BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE” RATED PG-13

Arriving 36 years later, the “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” sequel serves to allow Michael Keaton, originally named Betelgeuse, to be as demented and mischievous as he was originally in haunting the Deetz family.

In 1988’S “Beetlejuice,” the young married Maitland couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) end up being killed in a car crash and awaken to become aware that they are ghosts in their own home.

Taking possession of the Maitland house was Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones), his wife Delia (Catherine O’Hara), and teenage daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder), and the ethereal Maitlands were unsuccessfully determined to scare away the Deetzes.

For the sake of continuity, Keaton’s demonic ghoul is reunited with Catherine O’Hara’s Delia and Winona Ryder’s now middle-aged Lydia, the latter the mother to her own teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega).

The death of Charles Deetz brings Lydia back to Winter River. Lydia is now the host of her own paranormal reality TV series, which her estranged daughter Astrid thinks is a lame attempt to communicate with her deceased father, Richard (Santiago Cabrera).

Delia, Lydia and Astrid represent three generations of Deetzes, and their return to the Connecticut town where they previously resided is for the funeral of Charles, who turns up in the afterlife as a headless body.

Meanwhile, Lydia is apparently looking at tying the knot with her unctuous boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux), the producer of her “Ghost House” TV show who uses grief counseling as the occasion to plant the idea of marriage.

Filling the void of missing characters from the original film are several types of weird and interesting persons one would expect to emerge from the vivid and bizarre imagination of Tim Burton.

Most peculiar, Monica Bellucci’s Delores turns up as Beetlejuice’s estranged wife, who pulls herself together by using a staple gun to reassemble her severed body parts so that she can proceed as a soul-sucking stalker.

While out riding a bicycle, Astrid stumbles upon the Maitland house after crashing into the backyard’s tree house, where she meets Jeremy (Arthur Conti), a teen for whom she develops a crush.

Jeremy is not exactly the innocent boy-next-door that he appears to be, as he literally has a closet in the attic that opens the portal to another world that puts Astrid in the kind of danger that Lydia fears.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” allows Tim Burton to unleash his playful sense of the macabre and madcap anarchy that is sure to delight his die-hard fans, who should enjoy how Michael Keaton still rocks with a bad wig and the pasty ghoulish complexion of a well-preserved vampire.

THE TELEVISION NOMINEE LOUNGE EXPERIENCE

Swag is a big deal in the entertainment world. Gifting suites connected with industry award shows provide opportunities for companies to shower guests with products ranging from cosmetics and accessories to clothing and the latest gadgets.

An invite landed in our inbox from Secret Room Events to attend a gifting suite party on the rooftop of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Having never been asked before, how could this experience be resisted?

Celebrities and media were invited, and my guess is that a lot of visitors were influencers and bloggers, as well as talent that was likely TV actors.

Interestingly, the products on display were not familiar. That’s not surprising, because the purpose of what was billed as the “Television Nominee Lounge” is the introduction of new brands.

A product being promoted doesn’t necessarily have to derive from a large corporate entity. Local artist Rachel Tribble displayed her dreamlike paintings suitable for hanging on walls, and handed out greeting cards with her artwork.

In the gadget department, Scosche was the standout. Their catalog highlights gear for off-roaders, race car drivers, sports fishermen, rodeo riders, and rock crawlers. For the rest of us, a useful gadget is a cell phone power bank that also functions as a flashlight and jumper cables.

Tea Voila is a unique concept in that the product is packaged in a box with 6 biodegradable cups with built-in tea leave infusers that eliminate tea bags. Each cup may be used three times, and the cup may be disposed with no worry that it harms the environment.

Watching a subpar film or TV show may induce pain in the cranium, and MiGuard comes along to provide samples of its eponymous product for migraine and headache relief with an organic, vegan, and non-GMO over-the-counter supplement containing vitamins, minerals, and herbal compounds.

After feeling better, you could try Andersen’s Crazy Candy which transforms classic sweets into crunchy, freeze-dried candy that is touted as turning “favorite treats into a party in your mouth.”

Poppin’ Love, an online only gourmet popcorn shop, redefines the staple of a movie theater concession with a range of incredible flavors, from a caramel favorite and cheddar jalapeno to garlic parmesan and cookies & cream.

I passed on samples of skin products and lip balm, but it was interesting to see a company coming from Australia to promote their SenQuil line of moisturizers and face cleansers.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.