The wait was worth it.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” director Tim Burton’s follow-up to his 1988 classic horror-comedy “Beetlejuice,” had its world premiere on the opening night of the Venice Film Festival on August 28 – 36 years after the first movie was released. The long-in-the-works sequel, which screened out of competition, delighted the audience and earned a nearly four-minute standing ovation for Burton and his cast – led by Beetlejuice himself Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara, both also reprising their roles in the original, and new cast members Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe.

“It’s truly exciting to see Burton’s return to form, making something both grotesque and funny,” wrote Collider. “He appears to be energized and having fun, something we haven’t seen in quite a while.”

The Hollywood Reporter lauded Burton and the cast: “The zippy pacing, buoyant energy and steady stream of laugh-out-loud moments hint at the joy Burton appears to have found in revisiting this world, and for anyone who loved the first movie, it’s contagious. That applies also to the actors, all of whom warm to the dizzying lunacy.”

In their review, Time magazine wrote, “The movie carries you along on its wriggling magic carpet of mayhem – and features one sequence of creepy-elegant-funny cracked poetry that’s classic, old-school Burton.” They also praised Keaton’s portrayal once again of the ghost with the most and said seeing the actor in full costume again as Beetlejuice was “like greeting a decrepit, kvetching old friend, the kind you keep around just for entertainment value. Michael Keaton clearly adores this character; once again, he pours pure love into Beetlejuice’s maniacal, depraved soul.”

Deadline Hollywood had a great time watching the movie, which they described as “a blast just to watch” and “funny, all the time.”

Empire magazine gave a special mention to Burton’s much-loved “freak flag.” “The film is strongest when it remembers it’s a Tim Burton film and has license to get weird,” said Empire in their review. “While it’s slicker and less homemade-feeling than the 1988 vintage, there are still flashes of B-movie brilliance: a stop-motion animation sequence, some delightful shrunken-head prosthetic effects, and two demented birth scenes with the most ghoulish prosthetic baby this side of ‘American Sniper.’ It’s moments like this, when Burton lets his freak flag truly fly, that ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ earns its stripes.’

In “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice,” three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy. Still haunted by Beetlejuice (Keaton), Lydia’s (Ryder) life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid (Ortega), discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it’s only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice’s name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem. The sequel’s screenplay is by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (“Wednesday”), story by Gough and Millar and Seth Grahame-Smith (“The LEGO® Batman Movie”), based on characters created by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” distributed in the Philippines by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company, creeps into Philippine cinemas on September 4. #Beetlejuice #Beetlejuice

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Photo & Video Credit: LucaDammicco, Warner Bros. Pictures