Danny Elfman -- Beetlejuice

 

Well, we're just a couple of sleeps away from Halloween 2026. I figure that it'll be chaos at Shibuya Crossing again and the kids will be trick-or-treatin' in the local neighbourhoods while the grownups will be planning their own cosplay debauchery. Of course, it also means that it's another Halloween-themed Reminiscings of Youth today.

It was in March 1988 when the first "Beetlejuice" hit movie screens, and in retrospect, I have to say that it'll go down as one of the most star-studded horror comedies that has ever existed although some of the cast weren't all that well known back then. But now, when I mention Michael Keaton, Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder among others, folks may gasp. There were many highlights in the movie but one of the funniest was the cast rendition of "Day-O". I was lucky enough to have caught the flick in the theatre in its first run.

For Keaton, I think "Beetlejuice" was probably his final movie as him being known primarily as a comedic actor. Once "Batman" and one other movie with him came out the following few years, he was heading into dramatic territory along the same lines as Robin Williams and Tom Hanks. Composer Danny Elfman was even less known to me at the time. The New Wave band Oingo Boingo was known to me only by name since I was never a fan of theirs but Elfman was the lead vocalist and songwriter.

Elfman then became a soundtrack scorer for movies from the middle of the 1980s, and the score for "Beetlejuice" is the one that first impressed upon me his mix of old-style oom-pah-pah Eastern European circus marching band and early 20th-century heroic classical overtures. The "Beetlejuice" theme is perfect for October 31st for its silliness and sinister overtones...and it even includes a prelude of the "Day-O" hijinks to come.

What else was coming out in Japan in that month of March 1988?

Shizuka Kudo -- Daite Kuretara Iinoni （抱いてくれたらいいのに）

Miki Imai -- Shizuka ni Kita Solitude （静かにきたソリチュード）

Anzen Chitai -- Tsuki ni Nureta Futari （月に濡れたふたり）

As a PS, allow me to introduce something related to another wonderful Halloween theme, "Ghostbusters", which has already gotten onto the ROY file. In the last several days, a YouTuber by the name of Bill McClintock has managed to create a great musical mashup with the famed Ray Parker Jr. song as the base. You can also see Elfman hamming it up as well.