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tomeandflickcorner · 5 years

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Movie Review- Ghostbusters

The 1984 film Ghostbusters was the brainchild of Dan Akroyd, who had been a long-time believer in the paranormal. When he first started writing the script, his intention was to have the movie center around three people traveling through time and space to hunt down ghosts. He also planned to have the movie star himself and John Belushi, his close friend and fellow SNL alumni. Unfortunately, Belushi’s untimely death in 1982 made that impossible. However, in spite of the tragedy, Akroyd decided to press on with his project, and he presented his proposed script to Ivan Reitman, who convinced Akroyd to revise the premise to take place solely in modern-day New York City and then brought in Harold Ramis to help Akroyd rework the script. Eventually, they were able to pitch the revised project to Colombia Pictures. The studio saw the potential of the proposed project and, even with the absence of a final script, they greenlit the film with the understanding that it would be ready for release in the summer of 1984.

So, I’m sure we all know how the movie opens, with the middle-aged librarian at the New York Public Library simply doing her job in reshelving some books before she gets terrorized by the sight of the old card catalogue’s contents flying out of their individual shelves and nearly running headlong into something that makes her scream in terror, right before the instant dissolve into the iconic Ghostbusters logo, accompanied by Ray Parker Jr.’s classic theme song. But even in that opening sequence, I was quite impressed how well the effects hold up, considering this move was made in the 80s. It still looks good when the books float across the shelves on their own. Although, it occurred to me while writing this that there might be some mild confusion among younger audiences watching this movie now, considering many of them have probably never had to use an actual card catalogue in their lives. Boy, I feel old.

We then shift focus to the movie’s protagonists, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, a trio of scientists who study the paranormal at Columbia University. At the moment, Peter is seemingly in the middle of conducting an experiment in ESP by having two people guess what’s on those ESP cards. Basically, the gist of this experiment is to deliver a mild electric shock on the subjects every time they guess wrong. I guess this is done in an attempt to trigger the test subjects’ clairvoyance or something. But it becomes obvious rather quickly that he’s fudging his data, as he’s only delivering the electrical shocks to the male test subject while refusing to extend the same treatment to the female test subject. Peter’s obviously a bit of a womanizer in that regard. When the male test subject finally has enough of the constant electrical shocks and storms out, Peter proceeds to try and charm the young woman out on a date. However, he’s quickly interrupted by Ray, who bursts into the room in a fit of excitement. He announces that they’ve been called out to the New York Public Library in order to investigate the strange happenings that were shown in the movie’s opening. Peter, despite trying to make an excuse to sit this one out, is pretty much dragged to the library.

It was at this point in the movie that I started to raise an eyebrow at the very presence of Peter in this movie. Don’t get me wrong, because the whole franchise certainly wouldn’t have been as popular without this character, or the characteristically phenomenal presence of Bill Murray. But I do question why Peter, as a character, is even here. Yes, a deleted scene indicated that he was the one who introduced Ray and Egon to each other, meaning they might not have ever met if not for Peter. However, Egon and Ray seem legitimately interested actually studying and researching the paranormal. Peter, on the other hand, comes across as someone who really doesn’t want to be there. He can’t even conduct a legitimate unbiased experiment, choosing to instead use said experiment as a front for getting dates. It’s almost like someone who hates the performing arts going to Juilliard. Like, why are you even here?

Anyway, Peter and Ray soon join up with Egon at the library to investigate the disturbance, starting with the interview with the terrified librarian. At first, the interview seems rather straightforward, with Peter asking if she has a family history of mental illness, or if she’s currently taking any medication or drugs that might cause her to hallucinate. This, I find, is rather smart. From what I’ve seen, the best type of ghost hunters approach each case with an air of skepticism and try to find a more rational explanation for the supposed paranormal activity. It’s the only way to determine if you have a legitimate haunting. However, Peter then asks the librarian if she’s menstruating. To which the library administrator wonders why that should matter. In response, Peter simply states ‘back off, man. I’m a scientist.’ Um, no. I’m sorry, but that was a legit question. I’m asking as a female. Why would the librarian’s menstrual cycle be of any significance? Last I checked, menstruation does not trigger hallucinations. So, what’s the joke here? I don’t get it. Unless Peter is suggesting that the librarian’s emotional state might have influenced her to think she saw something due to PMS? Because that’s quite a leap in logic. Not to mention rather sexist. Just saying, if there was supposed to be a joke here, the fact that I have to think about it so hard makes it fail as a good joke.

Iffy attempts at jokes aside, Egon interrupts the interview to inform them that he’s got a read on the specter with his PKE meter and that it appears to be moving. So the trio proceed down to the lower level of the library, where they find a bunch of books stacked up between the shelves, as well as the card reader completely drenched with ectoplasmic residue. And once again, while Ray is approaching the while situation like an excited kid and Egon is gathering samples for further study, like a proper scientist would, Peter is just hanging around in the back, visibly bored and all but rolling his eyes. (Side note, really awkward line in this scene. Ray says ‘listen, you smell that?’ Normally, when someone says to listen, they want you to hear something. So if Ray was inquiring about a particular scent, shouldn’t his statement have started with ‘hang on’ or something?)

Eventually, the three of them come face-to-face with the Library Ghost. However, they’re all a bit stumped on how to proceed. Because this is apparently the first time they’ve actually seen a full torso apparition in person. Not even Peter’s attempt at establishing communication with the Library Ghost seems to work. Because, hey, it’s a ghost of a librarian. They insist on people being quiet in the library. But then Ray gets an idea. Only his idea is to charge at the Library Ghost, shouting ‘get her!’ Needless to say, this plan doesn’t work, resulting only in the Library Ghost to instantly shift her appearance into a menacing looking creature that sends Peter, Egon and Ray running completely out of the library in terror. (So much for the famous Ghostbuster motto of ‘I ain’t afraid of no ghost.’)

