While working on the first cut, many orchestra musicians felt strained while playing; Elfman recalled that he was lambasted by a conductor, adding "They tried to record it in England for a best-of album.

[3] Besides Elfman's score, four original recordings by Harry Belafonte were used in the film: "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)", "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)" and "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" and "Sweetheart from Venezuela".

[4] Heather Phares of AllMusic rated 4.5 out of 5 and wrote "A perfect mix of silliness and spookiness, Beetlejuice remains one of Elfman's most consistent scores.

[7] Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote "The whole thing is a zany, quirky, madcap adventure that works wonderfully almost in spite of itself and needs to be in the collection of any serious student of Danny Elfman's career.

"[8] Wilson Foreman and Alison Chapman of IndieWire dissected on the film's main title and summarized "There's restraint in Elfman's conducting — but also a lurking power worth listening to one, two, maybe even three times.