Ghostbusters wasn’t ruined by going back to it so many years later but then Ghostbusters II was the one with dodgy reviews. Will I at the age of 20 no longer see it as amazing entertainment? The film with the baby, slime and creepy painting.
Ghostbusters II going back is pretty much the same as the first. I didn’t really notice when I was a kid, but now I see that the template is exactly the same. The films start with setting up the gang, then they catch a ghost, then they have a montage style video of them catching ghosts, problems are happening, they get thrown away someplace, people who threw them away realise they need them, then they go off to save the day. Same order too! Though I probably didn’t care back then because it was still awesome, and it is why I shouldn’t care now. Ghostbusters II in my eyes is still awesome, if no longer scary.
That painting! Vigo, he was one hell of a scary evil dude back in the day with his rivers of slime and baby kidnapping plots. Now he just seems a bit of a joke and he has a really rubbish end, all that build up to be beaten in minutes! Maybe it is because I see this film as a comedy now rather than a horror so my thoughts on certain events are different. It is scarier than the first film though with creepier looking ghosts and a severed head scene but really that is probably a 1 on the scare o meter. I mean looking back the main villain is a painting and he commands slime which dances to music!
The Ghostbusters are as brilliant as ever and this time Bill Murray isn’t stealing every scene! I think they managed to come up with a ‘give the other Ghostbusters more time’ technique by having Bill go off with his love interest so everyone else can look for slime. It has more character than the first film though they don’t have to go about introducing the cast this time. New character is the annoying museum guy, a baby, and the Mayor’s idiot sidekick. Why does he insist on the Ghostbusters being mental when all the problems are happening in front of his eyes? Maybe the essence of a real New Yorker? Best thing for me is Ernie Hudson as Winston getting more screen-time. He’s awesome.
It certainly isn’t as bad as I was expecting my return to be and the classic Statue of Liberty scene is still brilliant. I love how 80′s everything looks and feels, I know it is the 80′s but it is always good to go back to that era just to see how cool and grainy everything was. Ghostbusters III is out in a couple of years, now that’s one to worry about!
