One of the first movies I saw as a kid at the movie theater. Stay Puft is an all-time favorite for a white pasty man. I’m excited.
We start off at the NY Public Library. The librarian goes to put away books, we see a few books floating behind her. The walks past the card catalog and the cards start flying around. She runs away and then is spooked by something. Now play the legendary Ray Parker song!
We meet Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) who is testing a dude and a blonde chick to see if they can predict what is on the cards. When the guy gets them wrong, he gets shocked. Venkman lies and keeps telling her that she’s right. Nice. Venkman is trying to mack on the chick and in walks Ray (Dan Aykroyd) telling him about the library incident. He tells Venkman that they need to check it out and Egon (Harold Ramis) is already there. Venkman is such a condescending dick. It’s great. They check out the card catalog, and there is some ectoplasm. I want some Hi C Ecto Cooler. They find an old lady ghost/apparition. The question is, what to do, so Venkman goes to talk to her. She shushes him. So they rethink their strategy and creep up on her and go to attack and she morphs and scares them out of the building. Fantastic.
They go back to the lab at college, and their grant has been pulled and they are getting the boot pretty much. The Dean is a condescending dick as well, and mean. Venkman suggests that they go into business for themselves. They need money, and somehow Venkman convinced Ray to mortgage this house that his parents left him. They find a shitty building, try to play it off of how bad it is, and Ray loves it, finds the pole, slides down, and he’s sold. That was easy.
We meet Dana (Sigourney Weaver) and her annoying neighbor, Louis (Rick Moranis). Louis just doesn’t stop talking and he is incredibly awkward but funny. Dana sees a commercial for Ghostbusters. She puts away groceries, and there are the Stay Puft Marshmallows. Eggs start breaking, and she opens her fridge, and there is like a demonic portal in there.
Ray bought a car for $4,800 that needs pretty much everything. Inside, they have a secretary, Janine (Annie Potts). She is a little flirty with Egon. Dana visits the office. Venkman hears a chick’s voice and comes running. She tells them about Zuul, the demon or whatever it is. Ray and Egon are going to research her house records, and Venkman wants to her apartment and check her out. He goes to her place, and he is cheesy, trying to get info from her, in a good way. He checks everything, except the fridge so far. Haha. He is impressed by the amount of junk food. We have seen Cheez Itz, Coke, Wishbone, Oscar Meyer, and Smuckers so far. She wants him to leave.
Now we have some Budweisers during dinner with the guys. Janine gets a call. She rings the bell and tells them they got a gig. They slide down the pole, get geared up, and ride in their sweet ride.
They end up at the Sedgewick Hotel. Something is happening on the 12th floor. The elevator ride discussion is funny. There’s a cleaning lady up there, she makes a noise, and the guys are slightly jumpy and trigger happy. They shoot the hell out of the cart. They split up and Ray spots our green friend, Slimer. Ray can’t get Venkman, so he goes for it alone. Well, that didn’t work as Slimer went through the wall. Now Venkman is staring at Slimer as it charges. By the time Ray gets there, Venkman is covered in slime. Egon tells them that there’s activity in the dining room. They shoot the shit out of the chandelier but didn’t get him. Egon then warns them not to cross streams. It’s very bad. They split up again. They are doing a lousy job with this. They are trashing this place, clearing out room for the trap. Venkman and Ego have Slimer with their beams, and then they trapped it. This is still awesome. They charge $5,000.
They are getting some great media and hit the theme song again. There’s young Larry King…..OK, he was still old there. Oh, there’s the voice of Casey Kasem. These guys are pretty much overnight celebrities. Janine is talking to Winston (Ernie Hudson), who is applying to be the 4th Ghostbuster. Now we have our black guy, all is well in the world.
Dana sees Venkman in public and asks him if he has any info on Zuul. Zuul was the minion of Gozer.
Ray is showing Winston how to empty and clean traps. Annie Potts is amazing in her role. Walter Peck is here to talk to Venkman. He has something to do with the environmental protection agency. Wise chips in the house, old school bag. Walter would like a tour and see the storage facility. Walter is kind of a dick, he wants to know more. Hey, there’s a Twinkie.