Interesting tidbit about the transformed Library Ghost, though. The original design of the puppet they used in the scene was deemed too scary for the movie’s PG rating, so they had to set it aside and start from scratch. But they later repurposed the initial design of the ghost for the original Fright Night, which came out the following year.

Sometime later, the trio return to Columbia University, with Peter teasing Ray about his impulsive plan. However, it comes out that the data Egon managed to gather on the Library Ghost during the brief encounter has led him to an interesting prospect. Through some technobabble about ionization rates, they theorize that might be possible for them to actually catch and permanently confine a ghost. However, when they get back to their lab in order to report their findings, they are confronted with the college dean, Dean Yeager. It turns out that the college’s board of directors has decided to terminate their grants, which means they’re being kicked off campus. Thing is, I can totally understand why they’re giving Peter the boot. Because as I said before, I have no idea why he even bothered getting the same parapsychology degree that Ray and Egon got. Unlike them, he seems purely uninterested in actually researching the paranormal. And the brief glimpse of his fake experiment on ESP demonstrates that he will willingly fabricate his data. Everything we’ve seen from Peter so far seems to support everything Dean Yeager is accusing him of. So yeah. I totally support them terminating Peter’s employment at the university. But…why are they kicking Egon and Ray out? They seem like the legit scientists here. I haven’t seen any indication that they’re abusing their positions as paranormal researchers the way Peter is, and they appear to believe 100% in what they’re doing. Is it just a case of them being guilty by association? It would be one thing if they showed Ray and Egon trying to stick up for Peter, being all ‘if you fire him, you’ll have to fire us, too!’ And then immediately cut to them sitting outside on the curb, with boxes full of their stuff. But they don’t do that.

Regardless of how it doesn’t make much sense, all three of them are now out of a job. And Ray is taking it particularly hard. Because without the money and facilities the university provided them with, it’s going to be quite difficult for them to continue their research. Or something to that effect. However, Peter seems quite cavalier about the whole thing. Seemingly on the fly, he comes up with the idea of him, Ray and Egon opening up their own business as paranormal exterminators by running with Egon’s theory about catching ghosts. The only thing is, for them to fully realize the ghost containment system that they have in mind, they’ll need to have a substantial amount of money. Because the necessary materials and power system they need to keep it running don’t come cheap. Of course, Peter’s got it all figured out, and he manages to coerce Ray into mortgaging the house his presumably dead parents left him in order to obtain their start-up loan. Something that Ray isn’t pleased with, but Peter is confident that the franchise rights of being paranormal investigators and eliminators will make them super rich, so there’s no need for Ray to worry about losing his childhood home.

Next up, they have to find a center of operations, so to speak, so they turn to a realtor to help them locate a vacant building they can utilize. The realtor ends up bringing them to the iconic Firehouse, which has apparently been sitting empty for a while and is in a state of disrepair. So much so, the ever-serious Egon finds nothing but faults in the old structure. However, Ray, ever the optimist, falls in love with the place, particularly when it comes to the fire pole. So, despite Egon’s objections, they end up purchasing the Firehouse.

We then cut to a rather fancy looking apartment complex, where a woman named Dana Barrett lives. We join up with her as she’s returning to her apartment with a bag of groceries. Before she can reach her apartment, she is briefly held up by her dorky neighbor, Louis, who works as an accountant. And he, I guess, has a bit of a one-sided crush on Dana, as he keeps inviting her over to his place for some refreshments. While Dana is clearly not interested in him like that, she continues to graciously turn him down, though she does noncommittedly state she’ll ‘try’ to stop by at a party he’s planning on throwing for his clients in the near future. Right before Dana retreats to her apartment in order to get ready for work (she’s a professional musician who plays cello in a symphony orchestra), Louis informs her that she accidently left her TV on when she went out, which greatly puzzles Dana as she doesn’t remember leaving it on. This does end up being beneficial, however, because when Dana enters her apartment, the TV just happens to be playing an advertisement for Peter, Egon and Ray’s new business, Ghostbusters. Dana, briefly watches the commercial in bemusement, but then turns the TV off, continuing to the kitchen in order to put away her groceries.

And that’s when the disturbance happens. While Dana is putting things away, the eggs she set out suddenly start flying out of their shells and proceed to cook on the counter. While it takes Dana a few seconds to notice this, she is visibly stunned by the phenomenon. Before she can recover from the strangeness of this, she hears a menacing growl emanating from her refrigerator. Deciding to investigate the growls, Dana opens the refrigerator to see the interior has been replaced by some dimensional portal to a demonic looking realm. Before Dana can slam the door with a scream, she witnesses the image of a bear-sized creature roaring out the word ‘Zuul!’

Quick question before I continue. I know that the movie pretty much implied that Dana really had simply forgot to switch off her TV before heading out to the store and all, but was that really what happened? What if the TV being switched on while Dana was out was another paranormal happenstance? I know it was probably the more rational explanation, but Kid Me always kinda wondered about that.

