Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega
The holiday season in Winter River has never been exactly “normal,” but this year, the halls are decked with something far more sinister than holly. Beetlejuice: A Very Merry Afterlife reunites the Deetz family for a spectral holiday special that blends the warmth of Christmas with the macabre madness that only the Ghost with the Most can deliver.
Following the harrowing events of the previous film, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is on a mission to normalize her family’s life. She is determined to give her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), the one thing she never had: a calm, picturesque, and ghost-free Christmas. With snow drifting softly over the covered bridge and Delia (Catherine O’Hara) channeling her creative energy into “avant-garde holiday expressionism”—sculpting a nativity scene out of scrap metal and anguish—Lydia finally begins to feel a sense of peace.
But in the Deetz household, silence is just a prelude to chaos.
While rummaging through the attic for vintage decorations, Astrid uncovers a dusty, ominous snow globe hidden behind a false wall, labeled with a frantic warning: “DO NOT SHAKE — ETERNITY INSIDE.” Tempted by curiosity, she gives it a shake. The glass doesn’t just swirl with snow; it cracks open a dimensional rift to the “Holiday Zone” of the Neitherworld—a candy-cane-striped purgatory ruled by a bored and vengeful Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).
Exploding back into the mortal realm with more manic energy than ever, Beetlejuice hijacks the holiday. He isn’t just back to haunt them; he’s pitching a “Christmas Special” to the underworld, and the Deetz women are his unwilling co-stars. Suddenly, the Christmas tree grows carnivorous roots, the stockings on the mantle turn into shrieking sock puppets, and the gingerbread men begin a violent uprising in the kitchen.
Beetlejuice’s goal is simple yet terrifying: to trap the Deetz family in his frozen, stop-motion winter nightmare forever and crown himself the eternal “Santa Claws.”
Lydia, however, is no longer the scared teenager she once was. Realizing that “normal” is overrated, she embraces her strange heritage. Teaming up with Astrid’s Gen-Z resourcefulness and Delia’s bizarre artistic inventions, the three generations of women must navigate a funhouse of holiday horrors. They have until the last chime of Christmas Eve to outsmart the bio-exorcist, or they will become permanent residents of his twisted snow globe.
Bursting with Tim Burton’s signature gothic whimsy, grotesque practical effects, and Michael Keaton at his absolute unhinged best, A Very Merry Afterlife is a wild sleigh ride through the supernatural. It’s a story proving that in Winter River, family is the only thing that can save you from a guy who puts the “die” in Yuletide.