by Jenna Ortega), refers to Marie Curie as a “French physicist.” While this is technically correct, it’s also a bit misleading. Marie Curie, born Maria Skłodowska in Poland, only became a naturalized French citizen after moving to France as an adult. She even named one of the elements she discovered, Polonium, after her homeland. However, since Curie’s scientific achievements (including her groundbreaking work on radioactivity) were accomplished while she lived in France, it’s not entirely incorrect for Astrid to label her as French.

This moment reflects Astrid’s sharp, precocious personality, but it also highlights her youthful tendency to oversimplify or misstate facts—something that plays a humorous role throughout Beetlejuice 2. As Lydia’s daughter, Astrid’s character is written with the same blend of intelligence and quirkiness that made Lydia a fan favorite in the original film. Her historical mix-up adds a bit of levity to an otherwise spooky and chaotic storyline while showcasing her dynamic with Lydia, who frequently tries to gently correct her daughter’s blunt observations.

In Beetlejuice 2, Lydia reveals that Rory wants to get married at midnight on Halloween night, a suitably creepy time for a wedding. However, as many detail-oriented viewers might point out, midnight technically marks the start of a new day—November 1st—meaning that the wedding would no longer take place on Halloween.

This potential timeline hiccup is likely intentional and fits into the film’s playful tone. After all, many people interpret “midnight on Halloween” to mean 11:59 PM on October 31st, and it’s not surprising that Rory, who is portrayed as somewhat self-centered and oblivious, wouldn’t care about the technicality. This detail also reflects Beetlejuice 2's penchant for taking mundane, everyday misunderstandings and twisting them into absurd or macabre scenarios, in keeping with the original film’s humor.

The wedding itself, which serves as a key turning point in the movie, is filled with eerie and chaotic moments, including Beetlejuice himself causing havoc as he tries to hijack the ceremony for his own schemes. The confusion around the timing of the event only adds to the chaotic energy of the scene, making it a true highlight of the film.

One of the most bizarre and memorable moments in Beetlejuice 2 is the flashback depicting the death of Charles Deetz, whose demise is shown in a surreal stop-motion sequence. Charles is attacked from behind by a shark while floating in the ocean, and it appears that he is completely engulfed by the creature. However, when Charles shows up in the afterlife waiting room (now rendered in stop-motion), only his upper torso and head seem to have been bitten, leaving some fans scratching their heads.

This discrepancy can be explained by the fact that the flashback does not show the aftermath of the shark attack in detail—it only depicts the initial moment of Charles being attacked. The gory specifics are left to the audience's imagination, which is fitting for the bizarre and exaggerated rules of the Beetlejuice universe. The stop-motion depiction of Charles’s injuries is less about accuracy and more about embracing the over-the-top, cartoonish style that defines Tim Burton’s work.

The scene also serves as a clever callback to the original film’s use of stop-motion animation for many of its most iconic visuals. Charles’s death, based on one of Tim Burton’s personal nightmares about surviving a plane crash only to be eaten by a shark, is a perfect example of how Beetlejuice 2 blends personal fears, absurd humor, and creative visual storytelling into a singularly strange and entertaining package.

Like the original Beetlejuice, the sequel thrives on its eccentric charm and willingness to bend its own rules for the sake of humor and visual flair. From Delores’ mysteriously multiplying staples to Rory’s ambiguous death classification, Beetlejuice 2 fully embraces the chaotic, anything-goes logic of its world. These quirks aren’t just inconsistencies—they’re part of what makes the movie such a unique and unpredictable ride, keeping audiences laughing, cringing, and scratching their heads in equal measure.

Tim Burton’s ability to blend the macabre with the ridiculous is on full display here, and while not every detail may stand up to scrutiny, that’s precisely the point. In the world of Beetlejuice 2, the afterlife is messy, absurd, and entirely its own beast—a place where rules are more like suggestions, and even the most mundane details (like a wedding’s start time or the number of staples on a villain’s face) can spiral into delightful absurdity.