Cut to two days later. The Ghostbusters are still trying to get their new business off the ground. They’ve got a rather basic sign for the front of the building, which Peter isn’t too impressed with, and Ray has purchased an old hearse to function as the company car, even though the car is in need of some serious maintenance. They’ve even found a secretary in the feisty and intellectual Janine. She seems to have a thing for Egon, though he seems to be a bit bewildered by her at first. Just look at the way he’s looking at her when she’s rabbling on about how much she likes to read. Maybe he was expecting her to give up on making small talk with him when he retorted that ‘print is dead.’ Maybe this is the first time he met a woman who wasn’t immediately scared away by his overly serious demeanor, and he wasn’t sure how to handle that. In case you couldn’t tell already, I ship these two so hard.

That’s when Dana enters the Firehouse. It seems she has remembered the commercial she saw and has come to the Ghostbusters office to seek their help in figuring out what happened at her apartment two days ago. (Side note, I do get a chuckle over how Peter popped up like a Jack-in-the-Box when he overheard Dana talking to Janine.) Since the Ghostbusters haven’t had any other prospective clients yet, they are quick to offer her assistance. After hearing about what she experienced, Egon and Ray immediately start formulating their hypotheses on what might have caused Dana to witness the things she did and decide to get right to work on researching the history of Dana’s apartment building and searching for any information on the name Zuul. However, Peter volunteers to go to Dana’s apartment and take a look around. Though it’s made very clear that he’s only doing so because he finds her attractive.

Of course, when they get to Dana’s apartment, Peter is unable to find any evidence of paranormal activity. Even though the remnants of the eggs are still on the counter, everything else is completely normal, with the refrigerator being just an ordinary refrigerator. Not even the ghost sniffer that Peter brought along seems to be detecting anything unusual. This frustrates Dana, who begins to partially question her sanity. However, Peter decides to be Peter and proceeds to lay on the charm, even going so far as to confess his love, even though he only met her that day. Last I checked, this isn’t a Disney movie. I don’t think the Disney Corporation even owns Columbia Pictures (yet). Dana, of course, is not having it and instructs him to leave. Peter complies to her request, but not before vowing to prove himself by solving her case. Dana simply rolls her eyes at his declaration and practically has to push him out the door.

That night, our protagonists are sitting down to a dinner of Chinese takeout, where they toast Dana as their first and only customer. Peter, not giving up on his intent to woo the lady, voices his intent to take her out to dinner in order to keep her invested in their services. However, Ray informs him that the food in front of them has effectively used up what was left of their funds. It seems that the necessary repairs they had to do on the Firehouse and their chosen vehicle, not to mention the advertising costs and construction & upkeep of their equipment, has taken a sizable chunk out of their monetary account. If they don’t start making some revenue soon, they’re pretty much sunk.

As luck would have it, at that very moment, Janine answers a phone call at the reception desk. And I do get a chuckle out of her ‘yes, of course they’re serious.’ It makes me wonder if they were getting a lot of prank calls after their advertisement started to air. However, this particular phone call ends up being legit. It turns out there’s a disturbance at the Sedgewick Hotel, and the hotel manager has decided to call in the Ghostbusters. Prompting Janine to excitedly press the alarm bell to announce the Ghostbuster’s first official call, which they respond to almost instantly, driving out to the Sedgewick Hotel in the newly-dubbed Ecto-1. (Question- how much time has passed since Dana approached the Ghostbusters? When she first walked in, we see Ray hard at work in fixing up the car’s multiple mechanical issues. And now it’s apparently been repaired to full working order, complete with a new paintjob. I find it doubtful that they could have completed all that work in only a day, so there must have been a small time jump at work here. Also, there are two arcade games and a pinball machine in the Firehouse. Which of the three purchased them? Inquiring minds want to know.)

Upon arriving at the Sedgewick Hotel, Peter, Egon and Ray are approached by the hotel manager, the one who called them in. The manager explains that the twelfth floor of the hotel has always experienced the occasional disturbance over the years, but it’s always been easy for the hotel staff to cover it up so the guests wouldn’t notice. However, two weeks ago, the paranormal activity has intensified, which has left him no choice than to try calling in the Ghostbusters. After the brief discussion with the manager, the Ghostbusters head to the elevators in order to head up to the twelfth floor. But first, we get a possibly dated joke where a hotel guest takes in the appearance of the Ghostbusters in their coveralls and proton packs and asks if they’re cosmonauts. I had to look up was a cosmonaut was because I was not familiar with that term. FYI, it’s basically the Russian equivalent of an astronaut. Which basically means that the hotel guest was suspecting them of being Russians. That only makes sense when you consider the fact that this movie was made during the time of the Cold War, when there was strong tension between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Moving on, as they make their way up the elevator, Egon and Ray admit that they never properly tested their equipment. Meaning this first mission is going to be a crash course, so to speak. Of course, they basically do have their chance at testing out their proton packs when they impulsively fire off Proton Streams at a housekeeper who just happened to be passing by. (Thankfully, she wasn’t harmed and only her cart got toasted.) After the slight mishap, the trio decide to split up in order to cover more ground. As such, Ray is the one who comes across the ghost first. As those of you who are familiar with the franchise knows, it’s the green potato-shaped entity that will eventually be dubbed as Slimer. (Although the creature was originally called ‘The Onionhead Ghost’ by the film crew, as the ghost was supposed to emit a particular odor.) At the moment, Slimer is stuffing his face with the food on a room service cart. Because Peter and Egon are out of earshot, Ray decides to try and catch Slimer himself, but his attempt only ends up spooking Slimer, who zooms off and escapes through a wall, leaving behind a bit of green ectoplasmic residue. This results in the green ghost crossing paths with Peter. To his credit, Peter seems to take it a little more calmly and contacts Ray over the walkie-talkie. But before anything could be done, Slimer flies toward Peter almost menacingly, prompting Peter to scream (which is probably the most emotion we’ve seen Peter display so far. He didn’t even scream during the scene with the Library Ghost.) By the time Ray appears on the scene, Slimer is once again gone, but Peter is lying on the ground, drenched in green ectoplasm.

