8 Movies That Didn't Know Who The Bad Guy Was

2. Beetlejuice

Chalk this one up to an oversight by audiences that love to romanticize the afterlife. Beetlejuice is pegged as the clearcut villain in this movie, despite his goofball antics. He's essentially the demon spirit from The Exorcist, only much more persistent and a smidgeon wackier. But in our haste to crucify the green-haired, pimp-suited monster, we've overlooked the real villains: Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, aka Adam and Barbara Maitland. After all, they're the petty ghosts responsible for releasing all that evil.

Though we may not know where we go when we die, we can be sure of one thing: Once you're dead, property laws still remain. Ghosts, no matter how good-natured and sweet, are no longer the owners of their house. It's sad but true. So when this new family, The Deetzes, decides to move in and start renovating the admittedly old-fashioned home, that's their right. Because they're living people. With bank accounts...and flesh. They spend much valuable energy trying to run this new, goth-loving family out of the house because they've been told of some supernatural law requiring them to remain in the residence for 125 years.

Rather than bear the thought of someone redecorating what used to be their home, they decide instead to awaken a nearly unstoppable monster to do their dirty work, even though they've been warned against it by veteran ghosts who clearly know a little more about that whole "being dead" thing.

That monster then proceeds to create pants-sh*ttingly terrifying melee on their behalf, nearly killing three innocent people in the process. Sure, after things get a little more vicious than they anticipated (because they're idiots), they make it their mission to stop Beetlejuice. But that's like a Bond villain trying to stop his laser death ray after he's pushed the big red button. Too little, too late.