What “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” gets right about grief and death

Most people don't like to talk about death.

It's an understandable aversion: thinking about or discussing the most definitive ending can do more than just dampen your mood; the subject can be fraught with anxiety, unease, and sadness.

But in a film like Beetlejuice, the sequel to 1988's Beetlejuice, death is everywhere – literally. (Be warned: there are mild spoilers for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ahead!)

Significant parts of the new film (in theaters now) take place in the afterlife, where the dead go when their earthly days are over. And Charles Deetz (played by Jeffrey Jones in the original film), who died quite suddenly in a series of bloody events, is taken to the afterlife's waiting room at the beginning of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

From there, the film explores the impact his death has on his family and the events his demise triggers.

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It's hard to say how you'll feel or react when a close relative or friend dies.

Maybe you cry uncontrollably. Maybe you feel numb – or nothing at all. Maybe you fall into an existential black hole and ponder the meaning of life.