Review for Ghostbusters/Ghostbusters 2

Introduction

Remember Superbit? It was Sony’s proprietary DVD ‘format’, which took a film, mastered at the best possible quality, and presented it with the bitrate maxed to fill the disc, offering the best visuals and the best audio that a DVD could provide, with no room for extra features. That was the idea, but there’s not a lot of wiggle room when it comes to the DVD format, and I never bought into the idea that you’d get a world of difference between a regular DVD and the Superbit version of a film. Then a couple of years ago, Sony came up with the ‘Mastered in 4k’ Blu-rays, which purported to do exactly the same thing for the HD format. Many Blu-rays used the same HD masters which were used for the DVD, and while in HD, they weren’t the best that the format could offer, in some cases, showing the signs of age. Going back to the original film, and re-mastering in 4k resolution, would apparently allow a Blu-ray to max out the bitrate on video and audio, offering the best possible presentation at 1080p, far better than the original Blu-ray. Of course extra features would have to be sacrificed to make room! I thought it was a crock, the Blu-ray version of Superbit; that was until I actually saw some screen comparisons for Ghostbusters, one of the first ‘Mastered in 4k’ releases, and I was almost convinced.


While I was deliberating on whether to get the disc or not, Sony went and released the Ghostbusters 1 and 2 twin-pack, both mastered in 4k, and this time both containing extra features, which the original 4k Ghostbusters had omitted. It’s a good thing I take so long to deliberate, and I had the collection pre-ordered. Of course it’s only now that I’ve found the time to watch them. So here we are, my first Blu-ray double dip!

You get the films on two Blu-ray discs, held in an Amaray sized Blu-ray case, with one on a central hinged panel. The case also comes in an o-ring slip-cover that merely repeats the cover art and the blurb. You get the digital versions of the film, expiring at the end of 2017. There’s a note from Ivan Reitman in the case, and a 28-page booklet offering making of essays for both films, cast and director bios, and production photos.

Introduction: Ghostbusters

To be thrown out of a university may seem like the ignominious end to a secure academic career, but for Doctors Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. For they have discovered that they can capture and contain a ghost. With the right technology, and for the appropriate fee, people can be saved from the blight of hauntings, of possession, and of general spookiness. When the adverts start appearing on TV, it seems like a joke at first, things that go bump in the night! But Ghostbusters may have just appeared at the perfect time, for night-time bumping is getting a lot more prevalent, and behind it all is the imminent fulfilment of an ancient Sumerian prophecy. It’s a prophecy that will draw into its embrace hot cellist and Peter Venkman’s dream date, Dana Barrett, and her neighbour, nebbish accountant Louis Tully, who just happen to have apartments at Spook Central.

Picture: Ghostbusters

It’s been a while since I watched that first Ghostbusters Blu-ray, but I can still see a world of difference in the Mastered in 4k version, and even the economy of including all the extras doesn’t visibly affect the image quality. The most immediately apparent difference is the absence of white bloom and black crush, which impacted shadow detail, and resulted in white skies on the original disc. Here, shadow detail is much improved, while skies are blue, or more appropriately cloudy in New York. The colour balance is better too, not quite as washed out as the original disc, and much warmer, richer. By far the biggest difference is in the grain. The re-mastered Ghostbusters has a fine grain structure that allows for even more detail than before, and the complaint I had about the first disc and waxy skin tones isn’t even an issue here. Of course going back to the original film means that this print is clean, and absent any signs of age; Ghostbusters looks brand new.

Sound: Ghostbusters

The first disc might have had Dolby audio, but the Mastered in 4k disc switches to DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround English, French, and German, with plenty of subtitles to choose from. It’s much the same experience as before, although I didn’t have to push my volume control quite as high for this disc. Great music, great dialogue, and a surround track that isn’t too far removed from its eighties theatrical roots; I love the sound of an unlicensed nuclear accelerator in the evening!

Extras: Ghostbusters

The disc quickly boots to a static menu, over which the Ray Parker Jr. theme song is played in full. It’s just rude to press play before it finishes.

I also rate this disc for ditching all the BD-Live nonsense, the Cinechat, the Blu-Wizard. It also loses the Videogame featurette from that first disc, although it keeps the Ecto 1 restoration featurettes.

