Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is set 36 years after the events of the first film and it brings back the Deetz family to Winter River.
Directed by Tim Burton, Beetlejuice 2 sees the return of many familiar cast members from the original movie, including Michael Keaton's iconic Betelgeuse.
The bio-exorcist is back and ready to torment Winona Ryder's Lydia Deetz once again after a long hiatus. This time, Lydia's daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), is included in the grand scheme of things.
Beetlejuice 2 Plot and Spoilers Explained
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice begins with Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) hosting her own talk show, "Ghost House." The sequel reveals that she is now a psychic mediator, meaning that she uses her gifts as her main source of income.
She, however, still has occasional nightmares of Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), with her seeing flashes of the bio-exorcist from time to time. During the filming of her show, viewers also get to meet Lydia's manager, Rory (Justin Theroux), who is also in a relationship with her.
Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara), owns an art gallery in midtown called The Human Canvas.
Lydia is estranged from her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega). The pair's mother-daughter is not ideal since Delia points out that Lydia would rather spend time with ghosts than with her own daughter.
Meanwhile, in the afterlife, Danny Devito appears in a brief cameo as a janitor who first encounters Beetlejuice's ex-wife, Delores (Monica Belluci), who is in hot pursuit of her ex-husband.
Delores sucks the soul of the janitor before preparing to wreak havoc in the afterlife.
The Deetz Family Returns to Winter River
A tragedy forces the Deetz family to return to Winter River to pay respects to one of their own. Delia reveals that her husband, Charles, was killed while lost at sea after being devoured by a shark.
Charles' death prompts Lydia to a forced reunion with Astrid. After picking her up from the Deetz Arts Center, they go straight to the real ghost house at Winter River.
A trip down memory lane also reveals what happened to the main characters of the original Beetlejuice movie, Adam and Barbara Maitland (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis).
Unlike Lydia, Richard is a free spirit who is close to Astrid, which is why she is heartbroken to find out that he died during an expedition trip in South America.
Circling back to the famed Winter River house, an emotional funeral for Charles is held, but Rory ruins the moment when he suddenly proposes to Lydia. Making things awkward, he wants to marry during Halloween, which is two days away.
Rory's attempt to marry Lydia is kind of desperate which makes Astrid think that something is not right. After her mother says yes, Astrid immediately leaves.
The Juice is Loose & His Ex-Wife Too
The sequel reintroduces Beetlejuice in the afterlife and he is still, in fact, in love with Lydia even though their marriage was halted by a rampaging sandworm from the first movie.
He now runs a call center in the afterlife, mostly catering to troubled souls who either don't believe that they are dead or just simply have a miserable time.
Beetlejuice also has a loyal assistant named Bob (Nick Kellington) who keeps tabs on everyone inside the call center.
He gets summoned by the afterlife police who is led by an actor/detective named Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe) who wants nothing but to prove that he is capable of becoming an enforcer of the law in the land of the dead.
Wolf asks Beetlejuice if he knows Delores, but he tells him that he hasn't seen her all his life.
Of course, this is a lie since Beetlejuice tells Bob that Delores is his ex-wife who is out to get him since she is a leader of a soul-sucking death cult.
Delores is in pursuit of Beetlejuice's soul since she believes that it will give her immortality (which is kind of odd since they are already in the afterlife).
Astrid Finds Love... & Death
Astrid, who is disgusted with the idea that Lydia is replacing Richard with Rory, heads to downtown Winter River, and this is where she meets a boy named Jeremy Frazier (Arthur Conti).
Jeremy and Astrid quickly hit it off and they even set a date during Halloween night (aka the same night of Lydia and Rory's wedding).
During the fateful night, Jeremy reveals to Astrid that he is a ghost and he manipulates her into saying yes to restore his life back, pointing out that she can see her father again in the afterlife if she agrees.
Using an incantation from the Handbook For The Recently Deceased, Astrid enters the afterlife to inadvertently exchange her soul for Jeremy's.
Jeremy is not the boy next door type, though, since Lydia finds out from the realtor Jane (Amy Nuttall) that he is a cold-blooded killer who murdered his own parents 23 years ago.
He later dies after falling from his tree house when escaping from the cops.
An Unlikely Team-Up
Lydia immediately rushes to her old house to summon Beetlejuice to ask for his help in getting Astrid back. He agrees, but she has to marry him when it's all said and done.
To make sure that Lydia complies, Beetlejuice even forces her to sign a contract using her blood.
Astrid is double-crossed by Jeremy into switching places with him to regain his chaotic life in the land of the living.
The pair heads to the afterlife train station to save Astrid from entering the Soul Train, which is a way to transport souls into the Great Beyond.
In the train station, Astrid finds her dad, Richard, who is one of the employees, and her cry for help immediately gets his attention.
While Lydia rescues Astrid, Jeremy tries to go back to the land of the living, but Beetlejuice sends him to Hell instead. It is quite refreshing to see Beetlejuice keep his promise to Lydia.
After an emergency exit in the train station sends Lydia and Astrid to the sandworm's den, Richard swoops in and saves them, leading to an emotional family reunion.
Delia, meanwhile, is bitten by two poisonous snakes in the real world which causes her death and a trip to the afterlife. The character's death is sudden and tragic since she is in disbelief that she died immediately.
Beetlejuice 2 Ending: What Happened to Betelgeuse?
As Lydia and Astrid return to the land of the living, Rory is waiting for them in the church for the wedding.
However, Beetlejuice, with the help of Delia, crashes the wedding to prove that Rory is a phony who only wants Lydia's money.
He does so by injecting him with truth serum which also leads to him blurting out that he doesn't believe that Lydia can see ghosts.
While this allows Betelgeuse to fulfill his wishes to marry Lydia, his act also saves her from being married to someone who doesn't truly love her.
Chaos then ensues as Wolf Jackson and his officers as well as Delores crashes the wedding.
Astrid then uses the handbook to unleash the terrifying sandworm into the church, which causes it to eat both Delores and Rory.
As for Beetlejuice, Astrid finds a loophole in his contract since it violates the rules of the handbook. Lydia then says his name three times, causing him to inflate and pop.
After all the chaos, Wolf brings Delia back to the afterlife and she bids Lydia and Astrid a proper goodbye. She then reunites with Charles in the soul train, getting their own version of a happy ending as they head to the great beyond.
As Lydia and Astrid move on, a dream sequence reveals that Beetlejuice is still haunting Lydia in her dreams, suggesting that his desperate attempt to marry her is far from over.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is now playing in theaters worldwide.