At this point, Egon manages to contact them, announcing he witnessed Slimer entering a ballroom elsewhere in the hotel. So the Ghostbusters head down the ballroom in question, instructing the manager to wait outside while they deal with the matter. Eventually, they do manage to capture Slimer, but only after causing extensive damage to the ballroom, including destroying a rather expensive looking chandelier. Although, this scene does contain a moment when Egon informs Ray and Peter of an important safety precaution involving their Proton Packs. Because of the nature of the Proton Streams they use to restrain the ghost while the Ghost Trap is being set up, it is vitally important that they don’t cross the streams. Because if they do, it would result in a total protonic reversal that would cause every cell in their bodies to explode. Which is obviously a rather gruesome way to die.

Upon the successful capture of Slimer, the Ghostbusters exit the demolished ballroom and approach the hotel manager, seeking the payment for their services. But the manager balks at the knowledge that they’re asking for $5,000. (Because I’m a nerd, I actually took the time to adjust this amount for inflation. That price is equivalent to $12,326.42 now.) At first, the manager refuses to pay that much. Until they threaten to release Slimer back into the ballroom. Now, on the one hand, I can appreciate that the Ghostbusters are in desperate need of funds at this point, and they need to be properly confiscated considering how expensive it is to maintain their equipment. At the same time, they could have offered a slight discount, seeing as how the hotel is now going to have to pay for the damage to the ballroom. Still, we do get a nice moment of seeing Peter and Egon playing off each other. If you watch carefully, you can see Egon trying to covertly signal Peter in how much to charge the hotel for trapping Slimer.

And thus begins the montage scene of the Ghostbusters doing their thing in busting the various spooks that continue popping up around the city as their popularity continues to grow, with them making the front page of newspapers, appearing in various magazines and even scoring TV interviews. (Along with brief cameos of Larry King and the now-late Casey Kasem.) Of course, there is one moment in this montage that appears to be a dream sequence of Ray’s, in which he’s visited by a ghost lady who, despite not actually showing anything (the movie was rated PG, after all), clearly performs oral sex on him. It’s a bit of a weird moment, to be honest. Of course, that brief sequence was actually recycled footage from a scene that didn’t make it into the final cut. The scene in question had the Ghostbusters investigating a haunting at the fictional Fort Detmerring. Though knowing that doesn’t make the scene any less weird.

As the montage wraps up, we get introduced to our final main character, Winston Zeddemore. He arrives at the Firehouse in response to an ad the Ghostbusters put out, asking for additional help. It seems that the ghostly activity in the city has gotten to be too much for Peter, Ray and Egon to tackle on their own, and they’re hoping to get more assistance. So Winston has decided to come by and apply for the job out of a desire to have a steady paycheck. And because Peter and Ray are particularly exhausted over how busy they’ve been lately, they hire him on the spot upon returning from a bust.

Now, I probably should acknowledge the fact that Winston seems to get the short end of the stick among the Ghostbusters fandom, with him being regarded as the odd one out due to the fact that he doesn’t join the team until halfway through the movie and isn’t actually a scientist like the others. There was even an episode of Stranger Things that brought this up. But honestly, I think Winston is one of best members of the team. Because he’s the everyday guy. The one who pretty much gave us ordinary folks the hope that we could be Ghostbusters, too. And, as an adult, I can appreciate Winston’s whole attitude when he straight up tells Janine ‘if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.’ This is a guy who just wants a job that will help him get food on the table, and just happened to end up landing the coolest job on the planet. That is awesome! I wanna be Winston!

The movie then cuts to Carnegie Hall, where Dana is just getting out of work after a rehearsal. She and a fellow member of the orchestra, a male violin player who Dana later describes as one of the finest musicians in the world, are complaining about the guest conductor who oversaw the rehearsal, and how the conductor in question seemed to prefer shouting at them in German rather than actually do any real conducting. Their conversation is cut short when Dana spots Peter a few feet away, and she goes over to talk with them. Strangely enough, Dana seems to be rather taken with Peter now. The last time we saw these two together, Dana seemed a bit annoyed by Peter and his unwanted advances. But here, she seems to have warmed up to him. Were there additional scenes that showed further interactions between the two that wound up on the cutting room floor? Because if the movie really wanted to sell these two as the main couple, they could have really benefitted from showing them interact a little more. While the actors do play well off each other, it seems a bit odd that Dana seemingly went from viewing Peter as an annoyance to her regarding him as a friend without showing us how she got to that point. Granted we saw her appear a few times in the movie’s montage segment, but that was only her reacting to the various news stories about the Ghostbusters’ rising fame.

Anyway, Peter reveals he was true to his word. Even though they’ve been busy dealing with other hauntings and whatnot, they’re still working on figuring out what caused the paranormal activity at Dana’s apartment. Their research has found some information about the name of Zuul, who was a demi-god worshiped by some various ancient cultures around 6000 BC. He was also said to be the minion of a being called Gozer. Of course, they’re not quite sure why Dana seems to have been targeted by Zuul and Gozer, so Peter suggests they could get together Thursday night around 9 to discuss the matter more thoroughly. Of course, Dana sees this for what it is and knows Peter is just trying to trick her into a date. But she ultimately agrees to the arrangement, because she is now apparently charmed by his advances now. Not sure why, but whatever.

