When it comes to the best needle drops in movies, it's the songs you don't see coming that always have the biggest impact.
The new Beetlejuice movie is a lot of fun - it's goofy and gross and gloriously garish. Michael Keaton is as magnificent as ever; Catherine O'Hara remains an absolute goddamn delight; Willem Defoe knows the assignment; and Winona Ryder still does the kind of horrified bafflement that nobody else can ever manage, while also finding new depths in middle aged regret.
It's also weird as hell, and I deeply appreciate the use of the particular song that rolls out of everybody's mouths during the big climactic sequence. It's easy to overlook how strange it was for everybody to start singing Harry Belafonte during that dinner party in the original, because everybody watching that movie knew it was coming - it was a major part of the promotion, and kickstarted a whole calypso revival.
It's a very different song in the 2024 film, and thank Beelzebub that they didn't try to keep the calypso theme going, and went for a completely different kind of song. It's also pleasing to see the filmmakers really commit to the whole thing, and let it all play out.
Despite it bouncing around in my skull all week, I haven't been able to sing that tune around the house -(and I'm not going to name it here), because the lovely wife hasn't seen the movie yet, and I don't want to spoil the surprise of the song, and the satisfying weirdness of its use, for anybody.
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