National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Warner Bros. released Beetlejuice in March 1988, directed by Tim Burton in only his second feature film. The production marked an early collaboration between Burton and Michael Keaton and helped establish the director's distinctive gothic-comic visual language. The film was a considerable commercial success and has remained a touchstone of late-1980s fantasy filmmaking, earning a devoted following across generations.

This cell, titled Beetlejuice, captures Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse in close-up against a dark background, mouth open and gaze directed upward, wearing the character's iconic black-and-white striped suit with characteristically disheveled hair. The three frames preserve a single sustained moment, each offering a slightly shifted view of the same raw, theatrical expression that made Keaton's performance so immediately recognizable.