It then cuts back to the Firehouse, where Ray is busy showing Winston how to load a captured ghost into their custom-made Containment Unit, which basically works as a jailhouse for the imprisoned ghosts. Meanwhile, Peter is upstairs, dealing with a visit from Walter Peck from the Environmental Protection Agency. Basically, Peck is there to investigate the Ghostbusters and check if their operation is creating a significant impact on the environment. As such, he wants to inspect their equipment, particularly the Containment Unit. Ultimately, Peter refuses to comply with his demands. Now, as someone who actually has a BS in Environmental Studies, I have to admit that…. Peck is not necessarily in the wrong here. He’s simply doing his job in investigating the Ghostbusters and making sure they’re not releasing any toxic substances into the environment. So I don’t fault him for what he’s wanting to do. However, I don’t think he went about it in a good way. Especially since he really does give a pretty big veiled threat to Peter during their conversation. Not to mention that he seems to indirectly accuse them of purposely releasing noxious gas into the atmosphere with the intention of making people hallucinate into seeing ghosts. Because of that, I also don’t blame Peter for refusing to comply with Peck’s demands. If Walter Peck had just been a bit more professional and respectful about his intentions, things might have turned out differently. After Walter Peck storms out, Peter rejoins Egon, Ray and Winston down in the basement, where the three of them inform him of some fresh concern of Egon’s. The Containment Unit, it seems, is getting close to maximum capacity due to all the ghosts they’ve been catching. To make things even more concerning, the data he’s collected from their various missions throughout the city suggests that something much bigger is on the horizon. Which he explains with a Twinkie analogy.

However, I have to pause for a moment to really look at these last few scenes back-to-back. This is probably a nitpick, but the continuity of these scenes seem a bit off. If you look carefully, you see that Peter is wearing his Ghostbusters jumpsuit during his meeting with Walter Peck. And that the jumpsuit is stained with ectoplasmic goop. Which is exactly what he was wearing when he and Ray returned to the Firehouse during Winston’s job interview with Janine. So, taking that into account, it seems like the correct order of events would be 1) Winston being hired into the Ghostbusters, 2) the meeting with Walter Peck, 3) Ray instructing Winston on how to operate the containment unit and then 4) Egon’s Twinkie analogy. Based on the characters’ wardrobe throughout those scenes, it seems like they all occurred simultaneously. Of course, that would put into question where Peter and Dana’s meeting outside Carnegie Hall would fall on the movie’s timeline. Especially since Winston later will state that, as of the movie’s climax, he’s been with the company for a few weeks. So, since the climax really starts to kick off on the night of Peter and Dana’s Thursday date, it makes sense for the Carnegie Hall scene to come after Winston was hired. But if they had aired the scenes in the proper order, we wouldn’t have gotten that dramatic cut that the movie gave us. Because the way the movie plays out, we immediately cut from Peter saying ‘what about the Twinkie?’ to the top of Dana’s apartment building, where a pair of stone statues of demonic creatures (known as Terror Dogs) start to break open, revealing there are real Terror Dogs encased inside the statures. Apparently, they’ve been lying dormant until the opportune moment and are now being unleashed. (Which is that big thing that Egon saw coming on the horizon).

As the Terror Dogs are emerging from their stone statues, Dana arrives home in order to get ready for her date with Peter at nine. By coincidence, her neighbor, Louis, is also holding his party on the same night and, despite Dana’s best efforts at sneaking past his door, he somehow hears her moving down the hall and comes out to greet her. Louis is crestfallen when he hears that Dana scheduled a date on the night of his party, but quickly takes in in stride, suggesting that Dana can bring Peter to the party, too. (Dude, take the hint.) Dana, more to appease him than anything, states that they’ll try to make an appearance. However, it doesn’t really matter either way. Because when Dana returns to her apartment and starts to get ready, demonic hands burst out of the chair she’s sitting in and forcibly hold her down so the Terror Dog known as Zuul can possess her. I don’t have to tell you that it is a really chilling scene to witness. To this day, I cannot sleep with the closet light shining through the door gaps, and I blame it on this scene.

While Zuul is possessing Dana across the hall, Louis is having some paranormal issues of his own. It turns out that the second Terror Dog, this one named Vinz Clortho, has targeted Louis as his chosen vessel. Because both Terror Dogs need to possess a human vessel in order to prepare the way for their master, Gozer. Not really sure why Louis was selected, however. Sure, he’s the only other character we’ve really been introduced to so far, outside of the actual Ghostbuster crew (and I’m including Janine in that). But to our knowledge, Louis didn’t experience any sort of paranormal warning the way Dana did with the eggs cooking on the counter and her refrigerator becoming a portal to the demonic realm. Unless the running gag of Louis constantly getting himself locked out of his apartment was his paranormal ‘warning.’

Anyway, Vinz disrupts Louis’ party, terrifying the guests while Louis runs out of his apartment, prompting Vinz to give chase. (Is that why Louis got selected? Because he was the only one who ran out of the apartment? Do Terror Dogs hunt by movement?) Despite Louis’ best efforts to evade the demonic creature, Vinz eventually corners him outside Tavern on the Green, the well-known restaurant in Central Park.

