The funeral scene in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a darkly funny moment, but it’s also an emotional callback to the first movie. Tim Burton’s sequel left a gap of 36 years after Beetlejuice became a beloved horror-comedy, so it had to make a few cast changes. While Willem Dafoe, Jenna Ortega and Monica Bellucci were among the new faces joining the cast of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, there were some conspicuous absences that fans of the original movie would have noticed. Of course, Jeffrey Jones didn’t return as Charles Deetz, but his character’s funeral had a touching reference to another Beetlejuice actor.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice came out even later than most other legacy sequels, so Tim Burton had a delicate balancing act to perform, between satisfying fans of the original movie and setting up a new story for a new generation of fans. The story brings Michael Keaton’s bio-exorcist back for another macabre outing, and there are plenty of smaller details which pay homage to the original without getting in the way. Charles Deetz’s funeral scene has a pitch-perfect Easter egg for the hardcore Beetlejuice fans to savor.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Pays Tribute To One Of The Original Movie’s Cast Members
Tim Burton’s Subtle Homage To Glenn Shadix References A Great Character From The First Movie
At Charles Deetz’s funeral, Delia, Lydia, Astrid and the other mourners listen to a children’s choir sing a rendition of Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”. Beetlejuice fans will immediately recognize this as the song that the Deetz family sing at the dinner table in the first movie, but there’s a special reason that Burton chose to use this song in a funeral scene for the sequel. Glenn Shadix – who played Otho Fenlock in Beetlejuice – requested that the song be played at his own funeral in 2010, paying tribute to his most famous movie role.
Beetlejuice provided him with his greatest role, and Shadix suits Otho’s big-city sᴀss perfectly.
Shadix enjoyed a long and successful career in Hollywood, appearing in plenty of movies and TV shows. Still, none of his characters were as beloved as Beetlejuice‘s Otho, Delia’s interior designer with a love of surreal postmodernism. Burton was clearly fond of Shadix, since he cast him as the Mayor of Halloween Town in The Nightmare Before Christmas and an orangutan in his ill-fated Planet of the Apes remake. Beetlejuice provided him with his greatest role though, and Shadix suits Otho’s big-city sᴀss perfectly.
It would have been a delight to see Otho Fenlock returning for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, even if he only had a minor role. Sadly, Shadix pᴀssed away in 2010, and he had retired from the film industry a few years prior. With the rendition of “Day-O” at the funeral in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Burton at least had the chance to deliver a touching tribute to Shadix, who was a beloved collaborator who cherished his work with Burton so much that it influenced his own funeral. This Easter egg is perfectly in line with the movie’s dark sense of humor.
Why The Banana Boat Song Is So Important To The Beetlejuice Movies
The Dinner Scene Sums Up Beetlejuice’s Humor
The “Day-O” scene in the first Beetlejuice movie is one of the funniest moments, and it perfectly sums up the dark sense of humor that runs throughout the horror-comedy. The use of an upbeat calypso song with seemingly nonsensical lyrics is the perfect counterweight to the absurd torture that the Deetz family have to endure at the hands of Betelgeuse. To really take a step back, it’s a nightmarish idea to have one’s actions and voice completely taken over by a malevolent spirit, but “Day-O” makes this scene a hilarious dance number.
The funeral scene isn’t the only time that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice references this iconic moment from the first movie. Betelgeuse uses the same power later on, as he manipulates the Deetz family into singing Richard Harris’ soulful ballad “MacArthur Park” at his wedding to Lydia. With Beetlejuice 3 in production, it’s likely that Burton will create another similar scene to keep the tradition alive. Either way, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice shows that Burton knows how to reference previous movies with tact, and his tribute to Shadix is both hilarious and heartwarming.
