In a serendipitous, some might even say spooky, coincidence, the Hopkins Film Society’s screening of Beetlejuice took place on none other than starring actress Winona Ryder’s 45th birthday, Oct. 29.
While over the last decade Ryder has had powerful if minor roles in several well-received films, including Black Swan, what she’s really beloved for is encapsulating a kind of blasé, late 80s-early 90s cool in films like Heathers, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Reality Bites.
Her high-profile off-screen relationship with her co-star Johnny Depp only added to the sense of intrigue surrounding her. Put simply: Ryder is a grunge icon, which is a large factor in why her role in this fall’s new Netflix drama, Stranger Things, a heavy dose of nostalgia in and of itself, has generated so much buzz.
Senior and co-director of the Film Society Executive Board, Julia Gunnison spoke on Ryder at the screening.
“Our main motivation did not involve the Winnonaissance, but I’m pleased that it coincides. I personally just so associate Winona Ryder with 90s cinema, that the Winnonaissance isn’t even that exciting for me. Just because she is just so of that age.”
Although Gunnison is partisan to 90s era Ryder, Hopkins students aren’t immune to the Stranger Things fever that has swept the nation.
In fact, several in attendance at the Beetlejuice screening were dressed up for Halloween as Joyce Byers, holding Christmas lights in a nod to the most iconic scene from the first season. Many of the attendees described Ryder as being the “perfect amount of crazy.”
She is so talented and alluring that, in the eyes of her fans, her flaws and the drama that surrounded her in the wake of her massive success are what make her human, just relatable enough.
Gunnison and her co-director, junior Gillian Waldo, said that the club chose Beetlejuice because it’s a classic, it fit the Halloween theme without being too scary and is arguably on the family-friendly side.
Beetlejuice played a pivotal role in Tim Burton’s climb to fame, providing him with the critical acclaim needed to score his first big budget film Batman. His fame progressively built as he directed other famous movies such as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and most recently, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
Though Beetlejuice itself was a low-budget film with old-fashioned in-camera tricks, its distinct gothic style and garish sense of humor helped it to win the Academy Award for Best Makeup and three Saturn Awards.
The movie was projected in Shriver Auditorium home to the Film Society’s projector room where its specially trained members prepare and show the films they select each year for their Halloween screening as well as their Film Series.
This year’s series will be Please Vote, in honor of 2016 being such an insane election year. While the Film Society is best known for their 35 mm screenings, which help keep this old-school art form alive on campus, they also host events in the Baltimore community.
Beetlejuice focuses on the life (or more accurately, the afterlife) of a sweet young couple, Barbara and Adam Maitland. The Maitlands are happy in their peaceful country home when a comically abrupt car accident, only five minutes into the movie, ends their jolly life.
Their afterlife holds an unpleasant surprise: they are now ghosts confined to their country home for 125 years, forced to live with the Deetz family who bought the house. To add to their pain, it turns out that the afterlife is ruled by a very confusing bureaucracy, and their only source of explanation is a cryptic book called “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased.”
The Maitlands are intent on reclaiming their home from the Deetz, an eclectic family composed of a former real estate developer husband, a sculptor wife and a goth daughter.
Their attempts to scare away the Deetz (ranging from bloody decapitation scenarios to lame bed sheet costumes) all fail due to their invisibility and the family’s fascination with supernatural activity.
Their only consolation is the Deetz’s teenage daughter, Lydia, who herself is so strange that she is able to see the Maitlands and befriend them. However, their continued inability to chase away the Deetz prod them into deciding to employ the questionable help of Betelgeuse, aka Beetlejuice the “bio-exorcist” ghost.
Conflict ensues when they realize the morbid, perverted Betelgeuse has his own sexual motives that may put their new friend Lydia into danger.
A noteworthy aspect of the film is its unique, garish aesthetic. Burton relies on vivid imagery, a mostly blue background full of pungently vivid colors. Somber blue sofas, mossy green hair, bruised purple faces are all colorful aspects of the film that give it a nightmarish effect.
The characters themselves are also brilliantly dressed and painted. From Betelgeuse’s grungy white face and striped suit to Lydia’s Victorian, black-lace outfits, each character is bestowed with gaudy personas that gives the film its trademark, comedic look.
The actors’ performances themselves were truly convincing and gave the film the boost that it needed for it to transform from a tacky, overly nutty freak-show to a well-balanced, fresh comedy.
Michael Keaton, who played Betelgeuse, was particularly adept in his execution. Despite how crass and deranged Betelgeuse was, Keaton filled out his character in such a way that viewers were more fascinated rather than exasperated by Betelgeuse’s madness.
The major use of improvisation in the dialogue and characterization added an even more unique touch to the film and increased the impressiveness of the actors’ performances.
The screening continues a packed year for the JHU Film Society.
“In November, in lieu of doing our traditional 35 mm screenings, we are doing a live-read of The Royal Tenenbaums at 2640 Space, which is down on St. Paul. Basically, we’re getting a bunch of local Baltimore artists and celebs to come and read for the parts. It’s a lot of fun,” Waldo said.
