Beetlejuice, Tim Burton (U.S., 1988)

Pride of ownership, property-wise, can be a very funny thing. Witness Tim Burton’s out-of-this-world outing about a couple of ghosts (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as our phantom menaces) who want to rid their abode of the living inhabitants, the Deeztes, because of their horrendous interior taste. Manic to the max, Michael Keaton plays Beetlejuice, a ghastly ghoul who gets the gig to rid the place of Charles and Delia. Only the Deetzes’ daughter Lydia (a teenage Winona Ryder) fares well because she can see the spectral evictors. Staged with remarkable originality, this frenetic ghost story is so wacky you’ll be “scared sheetless.”

—Steve Seid

• Written by Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren, from a story by McDowell and Larry Wilson. Photographed by Thomas Ackerman. With Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis. (92 mins, Color, 35mm, From Warner Bros.)