It is no secret Tim Burton set the precedent as far as his specific style goes. When it comes to the wonderfully weird and eclectic, the Edward Scissorhands/Alice in Wonderland filmmaker has had things covered for quite some time.
With only Pee-Wee's Big Adventure to his name back then, Burton convinced the studio, originally unsure of what to make of his Beetlejuice vision, that he was well worth the risk. In fact, it was the massive commercial success of Beetlejuice that helped pave the way for the following 10 similarly-themed films to make their marks, as well.
10 Field Of Dreams (1989)
Like in Beetlejuice, narrow-minded Earthlings could not see the ghostly figures in the following year's Field of Dreams.. until they did.
An Oscar-nominated, bona fide classic in its own right - Field of Dreams had Beetlejuice to thank for proving that a mainstream Hollywood production could blend high concept afterlife-adjacent adventures with real-world values. Both reward family movie night participants with rare flicks whose ghost characters cease to spook audiences and, instead, make them laugh.
9 Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Perhaps too campy for its own good, the video game adaptation received colossally-bad reviews and has since become an ironic cult-classic.
Chemistry aside, Mario (Bob Hoskins) and Luigi (John Leguizamo) could not redeem the film's flaws, nor endear itself to fans with its strengths in the way the Beetlejuice could with its wacky production design.
8 The Mask (1994)
Somebody stop him! Blaringly apparent, when comparing Beetlejuice and the film that CBR argues should return for an R-rated reboot: Keaton's Betelgeuse walked so Jim Carrey's The Mask could run.
Each film technically features a superpowered villain and both wield a knack for blinding audiences to their madness with their perfectly landed punchlines. Every physical comedian-hopeful ought to recognize Keaton's 80s run and Carrey's 90s run as performers at their peak who, behind the makeup/mask, held dramatic potential.
7 The Sixth Sense (1999)
Before Haley Joel Osment "[saw] dead people," Winona Ryder did first. While claiming to be tormented when explaining her rebellious preferences, Lydia Deetz (Ryder's Beetlejuice character) was not as haunted by the ghosts she sees as Osment's Cole Sear was in The Sixth Sense.
Yet after the quintessential Shyamalan twist revealed in the latter film's conclusion, audiences could deduct that Osment indeed built a rapport with a member of the departed after all -- a bond mainstream audiences were inherently hardwired to approve of after Beetlejuice paved the way a decade prior.
6 Spy Kids (2001)
In their off-the-rails attempt to rescue their parents from harm, Juni (Daryl Sabara) and Carmen (Alexa PenaVega) Cortez encounter many warped characters, including but certainly not limited to the band of obedient "Fooglies" populating a children's TV show hosted by Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming).
Though Floop was ultimately revealed to be a prisoner himself in Robert Rodriguez' franchise-spawning hit, Juni and Carmen's quest to defeat their initial target had shades of the Maitlands' and Lydia's anti-Betelgeuse pact written all over it.
5 Monster's Inc. (2001)
In Beetlejuice, the deceased Adam and Barbara Maitland (Baldwin and Davis, respectively) determine the only way to oust the snobby couple who have purchased their former residence is to haunt the living hell out of them. In the monster-based Pixar outing, the main character's entire livelihood rest on doing the same to children.
Tim Burton and Pixar delivered two films that appealed to filmgoers with their Frankenstein-esqe themes -- that just because society has shunned someone (the ghosts in Beetlejuice; the monster in and Monster's Inc.), does not mean they have to play the part they have been forced into playing.
4 You, Me And Dupree (2006)
Owen Wilson starred as the overbearing best man who took shelter in his newlywed friend's home, then refused to leave, in the film that also co-starred Seth Rogen.
Based on Wilson's performance, it would not be a stretch to assume he channeled Michael Keaton's Betelgeuse for creative inspiration, as he, too, incessantly annoyed his film's leading couple, who ultimately relied upon his wisdom in the end.
3 Monster House (2006)
Two decades after Beetlejuice's leading pair dazzled their home's new residents with scare tactics galore, another cinematic house would come to terrorize the neighborhood.
This time, it was the spooky home across the street from 13-year-old DJ - who together with his pals, vowed to take on the sentient dwelling. Co-written by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, it adds up that Beetlejuice -- whose titular character appeared as a recurring background gag in the aforementioned pair's show, Community -- would have served as a key influence on the film.
2 A Ghost Story (2017)
David Lowery (Pete's Dragon, The Old Man & the Gun) slyly existential indie -- ranked among the top 10 film depictions of the afterlife -- plays like the serious end of a coin it shares with the 1988 Tim Burton film.
Condemned to watch his wife (Rooney Mara) struggle to move on without him in the home they shared together, C (Casey Affleck) tests the boundaries offered to him as a white-clothed dead entity patrolling the Earth, his living self left behind. Therefore, if he were trapped in a TV set -- one would not want to utter his name three times.
1 Parasite (2019)
Though little Da-song Park didn't actually see a ghost, his trauma essentially set the plot of Bong Joon-ho's Best Picture-winning film into motion. Had Da-song's sighting of the wanted man hidden beneath their home never occurred, the Kim family's infiltration could never have occurred on the same scale that it did.
The tension between the Kims and any who stood in their way rings eerily similar to the deceased Maitlands' refusal to relinquish their property, as well -- especially since both films predominantly take place in a respectable estate that is literally to die for.
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