Most of the extra features are still carried over from that Blu-ray (and the DVD), the featurettes, the commentary, the deleted scenes. But there is also some material that’s new for this disc.

The case blurb points to the following as new.

Who You Gonna Call: A Ghostbusters Retrospective – Roundtable Discussion with Director Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd. This is in HD and runs to 24:01, and the two are interviewed in 2014 about the 30th anniversary, their recollections of making the movie, and more.

There’s a poster art gallery with 30 images.

And finally, after 30 years, we get the ‘Ghostbusters’ Music Video on one of these things. Brilliant!

Not listed on the case as new, but certainly items I haven’t seen before (or on the previous disc), include the film’s trailer, and Alternate TV Takes (1:30) with language fit for broadcast censors.

Conclusion: Ghostbusters

Well, let’s just keep it short. The original Ghostbusters is perfect. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched the film, and certainly with other, lesser movies, my attention would drift, and I might even let my eyelids start drooping due to over-familiarity, but last night I was glued to Ghostbusters as if I was watching it for the first time. It’s just a great, ‘supernatural spectacular’ as the tagline says.

It’s lost none of its charm, somehow combining comedy, sci-fi and horror to create something greater than the sum of its parts, a unique experience which many have tried to emulate, but no-one in my opinion has succeeded. Ivan Reitman tried again with Evolution, but that’s a film that quickly slipped from the consciousness. At the time of its release, you might have expected Men in Black to take Ghostbusters’ crown, but that too is very much a film of its time. None of these films have the staying power of Ghostbusters, and it really is a timeless classic, a one-off.


It’s a combination of a great story, engaging characters, a razor sharp script, and somehow tapping into the public zeitgeist of the period, with effortless branding. The summer of 1984 saw No-Ghost logos all over the place, and had Ray Parker Jr’s theme song rocketing to the top of the charts. As stated in the extras, films are lucky if they have a line that can adorn a T-Shirt; Ghostbusters was filled with them, every other line a quotable zinger.

I may have had my doubts about the Superbit era of DVD, but the Mastered in 4k era of Blu-ray is very much a positive if Ghostbusters is anything to go by. I don’t have enough room for a 4k TV that would be worthwhile, and the cost of the media is exorbitant. But I really do hope that 4k catches on. If that happens, then people will naturally want their favourite movies on that format, meaning they’ll all be re-mastered at the higher resolution, and when that happens, I’m sure 1080p Blu-rays will take advantage of the new masters to ‘max’ out the bitrate. I’ll probably be double dipping again!

10/10

Introduction: Ghostbusters 2

It’s been five years since the events of the first film, when the Ghostbusters saved the world from the second coming of Gozer. They were heroes, a national phenomenon, and the city of New York thanked them for their efforts by slapping them with a whopping great repair bill, and an injunction prohibiting them from practising their trade as the Ghostbusters. But now something is brewing under the streets, literally. A river of slime is flowing towards the centre of the city, psychic emanations from a city of disgruntled and bitter citizens, all to the service of Vigo the Carpathian, whose spirit inhabits a portrait at the Manhattan Museum of Art. The evil despot Vigo wants to live again, and for that he needs a child to possess. He’s chosen the child of Dana Barrett, who works at the museum. As the dead start rising again, who can Dana Barrett call this time?

Picture: Ghostbusters 2

Ghostbusters 2 gets a 2.40:1 1080p transfer, and just like the first film it’s come up a treat, although there is no initial Blu-ray to compare it to. The 4k re-master has been very good to the film; it’s clear and sharp, with exquisite detail, and wonderful colour rendition, although I did feel that reds were pushed a little too strongly (Oscar’s bib hurt my eyeballs). There is a fine layer of film grain, but the only issue might be in the source material, with the occasional scene softer than others.

Sound: Ghostbusters 2

There’s even more to choose from here, with DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround English, DD 5.1 French, and Russian Voice Over, DD 2.0 Surround German, Japanese, Spanish, DD 2.0 Stereo Italian, and DD 2.0 Mono Portuguese, with subtitles in too many languages to bear thinking about. The dialogue is clear, and the film’s action comes across with impact, but it’s a primarily front-focussed affair, with the rears only called on for a little ambience. Back around the end of the eighties, all movies had hip-hop in their soundtracks, and that’s just as true for Ghostbusters 2, with some egregious Bobby Brown, and Run D.M.C mauling the Ray Parker Jr. classic. On top of that, the film’s score isn’t a patch on the original’s.

