Ghost With the Most

In Director Tim Burton's 1988 cult comedy Beetlejuice, the titular ghost, played by Michael Keaton, is on screen for a quarter of an hour, max. The film, an irresistible mix of anarchy and cartoonishness, focuses on the recently deceased Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), a painfully nice couple now haunting their beloved Connecticut fixer-upper. When pretentious New York yuppies buy the place and give it a vulgar postmodern makeover, their alienated Goth daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder), enlists the creepy Beetlejuice to aid the Maitlands in scaring her parents out of the house.

Keaton made the most of his 15 minutes: Stardom followed that indelible and deliciously lecherous performance, which is why "those who grew up loving the movie forget it's essentially about a dead, childless musical that's about to open on Broadway. "Beetlejuice's choices aren't what drive the movie—he's barely a character. He's more of a weapon that's unleashed."