“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”! All the Fun Callbacks the Sequel Makes to the Original, from Sandworms to That Red Dress

As with 1988’s ‘Beetlejuice,’ possessed musical numbers and imaginatively dead characters factor into the new sequel

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — careful, don’t say his name three times! Director Tim Burton’s long-awaited follow-up to his comedy-horror classic about the afterlife and its wildest demon is finally here. And there are plenty of knowing winks to the 1988 film that started it all.

Reprising their Beetlejuice characters in the sequel are Michael Keaton in the titular role, Winona Ryder as the “strange and unusual” Lydia Deetz and Catherine O’Hara as her artsy stepmother Delia. Jenna Ortega joins the cast as Lydia’s daughter, Astrid, while Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Danny DeVito and Willem Dafoe costar.

Read on for all the ways Beetlejuice Beetlejuice pays homage to the original. (Spoilers for the movie’s plot details follow!)

Related: Is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice OK for Kids? What Parents Should Know About the PG-13 Tim Burton Sequel

The Opening Sequence

Beetlejuice took audiences to the suburban Connecticut town of Winter River and its charming covered bridges. Both the original film and sequel feature an opening credits sequence set to composer Danny Elfman’s music that introduces us to the town — only to pan out and reveal it’s a mini model version of the town in the Deetz family home’s attic.

Later in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Astrid swerves to avoid danger in the streets of Winter River while on her bicycle, not unlike Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis’ Adam and Barbara Maitland driving in the original. During that installment, the couple meet a rather more morbid fate, introducing us to the afterlife and kicking off what is now a two-part film franchise.

Related: Tim Burton Explains Why Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis Aren't in the Beetlejuice Sequel (Exclusive)

Delia’s Dangerous Sculptures

O’Hara’s character stormed into Beetlejuice with a fabulous wardrobe, a distaste for the countryside and several abstract metal sculptures — which later sprang to life thanks to Betelgeuse’s demonic magic. While not as dangerous in the sequel, those works of art appear at Astrid’s boarding school, where it’s clear her now-famous grandmother wields influence as the namesake of its arts center.

Fun fact: In 2023, during the filming of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, one of Delia’s prop sculptures was stolen from the set in East Corinth, Vt.

"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)"

O’Hara confirmed last March that "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" by Harry Belafonte would again be utilized in the sequel, following its memorable musical moment in the original in which Delia and her dinner guests grooved and lip-synched to the tune by way of ghostly possession.

Not long afterward, fans caught a glimpse of how Burton recaptured the magic of that song. As the sequel’s teaser trailer revealed, a children’s choir sings the Belafonte classic in a slower, more mournful fashion at the funeral of Charles Deetz (played in the original by Jeffrey Jones).

Related: Jeffrey Jones Doesn’t Return in Beetlejuice Sequel After His Controversy. Here’s How the Movie Includes His Character

The Recently Deceased (and Their Waiting Room)

Burton and his production teams’ imaginations run wild in the Beetlejuice cinematic universe, taking place as it does in a bureaucratic afterlife where the recently dead await their administrative fate. Characters and puppets bearing the signs of their demise are seen with shrunken heads, sickly-colored or blue from asphyxiation or other ailments and even sawn in half with different body parts operating separately.

It wouldn’t be a Beetlejuice sequel without nods to those original inventions executed with practical rather than computer-generated effects. Burton takes the conceit even further: one glimpsed character was evidently killed in an underwater magic trick gone wrong, while another eaten by piranhas still has the wiggling fish gnawing at his flesh. Meanwhile, the bug-eyed, shrunken-head men play a prominent role in the second movie — including dear Bob, mute assistant to Betelgeuse.

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The Sandworms

The space between the afterlife and the mortal plane in Beetlejuice is a science-fiction-inspired desert populated by vicious — stop-motion-animated! — sandworms. Baldwin and Davis’ characters go from fleeing in fear to using the creatures to help prevent Betelgeuse’s wedding to teenage Lydia.

In the new movie, it’s Lydia and her daughter Astrid who enter that dreamlike space, and again weaponize the worms at a crucial moment. "It was a lot of sand and a lot of wind," Ryder told Entertainment Weekly in August. "I think it's common knowledge [that] it's really hard to run in the sand. I used to have dreams where you're running in the sand, so it was that."

Related: Jenna Ortega Reacts to Rumor She Was in 'Serious Relationship' with Johnny Depp: 'I Don't Know That Person'

Jane Butterfield

Little Jane, introduced in Beetlejuice as the daughter of ambitious real estate agent Jane Butterfield (Annie McEnroe), is now all grown up. With Amy Nuttall taking over for young Rachel Mittelman, it’s clear selling homes — which may or may not be haunted — is a family legacy.

Lydia’s Red Wedding Dress

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice saves its biggest visual callback for the story’s climax. Lydia’s ruffly red wedding dress from the original reappears on her in the sequel, as she’s once again coerced into marrying Keaton’s dastardly demon. He again dons his foppish tuxedo in a deeper red.

The dress, from Oscar-winning costume designer and regular Burton collaborator Colleen Atwood, is iconic enough to warrant an apparent homage from Ortega on the red carpet at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, where the sequel had its world premiere on Aug. 28.

Related: 'Wednesday' Costume Designer Colleen Atwood Details the Stories Behind the Characters' Iconic Looks

Musical Numbers with Possessed Choreography

With “Day-O” repurposed, audiences may be wondering whether Beetlejuice Beetlejuice recreates a musical number in which characters sing and dance via possession. Jimmy Webb's delightful and absurd "MacArthur Park" proves the perfect fit, with Lydia, Astrid, Delia and more lip-synching the tune while under Betelgeuse’s control at his wedding. And yes, there’s also a cake left out in the rain.

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