feelsalike.comSign in
Beetlejuice poster

Movies that feel likeBeetlejuice (1988)

A newly dead New England couple seeks help from a deranged demon exorcist to scare an affluent New York family out of their home.

If you loved Beetlejuice, the closest films we have are Ghostbusters (1984), Nothing Left to Do But Cry (1984) and The Visitors (1993). All three share Beetlejuice's dreamlike and witty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is An American Werewolf in London (1981).

🍅 83% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Tim Burtondreamlikewittyplayfuldread
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:HBO Max ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Beetlejuice streaming? →

If Beetlejuice hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Ghostbusters poster
Ghostbusters
1984 · dir. Ivan Reitman
🍅 95%★ 7.8comedy · fantasy

Deadpan pros treating the supernatural like a pest-control job

The difference: Wisecracking procedural energy — none of Burton's macabre design

After losing their university jobs, three parapsychologists start a ghost-catching business in New York City and uncover a supernatural threat that could destroy the world.

Nothing Left to Do But Cry poster
Nothing Left to Do But Cry
1984 · dir. Massimo Troisi
★ 7.6comedy · fantasy

Ordinary schmoes dumped into an absurd world with its own mad rules

The difference: Italian time-travel farce with zero supernatural set dressing

Two 20th-century friends accidentally stumble into the year 1492, where they meet a charming teen and try to alter history.

The Visitors poster
The Visitors
1993 · dir. Jean-Marie Poiré
🍅 31%★ 7fantasy · comedyPrime Video

Unruly guests from another time wreaking havoc on tidy modern life

The difference: French culture-clash farce — no afterlife, just anachronisms

After a wizard's spell goes awry, 12th-century Gallic knight Godefroy de Papincourt, Count of Montmirail finds himself transported to 1993, along with his dimwitted servant, Jacquouille la Fripouille. Startled and perplexed by modern technology, the duo run amok, destroying cars and causing chaos until they meet Beatrice de Montmirail, an aristocratic descendant of the nobleman, who may be able to help them get back to 1123.

Liar Liar poster
Liar Liar
1997 · dir. Tom Shadyac
🍅 83%★ 6.9comedy · fantasyNetflix

The same mix in both: dream logic, then wit

The difference: Takes it somewhere less dread-soaked than Beetlejuice does

Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.

Army of Darkness poster
Army of Darkness
1992 · dir. Sam Raimi
🍅 68%★ 7.4fantasy · horror · comedyPrime Video

Slapstick and skeletons — horror imagery played for pure comedy

The difference: Louder and dumber on purpose, with none of the domestic satire

Ash, a handsome, shotgun-toting, chainsaw-armed department store clerk, is time warped backwards into England's Dark Ages, where he romances a beauty and faces legions of the undead.

Gremlins poster
Gremlins
1984 · dir. Joe Dante
🍅 86%★ 7.3fantasy · horror · comedyMax

Anarchic little monsters shredding suburbia's cozy veneer

The difference: Meaner streak — its creatures actually draw blood

After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.

Dark Shadows poster
Dark Shadows
2012 · dir. Tim Burton
🍅 35%★ 6.2comedy · fantasy

Burton's gothic kitsch — the undead loose amid tacky mortal decor

The difference: A muddled vampire soap that never finds its comic rhythm

Vampire Barnabas Collins is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate and family have fallen into ruin.

Mars Attacks! poster
Mars Attacks!
1996 · dir. Tim Burton
🍅 57%★ 6.4comedy · fantasy · science fiction

Burton siccing gleefully nasty invaders on smug polite society

The difference: Scattershot ensemble spoof — cruel fun but emotionally hollow

A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.

If I Were You poster
If I Were You
2006 · dir. Daniel Filho
🍅 13%★ 6.1comedy · fantasy

Both lean on play more than on fantasy

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

The publicist Claudio and the housewife and choral teacher Helena have been married for many years, but they do not understand and respect the feelings and view point of the partner. Claudio sees Helena as a shopper and "little teacher of a choral" and Helena sees Claudio as an insensitive and rough man. On the night before the fiftieth anniversary of Claudio, they changed places with each other.

An American Werewolf in London poster
An American Werewolf in London
1981 · dir. John Landis
🍅 80%★ 7.5comedy · horror · fantasyPrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: halloween

The difference: Sits closer to horror than Beetlejuice does

American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.

Death Becomes Her poster
Death Becomes Her
1992 · dir. Robert Zemeckis
★ 6.7comedy · fantasy · horrorPrime VideoPeacock

Death as farce — vain mortals discovering the afterlife's fine print

The difference: Nastier Hollywood satire; glamour and spite over ghoulish whimsy

Madeline is married to Ernest, who was once her arch-rival Helen's fiancé. After recovering from a mental breakdown, Helen vows to kill Madeline and steal back Ernest. Unfortunately for everyone, the introduction of a magic potion causes things to be a great deal more complicated than a mere murder plot.

17 Again poster
17 Again
2009 · dir. Burr Steers
🍅 57%★ 6.4comedy · fantasyNetflix

Dreamlike comedy in both cases

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

On the brink of a midlife crisis, 30-something Mike O'Donnell wishes he could have a "do-over." And that's exactly what he gets when he wakes up one morning to find he's 17 years old again. With his adult mind stuck inside the body of a teenager, Mike actually has the chance to reverse some decisions he wishes he'd never made. But maybe they weren't so bad after all.

In the mood for more dreamlike?

all dreamlike movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Beetlejuice’s defining feeling.