One of the quirks of Beetlejuice 2 comes during Charles Deetz’s funeral, a scene that blends humor and eerie atmosphere in true Beetlejuice fashion. Observant viewers may notice that one of the gravestones in the background gently wobbles in the wind, suggesting it may be made of Styrofoam or another lightweight material. Later in the film, during the climactic sequence where Wolf Jackson and the afterlife police raid the church, another gravestone visibly shifts when Wolf lightly touches it, further emphasizing the theatrical (and slightly slapdash) nature of the set design.

These small details reflect the offbeat, handmade aesthetic that has become a hallmark of Tim Burton’s films. The sequence, which combines stop-motion elements with practical effects, leans into Beetlejuice 2’s playful, self-aware tone. The wobbly props subtly nod to the movie’s roots in old-school, low-budget horror aesthetics, much like the original Beetlejuice did, creating a charmingly imperfect visual style that feels right at home in the chaotic world of the film.

Tim Burton’s decision to keep moments like this in the final cut speaks to his love of embracing imperfections. The funeral scene is both humorous and poignant, with touches of absurdity—such as the gravestone mishaps—reminding audiences not to take the movie too seriously, even in moments of supposed solemnity.

The opening title sequence of Beetlejuice 2 mirrors the iconic aerial opening of the original film, but with updated visuals and a new layer of humor. As the camera glides dramatically over the red-covered bridge at around the 2:00 mark, eagle-eyed viewers might spot two white folding signs on the left side of the frame. These signs, left over from production, were used to direct traffic during filming.

A behind-the-scenes featurette, The Juice is Loose, reveals that the signs read “SLOW 5 MPH” and “LOCAL ACCESS ONLY,” hinting at the logistical challenges the crew faced while shooting in small, rural locations. The inclusion of these production remnants adds an unintentional meta twist to the sequence, as if the world of Beetlejuice 2 is aware of its own constructed nature.

This moment also reflects Burton’s love for blending the real and surreal. While the original Beetlejuice’s opening sequence used a miniature model for its aerial shots, the sequel combines practical locations with digital enhancements to create a layered homage to its predecessor. The accidental inclusion of the traffic signs only adds to the quirky charm of the film, which thrives on its mix of polished visuals and subtle imperfections.

These small production quirks—whether it’s wobbly gravestones at Charles’s funeral or traffic signs left in the title sequence—are emblematic of Beetlejuice 2’s commitment to embracing its own eccentricities. Just as the original film leaned into its handmade feel, the sequel continues this tradition, blending modern filmmaking techniques with a throwback charm that captures the spirit of the 1988 classic.

Both moments also speak to the larger themes of the movie: imperfection, chaos, and the blending of life and death in unpredictable ways. Whether intentional or not, these little details add layers of humor and texture to the film, reminding audiences that in the world of Beetlejuice 2, even mistakes can feel like part of the plan.

In the original Beetlejuice, it’s made clear that time moves differently in the Netherworld compared to the real world. This concept adds to the surreal, unsettling nature of the afterlife and explains why Adam and Barbara Maitland are left waiting for months in the real world while only a few minutes pass in the Netherworld. However, Beetlejuice 2 seemingly abandons this rule entirely. Characters freely hop between the real world and the Netherworld without any noticeable time discrepancies, creating a jarring inconsistency with the lore established in the first film.

While this change allows for a faster-paced narrative, it undermines one of the most intriguing elements of the original film’s afterlife logic. By removing the time distortion, Beetlejuice 2 sacrifices some of the eerie, otherworldly quality of its predecessor in favor of convenience. This shift may also reflect the current state of the Netherworld, which the film portrays as increasingly chaotic and poorly managed, with the bureaucracy falling apart. However, the lack of explanation for this change leaves fans of the original scratching their heads.

The details of Beetlejuice’s death remain a source of confusion in Beetlejuice 2. In the original film, it’s implied that Beetlejuice worked as an assistant to Juno, the afterlife caseworker, which would mean he had to have died by suicide—following the established rule that only those who die by suicide serve as civil servants in the afterlife. However, Beetlejuice 2 states that Beetlejuice was poisoned by Delores, seemingly contradicting this rule.

This discrepancy is partially addressed by a newspaper in the film, which mentions that afterlife authorities often misclassify deaths as suicides, leading to wrongful civil servant assignments. This could explain why Beetlejuice ended up working for Juno despite not taking his own life. Alternatively, it’s entirely possible that Beetlejuice, ever the schemer, was lying about his background in the original film.

