 Skaaren 's rewrite drastically shifted the film 's tone , indicating the graphic nature of the Maitlands ' deaths while depicting the afterlife as a complex bureaucracy . Skaaren 's rewrite also altered McDowell 's depiction of the limbo that keeps Barbara and Adam trapped inside of their home ; in McDowell 's script , it takes the form of a massive , empty void filled with giant clock gears that shred the fabric of time and space as they move . Skaaren had Barbara and Adam encounter different <unk> every time they leave their home , including the " clock world " , and the <unk> 's world , identified as Saturn 's moon Titan . Skaaren also introduced the leitmotif of music accompanying Barbara and Adam 's ghostly hijinks , although his script specified R & B tunes instead of Harry Belafonte , and was to have concluded with Lydia dancing to " When a Man Loves a Woman " . 
