BEETLEJUICE — SHOCKTOBER!

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Tim Burton's 1988 kids' movie horror/goof-fest might have impressed that era's young audiences with its stop-motion animation effects, but "Beetlejuice" is too scattershot with its humor to make much of an impression.

Tim Burton's use of surrealistic elements gives you a disorienting sense of time and place, and that is this movie's greatest gift; it takes you to weird, dystopic landscapes and atmospheres.

There are plenty of great sight-gags, but they only get the movie so far. The narrative development just isn't there.

At heart, "Beetlejuice" is a haunted house story, with Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin doing the ghostly honors.

Winona Ryder owns the picture with her insouciant Goth attitude.

In what equates to Ryder's big screen career (this is just her third film), you can clearly see her star shining bright behind those dyed black bangs.

Michael Keaton elevates the meandering script with sheer energy. Only Robin Williams could have come close to Keaton's over-the-top performance, and even he would have had a hard time matching it.

For kids' Halloween movie, "Beetlejuice" is a safe bet, but it won't go over as well with the adults.

Debatable though is the film's tone-deaf use of Calypso music.

Not helping.

Raged PG. 92 mins.

PSYCHO II — SHOCKTOBER!

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LA GRANDE BOUFFE (THE BIG FEAST)SHOCKTOBER! rolls on with episode #75, featuring PSYCHO II. Anthony Perkins reprises his role as Norman Bates "22 years later." Stone Vengeful Spirit IPA is the perfect beer for our chat. 

Bon appétit Bouffers!

FINAL DESTINATION 5 — SHOCKTOBER!

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The "Final Destination" franchise settles into its comfortable shock horror rhythm in this latest outing. Notable is the film's proficient use of 3D — the best such example of any 3D movie so far this year. Debut director Steven Quale and his production team break the window with a purpose and regularity that puts other "3D" movies to shame.

As with its previous installments, the unfolding body-count of accident victims is predicted in a complex opening sequence of Rube Goldberg-styled outrageous disaster.

Here, the Grim Reaper’s youthful targets are co-workers at a paper production company going on a work-related retreat. Needless to say, not much "team-building" is in store for the core group. A crumbling suspension bridge — not unlike San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge — sends our doomed twenty-somethings fleeing their bus only to meet with gruesome deaths of blood-spattering, body-piercing, eyeball-popping variety.

In keeping with the franchise's constant recipe, the sequence is a premonition envisioned by one member of the party who attempts to "cheat" death by sounding the alarm just before the actual calamity strikes. Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) is the brief crystal-ball-reader. Sam's newly ex-girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell) is also aboard. Naturally, Sam does everything he can to save Molly. Since the condemned will die in the order that Sam predicted, he and Molly are far down the list.

There’s irony in how entertaining this 11-year-old horror franchise as compared with the torture-porn stylings of lesser efforts, such as the “Saw” films. The filmmakers and actors here all seem to be having a blast. If you start to become award of the inherent dangers constantly hanging over your head and hiding under your feet after seeing “Final Destination 5” then the filmmakers have done their job. Even if that doesn’t happen, at least you’ll get to experience a 3D movie that properly exploits the process.

Rated R. 95 mins.