Ghostbusters (1984) (Re-Review)

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I know, I know, this is old news, but 'Ghostbusters' ('84) is my favourite film of all time, and there's a whole story to it all that all my readers have read time and time again. For that, head over here to my "Five Star" review on it. What we have here is just a shorter review that kinda gets straight to the point, and instead of going into why it's my favourite film, it'll go into why it's just an all-around good film, and, I'd even say, remains forever the best title in the 'Ghostbusters' collection. A fine example of "nothing tops the original."

'Ghostbusters' is the brainchild of Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, veering off a bit from Aykroyd's original vision of he and, at the time, John Belushi, would travel through time and space to battle a series of supernatural threats. Sadly, however, Belushi passed in 1982, and the budget for the film wasn't exactly on par with Aykroyd's vision. That's when, Ramis was brought in to help make things a little more practical, and change it up to a crew of exterminators, rounding up nasty spectral entities, residing in New York City. I have to admit though, I'm super curious to see what Aykroyd's original vision would have looked like.

The end result, however, involves three paranormal research scientists; Ray Stantz (Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (Ramis) and Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), who, one day, get the boot from a college that refuses to fund their unusual experiments any further. Venkman sees this as a sign that the trio should go into business for themselves based on the paranormal experimentation they've been working on. The business; think of it as a sort of "pest-control", but instead of rounding up cockroaches and rats, they use high-tech gadgets to capture ghosts, spirits, spectres, entities, y'know, something strange in the neighbourhood.

With their secretary, Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts), it's not long before their business takes off, and the three becomes a trio of hometown heroes. However, one case in particular involving the lovely Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) involves some deeper, darker stuff than just capture/trap missions involving an anciet Sumerian God named Gozer (Slavitza Jovan), and her minions, the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster who, if not stopped, could very well bring about the end of the world. With all of the paranormal activity building up, they bring in a fourth Ghostbuster named Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) for help.

I'd be hard-pressed not to mention the presense of two more great characters from this. First there's Louis Tully (Rick Moranis), Dana's neighbour who provides us with some of the funniest awkward, nerdy comedy relief that balances the comedy in the film with Venkman's cool, calm and sarcastic sense of humour really well. Then there's Walter Peck (William Atherton) who works for the EPA, is a secondary villain in this, and interestingly enough, we hate him so easily for just doing his job to the best of his abilities. Both are pretty great side characters who each add to the story in their own unique way.

More to mention of the overall quality of the movie, it's pretty amazing to still be able to watch this movie today and appreciate how incredibly good the practical effects in it look. Remembering that this came out in 1984, it's another fine example of the fact that sometimes CG is just unnecessary. I still think the ghosts look better here than they do as fully CG-rendered entities in the 2016 film. There may be a bit of a cheapness to it for viewers nowadays, but I still think it works incredibly well, especially with characters like our beloved "Slimer" (who was actually inspired by Belushi with his final design).

'Ghostbusters' is one of the most unlikely films to withstand the test of time in a big way. When you really think about it, on paper, the whole thing sounds so insane that it just plain shouldn't work. Especially when you bring in things like a 100-foot Marshmallow Man that by all means should have been seen as jumping the shark. Somehow or another, it all just fits together incredibly well, combining aspects of horror and comedy while being strong with imagination. It was never meant to be taken too seriously, and I think that's why fans like myself just don't have as many critical issues with the rest of the series. The Ghostbusters will always have a place in my heart!

5/5

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