Burton’s beloved monsters!

PostED ON 21.10.2022

Tim Burton's wild imagination has come up with fantastic, monstrous and often endearing creatures. Here are some tantalising morsels from the Burton gallery: 

Beetlejuice

An early symbol of Tim Burton's cinema, where monstrosity is the norm and normality is monstrous, Betelgeuse (in Quebec), a.k.a. Beetlejuice, is a thundering bio-exorcist (as opposed to a ‘traditional’ exorcist): slightly crooked, rather base and even sexually obsessed, he promises persecuted ghosts to get rid of the overly intrusive living. Michael Keaton unleashes a wonderfully wild and zany performance, somewhat paving the way for the Joker. Irresistible!

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Edward Scissorhands

An unfinished creature is left by his maker (Vincent Price, touching) with sharp blades for hands. Yet sweet, gentle Edward means no harm to anyone... An original spin on the Frankenstein myth, the story of Edward, who one day wanders into the copy-and-paste, candy-hued residential suburb reminiscent of the Burbank of Tim Burton's youth. A still modern and humorous movie about acceptance of the ‘other’... Embodied brilliantly by Johnny Depp as the director's double, Edward Scissorhands is perhaps the last romantic hero.

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The Joker

He was formerly a petty thug, working for Gotham City's top notorious bad guy, but a trip to the acid bath turned him into a disfigured clown, a ‘man who laughs’ forever... Dressed in extravagantly loud outfits, Jack Nicholson has a field day in the role of the Joker, who considers crime an art. An unforgettable scene in ‘Batman’ (1989) features a visit to the Fluegelheim Museum, where, dancing to Prince, the Joker smears painting masterpieces and bows to his master of horror: Francis Bacon. What a creep!

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Jack Skellington

He is the mastermind behind Halloweentown, who plans and throws the most horrific party every year. But this elegant skeleton has grown weary; discovering Christmastown, Jack sets out to transform the annual celebration of fear and monsters. But it's no simple feat... Delving into dark romanticism again, Danny Elfman's songs, built on the spoken-and-sung style of the great American musicals, create an appealing depressive hero, a wandering loner. The most endearing of monsters!

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Sweeney Todd

A real monster? Or a damaged, walking-dead man returning from the afterlife ? The ‘Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ has only one ambition: to take revenge on those who killed his wife and shattered his life. This is perhaps the darkest of Tim Burton's films, a cruel version of Edward Scissorhands, where the barber's sharp razor is meant to kill, to cut out the lies, hypocrisy and evil of the triumphant bourgeoisie. Although it is grim, it is nevertheless hard not to empathise with the righteous anger of the most blood-thirsty creature in the Burton universe.

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Spanky

A dog that looks like a mess: killed by a car, the pet of little Victor (undoubtedly named after Burton’s well-known idol) comes back to life on a stormy, lightning-filled night, his body studded with scars, stitched back together in the most unharmonious way imaginable. It is impossible not to love this poor doggie monster, whom Tim Burton created in a first short film in 1983 and later turned into a brilliant and hilarious animated movie, ‘Frankenweenie’, which urges caution when it comes to resurrecting dead creatures. Message well received.

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Aurélien Ferenczi