Ghostbusters (1984) - Movie Review

Ghostbusters is one of those all time classic movies that everybody should watch at least once in their life. You can't fault it, it's gone down in history as one of the greats, and it will remain there for as long as movies survive. It's just brilliant, from concept, to story, to performance, to special effects, to cast, to soundtrack; it just couldn't have gone any better. Let's start with the story:
Three scientists investigating the paranormal (parapsychologists) are thrown out of their space at the Columbia University, and lose all their grant money, and so decide to get back at them by creating their own business, hunting down and capturing ghosts, spooks, spectres and spirits that haven't quite crossed over to the other side, or have come back. What ensues is a hilarious, and highly original movie full of memorable characters, who all have their own unique personalities, but more on that later. If you're intellectual enough, and know your stuff when it comes to sci-fi movies, you can probably just about make sense of the story, but where it came from in the first place will be beyond even the most intelligent of people. *Warning, may contain some slight spoilers* Basically, a crazed architect designs a building as a cornucopia of evil, wherein the demonic demi-god Zuul possesses a woman and then goes around calling herself 'The Gatekeeper', and asking who 'The Keymaster' is. 'The Keymaster' is another similar demon called Vinz Clortho. Both demons speak of the coming of Gozer the Gozerian (a shape-shifting God from Sumerian mythology), and how all they need is a sign. When a pr*ck from the EPA comes and unwittingly releases all of the spirits the Ghostbusters strove to capture, wreaking havoc on the city, the demons see it as the sign they've been looking for, somehow manage to find each other, get it on on a rooftop, open a gateway to another dimension, summon Gozer, the Ghostbusters come to the rescue only to get pwned by Gozer, who asks if they're gods to which they reply no and then zaps them, and disappears and tells them to choose the form that Gozer the Traveller will come in, so they try to empty their minds and think of nothing, but somebody doesn't manage to and so a massive marshmallow man comes and destroys the city, only to be stopped by doing the very thing that they strove not to do throughout the rest of the movie.

And that's the simplified version of the story.

The thing is though, that you can get by with this movie, without even thinking about the story. It's so damned lovable that the plot-line only serves as a distraction for the people who've seen it all a hundred times over and want something extra. For those who do pay attention though, there's a thrilling and hugely exciting adventure to be had. It's fun, it's funny, it's quirky and it has one of the catchiest theme songs of all time.

The characters are what really make the story its own though. First off there's our trio of parapsychologists (to use the technical term): Egon, Ray, and Peter; Spengler, Stantz and Venkman; Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray; absolute legends. These are the first three ghostbusters. You have Egon: the bookish one, very scientific, very knowledgeable. Then you have Ray: the one who's excited about his discoveries, a child at heart who loves seeing the ghosts and has almost a geeky obsession over them. Then there's my favourite, Venkman (nobody calls him Peter apart from occasionally Ray and Egon): he's the sarcastic one, the ladies' man, and the one that you can always count on to crack a joke when the atmosphere is tense. Then there's Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson): the fourth ghostbuster who applies for a cool way to make money. And man I can't think of many cooler ways to make money than what these guys get up to. Obviously there are the things I'm actually considering as a career, but fiction always has the edge. Anyway, Winston is your average Joe, only more awesome. He's a Christian, and half the time he doesn't believe his eyes, but at the end of the day, he's the perfect addition to the team, and he even has the balls to swear at the mayor, at a point not long after Venkman completely owned Peck, making it one of the funniest scenes of the movie. What he says isn't even really that amusing - it's the audacity; he's ballsy and he's got plenty of guts and heart where it's needed.

Then you have the rest of the cast, and they're all pretty spectacular. First off you have Dana Barret played by Sigourney Weaver, who'll be better known to today's generation as Dr Augustine in James Cameron's Avatar. She's the girl that Dr Venkman takes a particular interest in, and makes more of an effort to solve her case than any other. She's your typical damsel in distress, who takes a not-so-typical turn later in the movie, and she performs brilliantly.

Next there's Louis Tully (Rick Moranis - Little Shop of Horrors, The Flintstones, Honey I Shrunk the Kids), he's an accountant, and a keep healthy junkie. He always keeps supplies of vitamins and mineral water, which he buys in a way that makes good financial sense. He's also hopelessly head-over-heels in love with Dana, and so sees himself as in competition with Dr Venkman. He's an accountant, so everything he says is some sort of reference to making/saving money, and he's very funny. Whilst only a peripheral character, he does play his part very well.

Then there's Walter Peck (William Atherton), he's the afforementioned pr*ck. The thing is, I really don't know what to say about this guy. I mean, I hate him. Yet really, that's what he's meant to do: make you hate him. He's the guy you're meant to hate, so in that respect, I love him, and think he's done a great job... but I really can't STAND him.

The special effects in this movie are mind blowing, and you can tell that (for the time), they were very cutting edge, and a lot of work must have gone into them. From the blast streams bursting out of the Neutrona Wands, to the Capture cages, reeling in Slimer and all the other nasties, to Slimer and all the other nasties themselves. It's all very well done, and it all just adds to the overall atmosphere. Especially right at the beginning where the drawers are opening by themselves, and then the papers are flying out all over the place. It's just all, truly magnificent.

Ah, the music - the music. Obviously there's the soundtrack, with the title theme by Ray Parker Jr., which absolutely kicks-ass. The soundtracks on 80s movies always seem to be pretty damn epic, and this one is definitely no exception. I love it, it's packed with catchy numbers, and awesome 80s-style rock tunes, that all compliment the action perfectly. Then there's the score. It's slow and beautiful one moment, then upbeat and catchy and then practically non-existent to truly capture the sense of atmosphere - all within a few minutes. There's one particular piece near the end when they're on the rooftop and *maybe spoiler?* they've just saved the world *end potential spoiler, although it wasn't really that major anyway*, which for some reason really reminds me of the Gusty Garden theme from Super Mario Galaxy. That's probably just me though.

Overall, Ghostbusters is (like I said in the introduction), just one of those films that everybody has to watch at least once. It's awesome, and it really has aged well. You can't fault it, it is completely, and utterly incredible, and I recommend that every single person who has just sat and read this review should go and watch it right now whether you've seen it already or not. I mean it. RIGHT NOW. What are you still doing here? GO! Anyhoo, that's all from me, so I'll catch you all on the flip side.