David Geffen Movies

Even as Season Three of the animated series Beetlejuice was spooling every Saturday morning on ABC, a separate fourth season, consisting of 65 episodes, was merrily humming away from Monday through Friday on the Fox network. Though the principal characters are still the grotesquely hilarious and presumably dead practical joker Beetlejuice (aka BJ) and his wide-eyed mortal friend Lydia, and while the main locale for the series remains the surrealistic Neitherworld, the Fox version differs slightly from the ABC edition by specializing in literary and pop-culture parodies, beginning with BJ enthusiastically booking several dead historical figures for Neitherworld's top TV talk show. Later on, BJ assumes the guise of Grimdiana Jones to rescue Lydia from the clutches of giant beetle Thing Thong; a pair of severed ears show up as the main characters in a Maltese Falcon takeoff; BJ and Lydia pay a visit to the yecchiest place in Neitherworld, the ghoulish theme park Grislyland, where the mascot is Bartholomew Bat (try to spell out THAT name in a song!). Also: BJ is trapped in the enchanted village Brinkadoom, which disappears every time the citizens fall asleep, a frozen chicken haunts BJ's roadhouse as "The Poultrygeist"; our hero is given a chance to see what would have happen if he never existed by the spectral Clarence Sale; a trip back to 17th Century London finds BJ and Lydia being kidnapped by various Shakespearean characters who want her to rewrite their plays so they won't get killed; a Caesar salad comes to life and forms a legion of vegetables, then divides all Aroma into three parts (what Gaul!); BJ squares off against notorious outlaw Jesse Germs; thej first production of BJ's "Disasterpiece Theater" is Moby Richard, featuring the most temperamental whale in showbiz history. And you can't imagine the instigated in the episode "The Wizard of Ooze." Plus: exercise fitness guru Jacques LaLean finds a formidable foe in King of Fitness Armhold Musclehugger; BJ and Lydia compete in the fast-food business with Scuzoo the Clown; BJ defends his title of World's Great Prankster against his great rival, Germs Pondscum; an attempt to exterminate some ants results in BJ creating a whole new colony of annoying relatives (all "Aunts" of course); and finally, BJ takes advantage of a new TV cartoon trend by transforming himself into UltraBeetleMan. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season two of the ABC version of the zoned-out cartoon series Beetlejuice features 13 new adventures with the Neitherworld's favorite ghoulish prankster Beetlejuice ("B.J") and his winsome mortal friend Lydia Deetz. This season, it's Beetlejuice vs. Lydia on Scary Fools Day; the duo races against the well-named Scuzzo the Clown in the Neitherworld Groan Prix; "Dr. Beetlejuice" creates a perfume that alters personalities; the episode "Uncle B.J.'s Roadhouse" dishes up a wild spoof of Pee-wee's Playhouse (which, like Beetlejuice, was a spinoff of a popular live-action movie directed by Tim Burton); and bug-eating B.J. is in gross-out heaven when he lands a job as a scarecrow on a beetle farm. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Anne Rice's best-selling romantic horror tale about the origins of a centuries-old vampire inspired this popular, atmospheric chiller. One of director Neil Jordan's major Hollywood productions, the film stays close to its source material, retaining the frame of a young reporter (Christian Slater) interviewing a man who claims to be a 200-year-old vampire. The man, Louis (Brad Pitt), shares his story, beginning in 18th-century New Orleans with his first encounters with the charismatic and decadent vampire Lestat (Tom Cruise). Lestat converts Louis to blood-sucking and immortality, but Louis fails to adopt Lestat's cavalier attitude, instead tormenting himself with guilt over his new nature. The two vampires remain deeply, if reluctantly, connected over the years, while becoming intimately involved with others of their kind, including Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), a mature immortal in a young child's body. Fans of the novel raised numerous objections, particularly after Rice initially spoke out against the casting of Cruise as Lestat; further casting difficulties followed the death of River Phoenix, whose role as the interviewer was assumed by Christian Slater. Rice later recanted her objections, and the combination of thrills and gothic romance proved popular with audiences. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

It started as a 1960 Roger Corman horror comedy, filmed in two days; it then inspired a lavish 1982 Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Finally in 1986, Little Shop of Horrors (1960) graduated into a multimillion-dollar, all-star film musical. Rick Moranis plays nebbishy Seymour Krelborn, who works in a rundown flower shop on Skid Row. While his boss (Vincent Gardenia) bemoans the lack of business, Seymour seeks a way of bringing the shop -- and himself -- fame and fortune. He purchases a strange plant from an even stranger oriental street vendor (Vincent Wong), naming the plant after his girlfriend Audrey (Ellen Greene, one of the few carry-overs from the Broadway version). Gradually, Seymour learns to his horror that "Audrey II" (given the voice of R&B performer Levi Stubbs) craves blood and flesh. With each of Audrey II's "FEEED MEEE"s, Seymour must scare up human food to satisfy the plant's appetite. One such victim is dentist Steve Martin, a leather-jacketed Elvis type (the dentist's ultra-masochistic patient played by Jack Nicholson in the 1960 original is here impersonated by Bill Murray). The lighthearted tone of the film darkens as Audrey II grows in monstrosity, but the unhappy ending of the Broadway version is avoided herein. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi