Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Ghostbusters is one of my favorite movies of the 80’s. In fact, I listed it in my top 10 favorites of all time until Lord of the Rings and Passion of the Christ caused me to rearrange my entire list (and Narnia may well have me rearranging again). I still love to watch it, though.

One reason I like it so much is that it’s the perfect blend of supernatural horror and comedy. You might not think the two fit together, and perhaps normally they don’t, but these guys found a way to make it work. I don’t mean to say I consider Ghostbusters scary, but there are definitely great moments of ugly monsters jumping out and creepiness beyond what many so-called “scary” movies can produce.

The Ghostbusters franchise is big enough that you probably have a general idea of who and what they are even if you’ve never seen the movie, though you may not know how what you’ve seen fits into a full-length movie since it’s a bit more grown-up than the cartoons and toys.

3 scientists are investigating paranormal phenomena. They lose their research funding at the university and decide to create a business based around exterminating ghosts. They have managed to invent equipment capable of trapping and indefinitely caging members of the ethereal plane.

Ray is the heart of the team. He’s lovable and often naive. Egon is the brains. He’s intellectual to a fault, but, with a little help from Ray, is able to solve any scientific problem the team encounters. Peter is the mouth. He deals more with people than equipment, and though self-centered, he does look out for the team. Winston joins later. He’s the anchor; he’s probably the most down-to-earth of the four, but he doesn’t have the scientific training and background the others do.

And so the story goes… Struggling with their new business the team slowly builds a clientele. Dana is the only one that really interests Peter, though. She‘s been seeing some mighty strange things in her apartment a lot more sinister than a green blob sucking down hot dogs. Though Peter already has every intention of helping her (so that she’ll go out with him) it becomes vital to the fate of humanity that the supernatural forces invading her space be stopped.

Just as the team seems to be getting a handle on the situation, the government steps in and screws everything up. How do you convince a bunch of bureaucrats that ghosts are about to destroy the city?

The reason why this movie was such a huge hit is more than I can say. I mean, come on, a bunch of guys trapping ghosts just doesn’t seem like a concept such a huge audience would latch on to. I guess it just has the perfect blend of all the elements. It has the fun visual effects of weird looking ghosts, extremely odd guns, and other unusual props. It has a high energy level with the guys sliding down poles like firemen, running from ghosts, and dashing to the aid of the haunted. It’s full of laughs from low brow comedy like Peter getting slimed to the subtle humor of Dana avoiding Peter’s advances. There’s a catchy pop theme song, other well-placed pop songs, and an excellent score that doesn’t get enough recognition. All of that makes the movie fun and worthy of multiple viewings, but is only part of what makes it great.

There’s a decent story behind all the fun and excitement which I’ve already touched on. What really does the trick is the characters being believable. Egon, for example, is not Albert Einstein and Rambo combined. He doesn’t pick up this proton pack he invented and start tearing through ghosts like he’s some highly trained special forces superman. There’s no star here that saves the day once everyone else has failed. Like any real team these guys have to rely on each other to survive. Where one is weak another is stronger. I think more people can relate to that than some of the other hero movies out there even if the ethereal enemies are hard to swallow.

This is classic comedy with plenty of fun and excitement. Though the effects are not nearly as great as what we can do now much of it still holds up. It does feel like an 80’s movie, but it’s not as unbearably dated as many movies from the time. Don’t let the time period keep you from seeing it. If you like action comedies like Men in Black, Ghostbusters should be worth checking out.

Content:
There is a bit of bad language, some sexual innuendo both in action and in language though no actual sex or nudity, and some frightening moments like demon hands grabbing people and a decomposing cab driver. There is very little violence. Even the ghosts are not destroyed but captured.

DVD:
This was the most impressive DVD I had seen when it first came out. Though several have outdone it since, it is still very much above average. The picture is a cleaned 2.35 anamorphic widescreen. I don’t think any release of it has ever looked better (not counting the newer Blu-ray which I have not been fortunate enough to see). The audio is a remastered 5.1 surround. 

Now for the fun stuff. The main interface is fully animated with music (watch for a special appearance by one of the characters walking by). It’s a view of the street outside Dana’s apartment building. The different sections of the menu are on various sections of the buildings. It’s fun to go to the different sections and watch various parts of the screen light up. Some of the sub-menus are great as well. My favorite is the storyboards section which is a view of an elevator.

Extras:
The one complaint I have about the menus is that some of the features are on multiple submenus, then some of the submenus are linked to from other submenus. If you don’t pay attention to what the name of a feature is when you activate it, you may well end up activating again without realizing it. Since I was trying to make sure I watched every feature for this review I had a hard time making sure I didn’t miss any without spending too much time on the same ones.

The commentary is good for several reasons. For starters it’s entertaining and informative. The director Ivan is one of the contributors as is Harold Ramis who co-wrote the script and played Egon. That gives multiple perspectives there. On top of that there are silhouettes of the speakers as if sitting in the front row of a theatre (think Mystery Science Theatre). They point and move which is more fun than the audio only commentary. However, if you don’t want the video portion, it is optional.

There is a sort of text commentary available. It pops up like subtitles throughout the movie and is mostly production notes and quotes. It covers a little of the same info as the spoken commentary but is highly informative. You do have to read fast, though.

There are 10 deleted scenes. Most are a minute or so long and have not been restored so it’s a good example of the original quality. The bums scene is the best (Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray as different characters).

There are 3 behind the scenes features. One is from the 80’s and is mostly don’t-spoil-the-movie promo type stuff. It’s better than most similar promo features if only for the humor. The second is a “new” feature (new compared to the rest of the content that is). It has more interviews and thoughts. The last is kind of like a panel discussion with the special effects team. It’s interesting as far as technical content but doesn’t have much in the way of great visuals.

In conjunction with the last feature is a special FX comparison. A scene plays with 2 angles: one is the rough version with no effects, the other is the final product. The three scenes included are Spook Central Exploding, She’s A Dog, and Crossing The Streams.

There are lots of still images. They are divided into 2 main categories: Production and Concepts. Each of those is broken down into subcategories of varying sizes. My favorites are the ones of creating the ghosts: the librarian, the floating girl, and Slimer. The image viewing area is too small, though. I like for images to fill as much of the screen as possible.

The storyboards section has its own set of galleries. Usually we get a whole page of storyboards at a time that are difficult to read, these are frame-by-frame with captions. It’s a much better presentation than others have done. There is also a comparison features. It takes 3 scenes and displays the storyboard in time with the movie clip.

The trailer is the original and doesn’t look like it’s been touched up. It’s interesting to see it after all this time.

The last things to mention are the previews. There are 3 old Bill Murray movies including Ghostbusters 2.

Final Thoughts:
This is a great movie. If you don’t believe me look at its popularity. In addition to that is a great DVD – from the improved audio and video quality to the imagination behind the interface. A rental will not suffice with this one, you need to own it. 5* all the way.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older