Warning! This article contains spoilers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuicedelves a lot deeper into the Neitherworld from the first movie, revealing more occupations, rules, and locations in the film’s afterlife. The story ofBeetlejuice 2is relatively simple: the death of Charles Deetz sees Lydia, Delia, and Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, return to the house originally owned by theMaitland family inBeetlejuice. Amid weddings and funerals, Astrid - played by Jenna Ortega inBeetlejuice 2’s cast- is tricked into the afterlife, leaving Lydia no option but to enlist the help of Betelgeuse in a bid to save her daughter.
As it did in theoriginalBeetlejuice’s ending, marriage with Lydia becomes the goal of Betelgeuse in a mad journey through the afterlife. Naturally, this story meansBeetlejuice 2explores the Neitherworld in much more detail than the first movie did. By the time ofBeetlejuice 2’s ending, new locations, jobs, and rules about the world of the dead are presented, giving a much more in-depth look into the hilariously spooky world brought to life by Tim Burton.
Every Known Location In Beetlejuice’s Afterlife Explained
Several More Areas Of The Afterlife Were Revealed In Beetlejuice 2
In the firstBeetlejuice, only a few areas of the Neitherworld were focused on. The primary one was the waiting room and the spaces belonging to caseworkers like Juno, which also appear inBeetlejuice 2. However, the sequel explores several other locations, one being the Immigration Center.The Immigration Center is where dead spirits go to receive their passports and be transported to different areas of the afterlife. Another location highlighted inBeetlejuice Beetlejuiceis the police station, headed by Willem Dafoe’s actor-detective Wolf Jackson.
Through the investigation of Wolf into the resurgence of Delores, Betelgeuse’s ex-wife, more areas of the Neitherworld are highlighted. Delores is introduced in a janitor wing of the afterlife, leading toBeetlejuice 2’s Danny DeVito cameo. After his banishment to the afterlife inBeetlejuice, the sequel shows the titular character working at the afterlife’s call center, a place ghosts can call if they need help with anything from haunting to evacuating families from their former houses. One of the more fun locations inBeetlejuice 2’s Neitherworld is the Soul Train, stemming from the Immigration Center.
What The Soul Train Is & Where It Takes Ghosts In The Afterlife
The Soul Train Transports Ghosts To Various Locations
After visiting the Immigration Center, ghosts in the afterlife must board the Soul Train.The Soul Train is both figurative and literal, serving as a train that carries souls to other areas of the afterlifewhile literally riffing on the TV showSoul Train. Characters in disco clothes dance around the platform and on the train itself, before being carted off to various places in the Neitherworld, imbuingBeetlejuice 2’s soundtrack with a dose of funk.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Soundtrack Guide: Every Song & When They Play
The long-awaited Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, starring Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega, includes a soundtrack of entertaining songs that shape the plot.
These locations include the Great Beyond, Pearly Gates, Elysium Fields, and the Fires of Damnation. The Great Beyond is where most ghosts are likely sent, simply the afterlife after the afterlife. The Pearly Gates is likely heaven, as that phrase is often used as an informal term for the gateway to heaven. The Elysium Fields are a term for the afterlife stemming from Greek mythology, a place where heroes would reside after their life was over. Finally, the Fires of Damnation is likely hell, in this case, the opposite of the Pearly Gates and Elysium.
Jeremy was seemingly sent to hell by Betelgeuse after the former tricked Astrid into swapping souls with him.
The Neitherworld’s Bureaucracy Explained: What Jobs Ghosts Have & Why
The Ghosts Who Inhabit The Neitherworld Have Various Occupations
As was established in the firstBeetlejuicemovie, the Neitherworld is based on a complex bureaucracy involving ghosts who occupy different jobs. For example,Beetlejuicerevealed that any ghosts whose death was caused by suicide began working as civil servants, from the receptionists in the waiting room to the likes of Juno. InBeetlejuice 2, Danny DeVito’s cameo came as a janitor in the waiting room. His character’s death by suicide was confirmed to involve drinking varnish, hence his job in the afterlife as a janitor.
With the rule being established that a person’s death impacts their appearance as a ghost, it could be the case that connections between occupations in life and death are made too…
Another occupation introduced inBeetlejuice 2includes the afterlife police force. These characters are responsible for enforcing the rules of the Neitherworld, often broken by Betelgeuse in the sequel. Willem Dafoe’s character was an actor in life, becoming a charismatic detective in death. A quick scene inBeetlejuice 2involved a ghost working at a laundromat, though it is not clear why that ghost specifically held that job. With the rule being established that a person’s death impacts their appearance as a ghost, it could be the case that connections between occupations in life and death are made too.
Beetlejuice and its sequel have skeletons as file workers, potentially a meta joke to the endless feeling of sorting through files till the body decomposes.
Where the Immigration Center workers are concerned,Astrid’s father Richard inBeetlejuice 2gives hints at why specific ghosts are chosen for this role. Richard was confirmed to have died in the Amazon Rainforest when trying to raise awareness about climate change. It could be the case that anyone who dies in a country different from where they were born works in the Immigration Center inBeetlejuice’s Neitherworld.
Every Known Rule For Ghosts In Beetlejuice’s Afterlife
The Afterlife Adheres To Several Rules
In bothBeetlejuiceand its sequel, the afterlife is run by a certain set of rules.While the madcap nature of both films means the set of rules is often brushed over and not distinctly defined, it is possible to glean the truthof a few. The firstBeetlejuicemakes several rules from the waiting room quite clear. For one, dead people must make an appointment with their afterlife caseworker. The afterlife caseworkers are run by a set of rules that see them evaluate individual cases and determine whether support is deserved, needed, or available to be given by the civil servant workers.
Beetlejuice’s death being somewhat reversed by a marriage to Lydia is also a loose rule of the afterlife.
One of the rules for dead individuals indicates that they have to stay in their house in the living world for a set period of time to get access to their caseworkers. The Maitlands, for example, needed to reside in their house for 125 years to receive three sessions with their caseworker, Juno. As a result, haunting follows rules outlined in the Guidebook for the Recently Deceased. Ghosts can haunt people out of their homes so that they can stay there for the allocated time and receive guidance from the Neitherworld’s civil servants.
After 36 Years, Beetlejuice 2 Officially Confirms How Beetlejuice Died (Is It A Retcon?)
A clip from Beetlejuice 2 confirms how Michael Keaton’s character originally died, solving a long-standing mystery from Tim Burton’s 1988 movie.
Beetlejuice 2includes a more consequential rule, one that sees the Neitherworld police force get involved. In the film, Betelgeuse brings Lydia, someone who is alive, into the afterlife. This is deemed illegal in the eyes of the Neitherworld police force. A few other rules introduced in the second film include Astrid swapping souls with Jeremy after an incantation, though a rule dictates that this transfer is only solidified after being stamped by the Immigration Center. As evident,Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis as loose and fast with its rules as its predecessor, matching the titular character’s energy perfectly.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Cast
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.
