Ghostbusters 1 and Ghostbusters 2 are being re-released at Cineworld this November, so you know who you gonna call. Revel in the nostalgia of the late Ivan Reitman's 1984 blockbuster, now 40 years old, and its unfairly maligned 1989 sequel, now 35 years old, as Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis embody New York's finest paranormal collective.
There's still so much to enjoy about the original Ghostbusters films from the semi-improvised chemistry between the main players to the memorable supporting turns from Sigourney Weaver and Harold Ramis. The effects date from the pre-CGI era so are largely done with practical in-camera or optical effects, giving the manifest ghouls and ghosts a distinct personality of their own (the green, blob-like Slimer is, in many ways, the series emblem).
Although they're not horror movies, the Ghostbusters films are also a lot creepier than many remember, an effective strategy in offsetting the otherwise humorous approach (credit to Aykroyd and Ramis, who also created the series and wrote the screenplays). Check out the following scary set pieces from the original 1984 classic, plus the sequel.
1. The library ghost
Elmer Bernstein’s eerie score, with its pronounced use of the ondes martenot (an early electronic instrument), infuses spectral portent into the edifice of the New York Public Library. (Bernstein’s score is liberally quoted by composer Rob Simonsen in the Afterlife soundtrack.) It’s the ideal way of setting up a world that’s been overrun by pesky spooks, as a timid librarian is scared out of her wits by something strange lurking behind the bookcases.
In a clear sign of how brilliant Ghostbusters is, the eventual payoff, with the team confronting the spectre, manages to puncture the threat with a sense of hilarity: “Get her!”
2. Dana’s fridge
The haunting of innocent New York cellist Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) is central to the plot of Ghostbusters. Weaver draws on her experience in Alien, projecting a potent sense of deep-seated fear as Dana comes to realise that something is not right in her apartment. (Unbeknownst to her, the building was designed by the mysterious architect Ivo Shandor, the founder of the Cult of Gozer.)
While eggs cooking on the kitchen counter may be whimsically unsettling, the reveal of the Zuul terror dogs inside the fridge strikes the kind of threatening note best suited to the likes of H.P. Lovecraft. The level of threat invests us in Dana’s plight and also acts as the catalyst for her eventual relationship with Pete Venkman (Murray).
3. Dana in the armchair
Once again it’s Bernstein’s score, this time with chilling use of apocalyptic brass chords (again quoted in Afterlife), that cues us into an atmosphere of impending evil. The shot of the Zuul dog statue bursting into life still scares us to this day – but it’s only the start. As Dana relaxes at home, blissfully unaware of the spectral light coming from her kitchen, our hackles begin to rise.
Ivan Reitman’s horribly canny direction then misleads us by having her glance off-screen before allowing the terror to come from a different area: out of the very chair in which she sits. It’s allegedly a family-friendly movie, but Ghostbusters has scenes like this that rival the best kind of adult horror content.
4. “How about a little music?”
This scene is more ominous and portentous than truly scary, but it demonstrates that Ghostbusters is not afraid to get serious when needed. As Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) trade banter about the end of the world, including quotations of Biblical scripture, the conversation gradually tips into the realm of despairing dread, anticipating the climactic battle with the evil deity Gozer.
The beautiful aerial shot of Ecto-1 entering Manhattan accompanied by a blood-red sunrise (and Bernstein’s rocking ‘Judgment Day’ cue) compounds the element of unease. Aykroyd is himself a confirmed believer in the supernatural, and one can discern his screenplay involvement in moments such as these.
5. ‘I Believe It’s Magic’
We’re used to horror set-pieces routinely taking place at night. Allowing supernatural evil to reign during the day, however? That takes skill. Reitman replaced Elmer Bernstein’s proposed track for this scene, instead tracking in Mick Smiley’s woozy pop number ‘I Believe It’s Magic’ over the sequence of the spectral energy making its way towards the possessed Dana’s apartment.
The juxtaposition, along with the arresting cinematography of the Manhattan skyline, works a treat, invoking the sense of a waking nightmare. The scene is broken up with farcical sights such as Slimer gorging on hot dogs and undead cab drivers, but the overriding feeling is one of impending catastrophe. And to think, it’s all because of the actions of “dickless” EPA official Walter Peck (William Atherton on superbly slimy form).
6. Subway ghouls
The threat level escalates in Ghostbusters 2, which has seen the team fall from the perch and derided as a joke. It's their quest for redemption that prompts the new spook-busting hunt, which all leads back to the menacing painting of Viggo the Carpathian. The spirit wants to claim the soul of Dana's infant son Oscar, and the quest eventually sends Ray, Egon and Winston, sans Venkman, into the New York sewer system.
What then unfolds is a combination of the genuinely nasty (an array of severed heads that manifests out of nowhere), to the amusing (a ghost train threatening to run down Winston as he screams for dear mercy).
7. Janosz takes Oscar
Peter MacNicol all but steals the second film as Viggo's human stooge/vessel Doctor Janosz Poha. The accent-mangling Janusz has his eye on Dana even before he's possessed by the evil painting. Janosz then becomes a pawn in the quest to claim Oscar, which reaches its creepy peak when he disguises himself as a demonic flying nanny to snatch the child away. All eighties and nineties kids surely remember being creeped out by this scene, which is all the more potent for arising out of a largely silly and irreverent movie.
Are you ready to answer the call? Then book your tickets for the Ghostbusters films via the links below. They're screening at Cineworld on November 12th and November 18th.
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