We see a gargoyle statue start to come to life. Louis wants Dana and her date to come to his party. She gets a call from her mom talking about her date with Venkman. Well, the fridge has a ridiculous glow to it, and 2 arms come from the chair, and there’s a gargoyle, and she is abducted into the fridge. Louis’ party is booming. There’s a gargoyle in Louis’s bedroom. The guests panic, and it is pissed at Louis. Haha. The gargoyle has found Louis and goes for him.
Naturally, Venkman shows up to Dana’s amongst the chaos. She answers has a unique look. She asks him if he’s the key master. He says not that he knows of. She slams the door in his face. He tries again and says yes, and he is talking to Zuul. Zuul is trying to prepare for the coming of Gozer. Zuul wants to get sexual with Venkman. Haha, awesome. He stops her and wants to talk to Dana. Well, Zuul just talked in its normal voice. And Dana is levitating off of the mattress.
We see Louis, and he is possessed by Vinz Clortho, the key master. The cops stop by the station, and they picked up Louis. Egon runs some tests. Vinz gives this amazingly complex story about what Vinz is all about. Janine is worried about Egon’s safety. Venkman calls Egon, and he put some Thorazine in Dana. Venkman jokes that they should get Zuul and Vinz together.
Ray is out with Winston. Winston is talking all religious and biblical, and Ray knows his shit about judgment day.
Walter shows up at the Ghostbusters HQ. Janine is trying to stop him, but he has a lot of legal stuff, as well as a cop. He says that they are violating rules. Venkman comes to try to smooth things over. Walter is insisting that the worker guy shut off the power. This won’t end well. Despite all warnings, they shut it off. Well, time to run. A lot of stuff is pouring out the top of the building’s ceiling. It’s quite the scene. They lost Louis.
The spirits are loose in NY, and this is just a great overall scene, and Louis is wandering. Slimer is gorging on hot dogs. Zuul is awake and all hell is breaking loose. Our Ghostbusters have been arrested, and they are in a cell with quite a few dudes. Dana’s building is going to be the center of the bad shit. Carl Winslow just got them out of jail. Also, Debbie Gibson and Ron Jeremy are in this. Good stuff.
Louis and Dana found each other and make out. Venkman’s famous dickless line just happened while the gang is dealing with the Mayor and Walter, and other important people. The Mayor is backing up the Ghostbusters. It’s action time. The national guard is out in full force as are the cops. The ground is all F’d up, but the guys are safe.
The guys are at Dana’s building, go up 22 flights of stairs, which was exhausting just watching. They find more stairs. Ray: “Hey, where do these stairs go?” and Venkman says “They go up.”. Fantastic. Well, they found Dana Zuul. We get to see the gateway and the doors, and it still looks nice. They see Gozer. Ray talks to Gozer, and that goes over well. Gozer shocks them Palpatine style. They almost fall off the edge. Time to get the beams out. They go to shoot her, but she just jumps over them. This is going poorly. Gozer asks to choose the form of the destructor. Well, Ray accidentally chose………my man, The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am marking out here, like a little kid.
This still looks amazing to me. They shoot their beams at him, and it just pisses him off. Egon has a great idea, cross the streams. It’s a badass 4 stream, mega beam. Big boom. Lots of marshmallow everywhere. Everybody is covered, and it is a thing of absolute beauty. Venkman is all sad, but then we see a hand coming out of a statue. There she is, there’s Dana. There’s Louis as well. Hit the music again! Venkman gets his big kiss in a crowd of cheering New Yorkers.
End Film
What a great film! It is classic and timeless. It still holds up well, it looks good by and large, and Bill Murray is hilarious. There’s nothing to really hate about this movie. Ghosts and comedy and Stay Puft!
Final rating: 8.0
Best death scene: None
All the pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are the property of:
- Columbia Pictures (from) (as Columbia – Delphi Productions)
- Delphi Films (from) (as Columbia – Delphi Productions)
- Black Rhino Productions (as A Black Rhino / Bernie Brillstein Production)
Please go find a copy and support the creators.