This scene, admittedly, confuses me to this day. When Louis is cornered and subsequently possessed by Vinz, he is in full view of the people eating at the restaurant. But even though they all look up when they hear Louis screaming outside, they immediately go back to their meals as if nothing happened. Did they not see Vinz standing outside with Louis? Was Vinz invisible to everyone except Louis? That doesn’t make much sense, since Louis’ party guests, his elderly neighbor, the apartment building’s doorman and the number of people who happened to be driving by clearly saw Vinz as well. So was this supposed to be a bit of social commentary about how New Yorkers often don’t lift a finger to help people in distress? Because I can see the reasoning behind such a thing. After all, there was that famous news story about the homeless man bleeding to death on the ground and how nobody stopped to help him. And there was a similar story back in 1964, when a 28-year-old woman was raped and killed while at least 38 bystanders didn’t bother to intervene or respond to her screams. Even so, you’d think that someone in that restaurant would have reacted to the sight of Vinz.

Back at the apartment building, Peter has just arrived for his date with Dana. While he does react to the presence of the police who have been called out to investigate the disturbance at Louis’ party (as people had mistook the Terror Dog for a cougar), he makes his way to Dana’s apartment. Unfortunately, by the time he arrives, Dana has already been possessed by Zuul, and is now wearing a rather provocative orange dress. (Can’t see Dana having something like that in her closet based on what we’ve previously seen her wearing, so I’m wondering where that dress came from.) Despite Peter’s best efforts at reaching out to Dana’s consciousness, Zuul’s hold on her mind is too strong. Which of course leads to the iconic ‘there is no Dana, only Zuul’ line. Though it’s important to note that Zuul refers to herself as ‘the Gatekeeper,’ and that she’s waiting for ‘the Keymaster.’ I’m sure we all know the sexual undertones of those monikers, so there’s no need for me to comment on it.

Meanwhile, Louis, now possessed by Vinz, has been picked up by the police because he’s been causing a bit of a scene in Central Park with his search for ‘the Gatekeeper.’ But since the cops aren’t sure what to do with him due to his erratic behavior, the police captain has decided to bring him to the Ghostbusters. (By the way, I love Janine’s immediate response when she opens the door to find the cops standing on the doorstop. This woman is awesome.) Egon, upon seeing how the possessed Louis is making the PKE meter spike, agrees to bring him inside the Firehouse, where we get this awesome effect of Vinz’ true form appear on an infrared monitor. Upon being questioned by Egon, Vinz explains that he’s waiting for a sign from Gozer the Traveler, who will come in a pre-chosen form. Janine, growing a bit worried by what she’s hearing Vinz say, briefly pulls Egon aside to voice her concerns, stating she’s got a terrible feeling that something awful is going to happen to him.

The tender moment between the two is broken when Peter calls the Firehouse to inform Egon of Dana’s possession by Zuul. At present, Peter has managed to knock Zuul out by injecting Dana’s body with 300 cc of thorozine. (Does Peter normally carry around thorozine? Particularly when he’s planning on going out on a date? Do I even want to know?) Egon instructs Peter to return to the Firehouse straight away, also warning him that they cannot let Zuul and Vinz meet.

Elsewhere, Ray and Winston are off in the Ecto-1, apparently coming back from a call. Strangely, Winston is still wearing his civilian clothes while Ray is in his Ghostbusters jumpsuit. As previously stated, Winston is supposed to have been with the Ghostbusters for a few weeks by this point. So where’s his jumpsuit? How long does it take the uniform store to design a Ghostbuster jumpsuit? Anyway, Ray is busy studying the blueprints for Dana’s apartment building, currently unaware of what happened with Dana and Lewis, and is taken aback by how the top of the apartment complex was constructed by a magnesium-tungsten alloy, which is apparently very peculiar. Winston, seemingly out of nowhere, interrupts Ray’s musings to bring up God and Jesus. However, the reason behind Winston’s choice of subject becomes clear when he asks Ray if he remembers what the Bible said about the last days, when the dead would rise from the grave. To this, Ray states he remembers Revelations 7:12 and proceeds to recite a Bible verse. However, if you actually look at a Bible, you’ll see that the verse Ray recites is NOT Revelations 7:12. It’s actually Revelations 6:12. You got the wrong chapter, Ray, but points for trying. Either way, Ray basically shrugs and states all ancient religions have their own myths about the end of the world. But his mood shifts when Winston points out that perhaps the reason why they’ve been so busy lately is because the dead HAVE been rising from the grave. While this particular scene doesn’t really contribute much to the plot, it is still a good scene, and one of my favorites in the film.

Back at the Firehouse, Egon is awaiting the return of his fellow Ghostbusters and performing a few tests on Vinz while he’s waiting. Because of course Egon would want to gather some data on the possessed Louis. Unfortunately, that’s when Walter Peck returns. This time, he’s brought in the cops and a worker from Con Edison. Janine does her best to stop them, pointing out that she knows they can’t barge onto the premises without a writ or warrant (which is further indication that Janine is highly intelligent and not just a pretty face), but Peck counters her denial of entry by showing he does have a warrant. Upon storming into the basement with his reinforcements in tow, Peck demands that the Containment Unit gets switched off. Egon urgently warns the Con Edison man against turning off the protection grid, as does Peter when he arrives on the scene. However, Peck is persistent and forces the Con Edison man to comply with his order, despite the Con Ed Man’s hesitations.

Of course, the moment the Containment Unit’s protection grid is switched off, alarms start blaring, and everyone is forced to run out of the Firehouse before the Containment Unit explodes with such force, it blasts a hole into the Firehouse’s roof. The instant this happens, Zuul/Dana snaps awake. Because this was apparently the sign she and Vinz/Louis was waiting for- the release of all the ghosts the Ghostbusters had previously caught.

