#1: Beetlejuice

“It’s showtime!”

Much ado was made about Beetlejuice (technically, “Betelgeuse”) — in the 80s.  Now, he’s mostly a forgotten baddie, his legend having shrunk faster than his head does in the final shot of the movie (sorry, spoilers).  Why?

This slimy villain makes such a big impression on the viewer, it’s easy to forget he’s barely in the film that’s named after him (about 15 minutes in total).  But see, the lack of screen time is exactly what makes this creature so memorable.  We know so little about him other than he lives — miniaturized — in a model town in the attic of an isolated hilltop mansion just waiting for someone to chant his name three times so that he can let loose and wreak havoc on bystanders.  And the reason for his mischief?  As far as we can tell, just because it’s fun.  Centuries of being cursed haven’t soured his attitude (Cursed by whom?  We’re not sure, but we can imagine he’s made plenty of enemies), and he’s always ready with a practical joke or at least a bad pun.

And he’s not without honor — after all, he made good on his promise to revive Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis’ crumbling bodies — so there’s a twinge of a moral code there that tempers his mania a little.  But so long as he has free reign, his childlike penchant for chaos runs wild.  We get the sense that there’s so much more complexity to this guy than we’re shown, and that’s why we just want to keep following him (and keep holding our breath for a long-awaited sequel that centers only on him).