10 Movies Way Freakier Than You Thought

Beetlejuice is one of Tim Burton's most entertainingly free-wheeling movies, topped by a deliciously enjoyable performance from Michael Keaton as the demented poltergeist hired to scare the Deetzes (Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, and Winona Ryder) out of their haunted new home.

And as fun a madcap caper as the film might be, it's also easy to forget that it plays host to one of the most creepily inappropriate "romances" in any major '80s movie.

After all, Beetlejuice only agrees to help Lydia (Ryder) rid their new home of their unwanted guests if she first agrees to marry him, which would allow him to wreak havoc in the mortal world.

Though the wedding ceremony isn't actually completed, we're nevertheless treated to an insane sequence in which it very nearly is. Considering that Lydia is clearly a teenager below the age of consent, it's not just creepy - it's illegal.

While Burton's film doesn't entirely ignore the inherent wrongness of it all, it's largely played for laughs, even if through a contemporary lens it's decidedly less funny.

Unsurprisingly, the Emmy-winning animated TV series which followed the movie softened the title character's persona considerably, transforming him into more of a "harmless" trickster and less of a quasi-paedophile.