This unresolved mystery adds to Beetlejuice’s chaotic and unreliable nature but leaves gaps in the continuity between the two films. While Beetlejuice 2 explores new layers of the character’s history, it doesn’t fully reconcile these inconsistencies, leaving fans to speculate about the truth.

Delia’s death in Beetlejuice 2 also raises questions about the afterlife’s rules. When she dies (accidentally, after being bitten by asps during one of her performances), she bypasses the entire bureaucratic process established in the original film and is allowed to go straight to the Great Beyond. This is a sharp departure from the original movie’s depiction of the afterlife as a highly bureaucratic, rule-bound system, where even the recently deceased must follow strict guidelines on Earth before moving on to their final destination.

Even more puzzling, Delia and Charles are shown freely wandering the Netherworld and boarding the Soul Train without facing any of the typical afterlife hurdles. In the original Beetlejuice, Adam and Barbara had to navigate endless paperwork and deal with caseworkers to get any answers, highlighting the red tape inherent in the afterlife. The lack of explanation for Delia and Charles’s special treatment feels like a missed opportunity to explore the deteriorating state of the Netherworld’s bureaucracy, which the film hints at elsewhere.

Lydia’s supernatural ability to connect with the dead is a central part of both Beetlejuice and its sequel, but Beetlejuice 2 introduces a significant inconsistency regarding her powers. Despite her ability to see and communicate with ghosts, Lydia is unable to see or interact with her late husband, Astrid’s father, who is shown working as a civil servant in the afterlife. This unexplained limitation feels out of place, especially given Lydia’s deep connection to the Netherworld and its inhabitants in the original film.

The movie never clarifies why Lydia cannot reach her husband, leaving a noticeable gap in the story. Is it due to the disarray in the afterlife bureaucracy, or is there some other supernatural reason blocking their connection? The absence of an explanation undermines Lydia’s role as a bridge between the living and the dead, a defining trait of her character.

One of the most surprising elements of Beetlejuice 2 is Astrid’s disbelief in Lydia’s ability to see ghosts, which directly contradicts the events of the original film. By the end of Beetlejuice (1988), Lydia had formed a close bond with Adam and Barbara Maitland, the ghosts of her home, and the family had embraced their presence. It seems highly unlikely that Lydia would not have shared this supernatural history with her daughter, especially considering her love of photography, which played a key role in her discovering Adam and Barbara in the first film.

In the original movie, Lydia captured evidence of the Maitlands’ ghostly nature by taking Polaroids of them under bed sheets and noticing they had no feet. Given this, it’s hard to believe Astrid would dismiss her mother’s claims so easily. It’s also strange that no photos, recordings, or other proof of Lydia’s supernatural experiences would have been preserved over the years, especially considering Lydia’s creative and curious nature.

Astrid’s skepticism feels like a forced plot device, designed to create tension between her and Lydia, but it ultimately contradicts the established dynamics and history of the Deetz family. This choice diminishes the emotional connection between the two films, making it harder for audiences to reconcile the events of Beetlejuice 2 with its predecessor.

While Beetlejuice 2 offers a fresh take on the afterlife and introduces new characters and scenarios, it often struggles to reconcile its new rules with the lore established in the original film. From the strange handling of time in the Netherworld to the inconsistencies surrounding Lydia’s powers and Astrid’s disbelief, the sequel sometimes sacrifices continuity for convenience.

However, these contradictions also reflect the chaotic, unpredictable nature of the Beetlejuice universe. The afterlife is shown to be in disarray, with broken systems and mismanaged processes contributing to the confusion. While some of these gaps may frustrate fans of the original, they also add to the sequel’s overall sense of absurdity and unpredictability, staying true to the spirit of Tim Burton’s bizarre and anarchic vision.

Ultimately, Beetlejuice 2 thrives on its ability to embrace the strange and unusual, even if it means bending or breaking its own rules along the way. For fans of the original, the film offers a mix of nostalgia and new chaos, leaving plenty of room for interpretation—and a fair share of unanswered questions.