As a crowd gathers around the damaged Firehouse, Ray and Winston return back from their bust. As such, they are present when Peck angrily charges forward, demanding that the cops arrest them for being in criminal violation of the Environmental Protection Act. To Egon’s enragement, Peck even tries to blame them for the explosion. Which was really a jerk move on Peck’s part. While I won’t deny that he was just doing his job at first, it was his refusal to listen to Egon and Peter’s multiple warnings that make him lose my support. They TOLD him repeatedly that shutting off the Containment Unit’s protection grid would have led to disastrous reproductions. But he refused to listen to them out of what I can only imagine was the result of him having a chip on his shoulder because Peter ‘insulted’ him. To make matters worse, Vinz/Louis manages to slip away amidst the chaos. And throughout the city, the newly released ghosts proceed to wreak havoc.

Sometime later, the Ghostbusters are confined to a rather large jail cell, which they’re sharing with some other prison inmates. I admit I don’t know much about prisons, but… do jails often have cells large enough to hold up to ten people? Regardless, Egon and Ray are busy studying the blueprints of Dana and Louis’ apartment building, commenting on how bizarre the structural framework is. Long story short, it turns out that the building was actually designed to be a super-conductive antenna designed specifically to pull in and concentrate spiritual energy. Egon then goes into storytelling mode, explaining to his compatriots (as well as the other inmates, who also seem interested) that he has previously discovered that the building’s architect was a man named Ivo Shandor. In 1920, following WWI, Ivo had decided that society no longer deserved to survive, so he formed a secret society. He and his many followers began to worship the ancient god Gozer. And, atop the high-rise that would eventually become Dana and Louis’ apartment building, they conducted many rituals that were intended to bring about the end of the world. Now, it seems like the rituals they performed might actually succeed.

Clearly, this is really bad, and the Ghostbusters know they have to do something about it. Even though Winston seems doubtful that they convince a judge to believe their tale and let them go. Thankfully, luck is on their side, and a jail guard, portrayed by the same actor who played Carl Winslow on Family Matters and Sgt. Al Powell in the Die Hard movies (that man loves playing law enforcement, doesn’t he?), appears to announce that the mayor has asked for them. So the Ghostbusters are all brought before Mayor Lenny. And not a moment too soon, as time is running out- Vince/Louis and Zuul/Dana have already found their way to each other.

When the Ghostbusters arrive at Mayor Lenny’s office, he’s already in a meeting with his advisers, discussing all the turmoil that’s been going on because of the escaped ghosts now running amok. Of course, Walter Peck is also there, once again accusing the Ghostbusters of being con artists who have been making people believe they’re seeing ghosts by releasing a hallucinogenic gas into the air. Thankfully, Mayor Lenny’s advisors are skeptical of Peck’s accusations. The Fire Commissioner states he has no explanation for what he witnessed when the explosion occurred at the Firehouse, despite seeing every form of combustion known to man. And the Police Commissioner points out there’s no rational explanation behind the walls of the 53rd precinct bleeding. Eventually, the Ghostbusters present their case to Mayor Lenny, warning him that if they don’t act quickly, a disaster of biblical proportions will occur. The Mayor is ultimately convinced to give the Ghostbusters a chance when Peter presents a wager of sorts. He tells Mayor Lenny that if they’re wrong, they will willingly go to prison. But if they’re right, and they’re allowed the chance to stop Gozer, then the city will view Mayor Lenny as the man who helped save the city by not preventing the Ghostbusters from doing their job. Like most politicians, Mayor Lenny is all for the option that could get him re-elected.

And so the Ghostbusters are off to the Ivo Shandor building, complete with a police escort. Only now Winston is finally sporting a Ghostbuster jumpsuit. That was convenient timing. Did his jumpsuit arrive at the exact moment they returned to the Firehouse to pick up their Proton Packs and whatnot? Either way, upon their arrival, a sudden earthquake erupts, breaking up the street and swallowing up the Ghostbusters. I guess Gozer sensed the Ghostbusters arrival and, recognizing them as a threat, attempted to get rid of them. Somehow, they survive falling into the gaping hole and manage to enter the building. But the elevator is apparently out of order as they’re forced to climb up the stairs to reach Dana’s apartment up on the 22nd floor. When they do reach the apartment, they find the place in a shambles, as the whole side of the building exploded during the earlier sequence where the escaped ghosts were terrorizing the city. Although, they do locate a staircase that leads them up to the roof, where the Temple of Gozer now resides.

It’s too late, however, as Zuul/Dana and Vinz/Louis have already started the ritual to summon Gozer. (It’s somewhat implied they had sex on a stone alter). The Ghostbusters arrive on the scene just in time for the pair to complete their transformation, shedding the appearance of Dana and Louis and becoming full Terror Dogs, and they can only watch as the temple doors open, revealing Gozer in the flesh. After another iconic moment where Ray attempts to instruct Gozer to leave only to get blasted backwards for not identifying himself as a god, the Ghostbusters attempt to take Gozer out with their Proton Packs. To their astonishment, Gozer vanishes when they fire their Proton Streams at the alter Gozer is standing on. For a few seconds, it looks like they succeeded in defeating Gozer, but of course it’s not that easy. As Vinz stated earlier in the movie, Gozer typically takes a pre-chosen form before beginning his destruction. And that proves to be the case here, as a disembodied voice instructs the Ghostbusters to choose the form of the destructor.