Extras: Ghostbusters 2

The disc boots to a static menu, over which you can hear the Ray Parker Jr. theme in full (not the Run D.M.C. one).

On the disc, you’ll find Time is But a Window: Ghostbusters II and Beyond which runs to 16:16. This is the second part of the interview with Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd as they talk about the sequel, and some of the spin-offs from the Ghostbusters franchise.

In the Scene Cemetery, you’ll find 7 deleted scenes running to 7:27 in total. Actually they are more alternate scenes, and an indication that the film script was being written and rewritten as the film was being shot.

The Original Trailers are here, the teaser and two theatrical trailers running to 6:06 in total.

This far it’s all HD content.

The “On Our Own” Music Video by Bobby Brown is in SD, runs to 4:36. Just like the Ray Parker Jr. video, it’s set in New York with plenty of ‘celebrity’ cameos. Prepare yourself for a cameo from the next and last president of the United States as he steps out of his eponymous tower.

Conclusion: Ghostbusters 2

It turns out that the world didn’t end on February 14th this year, which would have been a bummer. It just goes to show, that you can’t trust aliens that invite you back to their motel rooms. I loved Ghostbusters 2 when I first watched it; after all it was a sequel to one of my favourite movies. But I was sixteen at the time, which might explain why I don’t have the same affection for it now. It’s a typical sequel of the era, the late eighties cash-in on a prior success, with the approach of simply doing the same thing over again, but bigger, in the mistaken impression that audiences merely want to watch a re-run. The end of the world is coming, thanks to a spectral villain, and only the Ghostbusters can stop it. Once again it revolves around Dana Barrett, making the threat personal to our heroes, and once again they have to convince the Mayor to let them save New York, and once more a giant figure stalks the streets of Manhattan. It’s the original film recycled, but not nearly as much fun.


Ghostbusters 2 does get some things right. It has a pace and energy to it that manages to draw the viewer in, and above all it gets the characters mostly right. If Bill Murray was any drier as Venkman, he’d be a desert, and watching Ray, Egon, Winston and the others, there’s a nice sense of familiarity to it all. I say that it gets the characters mostly right, because Ghostbusters 2 isn’t just a sequel to the original film, it’s also being sold to fans of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon as well, and it takes elements from that franchise as well.

That’s where the film’s weaknesses become apparent. The original Ghostbusters is an adult comedy that everyone can enjoy. It doesn’t pander to younger audiences, or lower its intelligence (and it has a ghost blowjob joke), but the sequel is aimed at a more infant crowd. There’s certainly no edgy humour here, and it all feels safe and sanitised. It feels like Beverly Hills Cop 3. It’s also got a nice, wholesome message to it, that unless people are nice to each other, and stop being obnoxious jerks, then their psychic effluence will materialise as slime and cause a whole lot of spooky havoc.


As I mentioned regarding the deleted scenes, this does look like a movie that was written on the fly. It doesn’t hang together all that well (the novelisation reveals plenty of ‘deleted’ scenes, as do the end credits), and it can be unsatisfying the way that subplots, such as Louis vs. Slimer, and Ray being entranced by Vigo, are poorly developed.

Still, while not being a patch on the original, Ghostbusters 2 is watchable, and quite frankly, it does look spooktacular on this 4k mastered Blu-ray. On top of that, judging by public reaction to the trailer for the new Ghostbusters movie, it will have to go a long way to be as good as even Ghostbusters 2!

6/10

In Summary

This is no mere Superbit. 4k re-mastering is good, and these two films are among some of the best looking Blu-rays in my collection, especially when it comes to catalogue titles. Anyway forget standard Blu-ray, as the real point of re-mastering in 4k has become clear. Ghostbusters will be coming to native 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, although you’ll need a dedicated player and TV. This is a nice, convenient twin-pack release of the film, although since its release, the films have also been made available individually. Ghostbusters is the same perfect comedy storm that it always was, but I find that as I age, there’s less and less to appreciate about the sequel. It is still watchable though.