Ghostbusters

-Columbia/Tristar (1984)

Summary

A team of unlikely heroes battle ghosts to save the day.

My Thoughts

Ghostbusters is one of the great films of the 80's. I don't know anyone who grew up during the 80's that doesn't know at least one line from the film, or can't recognize the theme song from the first two words. And what other answer can there be to the question, "Who ya gonna call?" Like Batman, I had an affair with Ghostbusters as a kid.  I loved the film, but in a bigger way I loved the cartoon. I'm not talking about the one with the stupid ass gorilla either, I'm talking about The Real Ghostbusters here.

I remember at one Christmas exchange at school I got a figure from that stupid ass show and I was so pissed off. I finally got a Peter Venkman from my Mom and Dad before I go to do some real ghost busting action, while the idiotic toy was melted in a ghost busting adventure gone sour. I also owned the proton pack AND separate trap for happy fun time role-play action. How's that for cool?

I was surprised to find that this edition of the DVD is so well done. It actually looks sort of cheap at first glance, but digging a little deeper will show the ghostly goodness that lies within. The surround mix and picture are rather standard, but I'm not expecting a whole lot from a comedy. Where this edition shines is in the nice package of extras.

Ghostbusters begins with a group of paranormal researchers comprised of Peter Venkman played by Bill Murray, Ray Stantz played by Dan Aykroyd, and Egon Spengler played by Harold Ramis. These researchers lose their funding at the university they are nestled in and are forced to actually do something with their lives. They do what any unemployed paranormal researching college staff would do, start a ghost hunting business. Ghostbuster's script is a reflection on the great talent of the creators. The nuances in dialogue are deep and true, especially in lines like, "Yes it's true. This man has no dick."

From their shaky beginnings the crew manages to make the business a success. It's all fun and games until they realize they are going to have to face a hugely powerful god in order to save the day.

This film is damn funny. I'd describe it as side-splitting, or gut-busting if you will. Much of the humor is timeless with Bill Murray getting the lion's share of the laughs. The whole crew does get a lot of great lines though and this is due to the great cast.

There are too many great performances other than the main Ghostbusters to list, but most notable is Rick Moranis in his nerdy/weird character. 

As I've said the film still holds up well, except for the bad 80's music. Aside from the catchy and now familiar theme song, there are a couple of regrettable and annoyingly bad tunes. The actual orchestral score is very well done, but is overshadowed by that catchy theme song.

There are also some really bad special effects shots that have not aged well at all, especially the scenes involving the Terror Dogs, but these moments can be forgiven, because it’s a comedy that doesn't necessarily have to be 100% believable.

On the whole I like Ghostbusters a lot and this disc is a great buy.

Extras

The commentary track is a good watch and fairly unique. There's a video component that's used ingeniously along with the audio. If you're familiar with Mystery Science Theater you'll recognize the theater seat layout with the commentators sitting in the front row. It doesn't add a whole lot to what they're saying, but it's cool nonetheless.

“Spook Central” is the main way to access the special features. For some weird reason there are multiple ways to get to the same item, and some items are located in different categories. I don't know why this was done, but it's pretty stupid.

 “Scene Cemetery” contains the deleted scenes from Ghostbusters. The scenes themselves are a little underwhelming, but are a good addition since it's cool to see "new" footage of a film I've seen about 10 times over the last 20 years.

“Tricks and Trivia” contains production notes that play along as you watch the film, a very cool feature.

“Ghost Buster's Grab Bag” is a bunch of choices for stuff located under different menus, and the selections for 2 featurettes. The first is a “classic” promo that's neither interesting nor entertaining. The “1999 Featurette” has a lot more meat on the bone and is worth a look, plus you learn that Dan Aykroyd is INSANE.

"Special Effects" is one of the best sections on this disc. In it you’ll find a featurette that is a conversation with the special effects team looking back at their work and sharing some stories about it. You’ll also find one of the coolest features, “SFX Before and After”. It’s what the name implies, you can watch a few scenes how they originally looked without the special effects, and by using the angle button on the remote (a vastly underused DVD feature) you can see how the final version looks.

There are also some nice production photos with some factoids, and conceptual drawings.

The conceptual drawings are pretty good, but they are situated on a virtual artist's desk so they're tilted at an odd angle. The artist's desk thing is cute, but why not have a full screen picture?

Another feature that I ran across is a storyboards section that lets you look at story boards, or watch them in split screen with a few scenes.

The "Feature" section available from the main menu contains the trailer for the film and again a bunch of stuff that's already listed in other places. The trailer was okay, but it's in full frame, a big no no in my book.

As you can see there are a few good extras included in this edition, I just don’t understand why they are so scattered all over the place. Otherwise, it’s a good amount of stuff to keep a Ghostbusters fan satisfied.

Score:

Film: 8.0

Extras: 8.0

Edition: 8.0

Better packaging would have been icing on the cake. And in closing, let me state that I ain't afraid of no ghosts.

 -Paul