Ghosts! They're real!

Rating: 10/10 (31 October 2000)

Let me begin my review with a frank statement. I am sick of people calling Ghostbusters 'the funniest comedy of all time'. Why? Because I never once saw Ghostbusters as a comedy. As a young kid, as a teenager, and as an adult I always saw this film as 'a supernatural thriller with humor'.
It's not shot, edited, performed, scored, or designed as a comedy. No way! Aykroyd's genuine interest in the paranormal is where the idea for the movie began. When he teamed with Harold Ramis to write the script there's no doubt in my mind that his intended tone was serious, but with touches of light relief (mainly from Venkman and Louis). Listen carefully to the dialogue, it's peppered with loads of credible scientific jargon and multiple cryptic references of almost Lovecraftian lore. This serious subtext weighs the film down in the thriller category more than comedy.
The trio (and soon quartet) begin as researchers at Columbia University in NYC. But Venkman, only in it for an easy scam, ends up getting them thrown off campus. Ray and Egon have a plan for catching and eliminating paranormal threats to the public. With Venkman's conman skills, they take a chance and found 'Ghostbusters' in a derelict firehouse. Business is pitiful until Dana Barrett shows up claiming a voice from another dimension spoke to her through her fridge. Venkmen, enchanted by her, goes to her apartment to check her/it out. He finds nothing, unaware that behind her fridge is a secret doorway to a rooftop temple built as the venue point for Gozer, a destructive inter-dimensional traveler.
Almost every aspect of Ghostbusters is honed to perfection. Ivan Reitman has never directed a better film. Elmer Bernstein's sumptuous score (often overshadowed by Ray Parker Junior's pop song) is utterly bewitching. The effects, while old-school, don't date the film one bit. The chemistry between the cast is wonderful, you actually believe that these guys have known each other for years. The fact that Harold Ramis plays the deadpan, deadly serious Egon despite having directed Caddyshack and Vacation (two of the most anarchic films ever) gives the chemistry a nice edge, since beneath the serious exterior you know he's actually the maddest one of the lot.
However, I WILL complain about one thing (though it is relatively minor). I understand that movies need to be tightly edited to stop the audience from nodding off (but no one possibly could with Ghostbusters), but Reitman's last-minute tinkering renders a large chunk of the film senseless. It begins as soon as Winston arrives. He claims to the Mayor that he's worked with the company for a couple of weeks, but within the timeline of the movie he's only worked for them for a single day. Venkman's impromptu meeting with Dana at Lincoln Center is badly pasted on over Winston's 'interview'. Venkman arrives at the firehouse covered in slime, warps to Dana without slime, arranges a date for Thursday (which actually appears to be later that same night), before warping back to the firehouse, slime intact for his confrontation with Walter Peck (William Atherton, who has been typecast ever since).
The original flow of the film included a scene at Fort Detmerring in which Ray and Winston investigate alone. Part of this scene is in the final product (Ray's encounter with a female ghost while dressed as a General) and the scene where Ray and Winston discuss the end of the world was actually their trip back from this scene. With this complete sequence intact, and the surrounding scenes rearranged, the timeline of the film would have made much more sense. Ivan Reitman has shown this complete version as private screenings, but I doubt the public will ever get to see it. The closest you will get is Richard Mueller's novelization 'Ghostbuster's: The Supernatural Spectacular'. You can hunt it down, but it's very expensive.
With much of Winston's screen time cut back, the character almost becomes largely redundant. Thankfully, he was developed more in the animated series and the sequel. And, redundant or not, it just wouldn't be the same without him.
I'm not one for nostalgia, but 80s kitsch aside, Ghostbusters truly will stand the test of time forever. It's an absolute classic that'll never get old and truly deserves to be up there with the best of them.