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 Ghostbusters
DVD Review by Yanman |
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"He Slimed me!"
Do you remember the most annoying yet hauntingly catchy
movie theme song of 1984? That’s right it’s Ray Parker, Jr.’s
“Ghostbusters” from the hit comedy of the same name. Now before
the letters start, I like the song. It’s just that while reviewing this
unbelievable DVD, I ended up hearing the song no less then around 50
times. That aside this is a great DVD of a classic movie. This makes our
“must have” list and would fit nicely into any collection. What would you do if you were three of
the top paranormal scientists in NY, yet had lost your collage grant
money? Well if you’re Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Dr. Raymond
“Ray” Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) you
would hock the family home and go into business for yourself. At first “Ghost-busting” is not
the glamorous life that the trio had imagined, yielding only one customer.
And no matter how pretty Mrs. Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) one customer
is not enough to build a business around. But in the supernatural world of
this industry things can and do change fast. With just these three words
“WE GOT ONE” the Ghostbusters find there way into the New York news
media’s heart. After cleaning up the Sedgewick Hotel’s green
“slimmer” problem the boys have more work then they can handle. But with fame and fortune come a
number of other problems. The EPA gets interested in your little
operation, you need to hire more people (Ernie Hudson as Winston and Annie
Pots as Janine), you get thrown in jail, and the spirits turn your
girlfriend into a dog. It’s all in a days work when you’re a
Ghostbuster! The Anamorphic transfer of this DVD is
good but shows it age. There are a number of flaws, which appear to be
from the original master. The layer change at 48:37 is at a scene change
but is still far too noticeable. The 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack is
adequate and maybe a little better than that in some places, but it
won’t have you pulling this one out of its case to say “You gotta hear
this”. Let’s face it extras is what really
makes a DVD worth owning. Sure the great video and sound are a plus, and
every DVD should have that. But extras are what separate a spectacular DVD
from just a mediocre one. Ghostbusters has a spectacular list of extras.
Two featurettes, deleted scenes, split screen storyboards, conceptual
drawings and special effects before and after, just to name a few.
But the two coolest extras are something new. The first is an
interesting menu item called “tricks and trivia”; this uses the
subtitle feature to provide “pop up video” like production information
throughout the movie. Now we know who came up with that book stacking
idea. The other ultra cool idea is projected shadows of the people giving
the full-length video commentary (Director Ivan Reitman, writer and actor
Harold Ramis, and Associate Producer Joe Medjuck) in front of the movie.
This gives a “Mystery Science 3000” feel to the commentary. You can
also turn off the shadows, and just listen to the audio commentary, but
for me it seems much more personal with the shadows in place. This DVD has
set the mark for extras. If you love comedy with a horror twist (or is it horror with a comedy twist?) or if you just want to hear that Ray Parker song 12 more times. Then strap on your unlicensed nuclear accelerator, climb into your ancient ambulance, roast some Stay-Puff marshmallows, and run some red lights, because when you see ghosts, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!
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Ghostbusters If you've got ghosts, freaky ghosts, who you gonna call? Staring: Bill Murray Directed By: Ivan Reitman Running time: 107 Min Bonus Materials
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