Peter, stepping up to the plate, takes the initiative. Realizing they’ve only got one shot at tricking Gozer into taking a form they can easily overpower, he encourages his teammates to clear their heads so they can think of something. But unfortunately, not quick enough, as a thought has already entered Ray’s head- Mr. Stay Puft the mascot of an in-universe brand of marshmallows. A minute later, a 50-foot-tall Mr. Stay Puft manifests down in the city streets below and begins making its way toward them. In order to try and stop Mr. Stay Puft, the Ghostbusters attempt to fire their Proton Packs at the creature, but this only makes Mr. Stay Puft angry, and it begins to climb up the side of the building, King Kong style. So now the Ghostbusters are in a bit of a tight spot. Obviously, they have to defeat Gozer’s chosen form, but how?

That’s when Egon gets his last-ditch idea. He suggests, since the door to Gozer’s temple swings both ways, perhaps they can close it and therefore put a stop to all of this by reversing the particle flow through the gate. Unfortunately, the only way to accomplish this is by crossing their Proton Streams- the very thing Egon warned them against doing on their first mission as Ghostbusters. Peter is quick to remind him of this, pointing out how that plan would put them all in danger. But he quickly shifts gears and becomes in full agreement with the plan when Egon suggests there’s a slim chance they’ll survive.

Egon’s plan ultimately works, with the four Proton Streams merging into one big one that helps close the gate. This results in the Temple of Gozer exploding, with Mr. Stay Puft getting incinerated and melted marshmallow raining down onto the streets below, with one particularly large mound of it falling right onto Walter Peck. (There are some deleted scenes that show Peck was still trying to get the Ghostbusters arrested, even after seeing Mr. Stay Puft.)

As the smoke clears atop the building, we see the Ghostbusters have all miraculously survived the explosion. Though they’re all drenched with marshmallow fluff. Except for Peter, who only got some in his hair. How he accomplished that is anyone’s guess. As the Ghostbusters check up on each other to make sure they got through the ordeal in one piece, Peter steps away to take in the charred remains of Zuul and Vinz, who were also consumed in the explosion. Ray, realizing that Peter’s thoughts are of Dana and how she had transformed into the creature, offers his condolences. Of course, the movie didn’t want to go out on such a depressing note, and it’s quickly shown that Dana and Louis both survived as well, as they slowly break out of the petrified remains of the Terror Dogs, a bit battered but still alive and well.

And so the movie ends, with the Ghostbusters emerging triumphantly to the cheers of the crowd of New Yorkers. Peter even gets to share a kiss with Dana in full view of everyone. Which would be awesome if the movie had actually shown us more of this pairing’s development. Then again, the fact that Peter seemed particularly upset when it looked as if Dana had died does suggest he does genuinely care about her. So I guess I can buy this kiss. And we also do get one final scene with Egon and Janine, as the latter had actually came out to the site of the final battle and embraces Egon upon seeing him unharmed.

Dana then gets to essentially ride off into the sunset with the Ghostbusters in the Ecto-1. Which is a bit odd, since we see Louis is escorted away by some Red Cross employees. What’s with that? Why does Dana get to ride off in the Ecto-1 while Louis has to stay behind to receive medical care? Dana went through the exact same ordeal as Louis. So if Louis has to get checked over at the hospital, then Dana should be, too, right? Especially since she was the one who seemed to be the most disoriented after she was freed from the petrified remains of Zuul.

Despite the few issues that arise with the movie, I still enjoy it. It’s easy to see why Ghostbusters took the world by storm. While I wouldn’t say it’s a laugh-out-loud comedy, the jokes they work in are really smart and clever. The effects are impressive, even by today’s standards. The ghosts featured in the film still look amazing (excluding this one moment when Vinz is running across the street. I admit something looked off at that moment). And there are so many iconic lines that I’m pretty sure this movie is right up there with Star Wars in terms of quotability.

In fact, my only real complaint is the character of Peter and how we never got any indication on why he even got involved in parapsychology like Ray and Egon in the first place. Instead, he comes across as a bit of a jerk who is only in it for the money, and to pick up good-looking women. Admittedly, that seems to be a trend of Bill Murray- playing a jerk character. (I’m looking at you, Groundhog Day and Scrooged.) But at least with those movies, Bill Murry’s character underwent a character arc, and by the end of the movie, he had stopped being a jerk. But that’s not the case with Peter. While he didn’t display any of his jerk-ish qualities by the end of the movie, we never saw any real indication that he’d undergone some sort of character development. I know no one had much in the way of character development in this movie, but the point still stands. It just would have been nice for the movie to give us some indication why we were supposed to root for him. Because the only thing we really got was that he had a thing for Dana, and that’s it. All the other characters are all very likable, though, so that does help balance out any negativity Peter’s presence might have caused.

One thing that stuck out to me while watching this movie now, apart from the presence of the 80s-style technology (case in point that huge 80s cellphone a movie extra was using in one scene), was all the product placement that cropped up throughout the movie. As I watched this movie, I saw appearances of Cheez-it crackers, Coca-Cola, Perrier, Oscar-Mayer bologna, Wise Potato Chips and Hi-ho crackers (which are now called Ritz crackers). And, of course, Twinkies. I might be wrong, considering I don’t normally watch for this sort of thing, but I don’t think we generally see this much product placement in movies coming out today. So seeing that many recognizable brands was quite interesting to me.

That pretty wraps up my review of the original Ghostbusters movie. I’ll be sure to review its sequel, Ghostbusters II on a later date. But first, I think I’ll look at the episodes of the movie’s animated spin-off, The Real Ghostbusters. Even though the series technically takes place in a separate continuity, I do remember there were a few callbacks to the events of the movie, so that should count for something.

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