It’s only rated PG, but is Beetlejuice still too scary for kids? The 1988 Beetlejuice is an iconic piece of filmmaking that has remained so popular for so many years, that the sequel came out over 35 years later and still earned rave reviews from critics and earned $452 million at the box office (via BoxOfficeMojo) in an era where movies are simply not making enough in theaters. With its PG-13 rating, some fans of the series may have been surprised that Tim Burton decided to up the scares in his sequel. Beetlejuice was marketed to younger audiences, right?

That’s actually not true, and possibly comes from the legacy of Beetlejuice having the kids’ TV series being a significant part of its history. Though that 1989 series is decidedly aimed at young kids, the 1988 movie is not. Beetlejuice is rated PG, but in the 1980s, the rating boards were all over the place. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is a PG, and a man has his heart ripped out in gory detail. So don’t go into Beetlejuice expecting a kid-friendly film. Never mind the “f-bomb”, the scares alone will be too much for young children.

The Violence And Gore Is Surprisingly Vivid

There Is Blood And Bits In Beetlejuice

For one, there is a not insignificant amount of gore in Beetlejuice. While all the blood and viscera are connected with already ᴅᴇᴀᴅ spirits, it is still obvious that these are ᴅᴇᴀᴅ people, victims of accidents that Burton in no way attempts to hide. When the Maitlands go to the otherworldly waiting room, they meet several ᴅᴇᴀᴅ people. One has cut her own wrists, and the dark red slices are clearly visible. Another ghost has her throat gruesomely slit. One ghost is sawed in half, with her top half next to her bottom half.

At one point, Barbara (Genna Davis) pretends to hang herself in a closet. She then tears off her face, revealing the skeleton underneath and her eyeballs hang loosely. One of the workers in the other world was run over by a car and his body is flattened with tire treads running across him. Now each of these violent visuals is played for laughs, and the ghosts are, at worst, inconvenienced by their fatal injuries, but they’re still realistic enough that a young child would get scared. The more realistic deaths might also be a bit too much.

Betelgeuse Is A Frightening And Mean Character

Young Kids Will Be Afraid Of The Antagonist

As far as popular movie characters go, Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) does not even appear in the film for very long. He’s such a delightful character, however, that it feels like he’s a much bigger part of the movie. He’s so fun that some people may forget that he’s villainous and frightening the entire time he’s on-screen. Not only does his plan involve forcing Lydia (Winona Ryder) to marry him, he’s also constantly tricking others and trying to force them into contracts. He’s really more a demon than anything. There’s not a lot of good with him.

He’s a laugh riot, but he also turns into a terrifying snake, morphs his face into something so horrible it’s not shown on screen, and messily devours a fly alive. He’s a very bad guy, and that alone is enough to scare very little kids. Betelgeuse’s aims are directly opposite Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara’s. While that would not be a reason to keep kids from watching him alone, the rude and violent methods he uses against the film’s protagonists make him a rough villain and one that younger viewers may find creepy.

The Ghostly Monsters And Transformations Are Unsettling

The Makeup And Creatures Are Frightening

This is a Tim Burton movie, so there are plenty of frightening monsters and bodily transformations that probably still unsettle even older viewers. When Adam and Barbara try to scare the Deetz’s out of their home, one of their tricks involves transforming their faces into horrific crocodile, ant-eater-like visages with sequences of eyes being pulled out and body parts being stretched. It’s mostly played for laughs, but that doesn’t make the end result of their body transformations any less freaky. What’s more, they even scare Lydia which makes them all the more spooky.

There are some other frightening images that may linger long in a young child’s impressionable mind, including Harry the Hunter, who has a shrunken head, and the double-mouthed sand snake that’s part Alice in Wonderland and part Alien. One of the more frightening moments in Beetlejuice comes during the “Day-O” scene when shrimp-ified hands suddenly reach out of the dinner bowls and grab the guests by the face. It’s sudden and shocking, and a bit reminiscent of another scary scene in Ghostbusters when hands pop out of a chair to abduct Dana (Sigourney Weaver).

Alternatives To Beetlejuice That Little Kids Will Love

The Witches (1990) Is A Great Measuring Stick For Scare Tolerance

So Beetlejuice is not great for little kids, but there are similar movies that would be perfect for kids who are just a bit too young for the bio-exorcist. Monster House and Coraline are animated horror films that also feature haunted houses. These can still be a bit scary but have a fairy-tale-like element, and the natural comfort of animation, to make them better options. Goosebumps is a more recent horror movie that features monsters and ghouls, but does so with a lot of humor, and it isn’t nearly as biting as Beetlejuice.

Lemony Snickett’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Halloweentown, and the live-action Scooby-Doo movies are also scary, but are filled with a lot of cutseyness and heroics that younger children will be able to grab on to whenever they start getting scared. A great option for parents wanting to test the waters of how much scares their young children can take is The Witches (1990). This Roald Dahl adaptation is directly aimed at kids but has some very frightening moments. If a kid can handle this, then Beetlejuice could potentially be on the table.

But Beetlejuice Is A Great Movie For Older Kids

Families Should Definitely Watch Beetlejuice Together

To be clear, Beetlejuice is not a great movie for young kids, meaning 9-10 or younger. It is, however, great for kids 10 and older and is the perfect kind of family movie that adults and older children will enjoy in equal measure. It’s funny, smart, just the right amount of spooky, and it has heart, which means that even the “scariest” scenes are tempered by the goals and atтιтudes of the protagonists. With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice arriving in 2024, a whole new generation of kids can help parents decide if Beetlejuice is still too scary to watch.