Ghostbusters -- I Ain't Scared of No Ghost

Somehow I neglected to make Ghostbusters a more integral part of my life. I wasn’t avoiding it, I just thought I’d seen what there was to see.

It turns out, most of my Ghostbuster memories come from the animated series The Real Ghostbusters.

And the Nintendo game.

Those were the foundation of my Ghostbusting experience. I must’ve been at least nine years old by the time I saw the actual movie, and here’s the thing—it probably wasn’t the actual movie even then. It was an edited-for-TV version. So those sexual innuendos? Those weren’t in the prime-time version.

I can’t say I went into this viewing with a lot of awareness of the plot. I remembered there being a marshmallow man, and also that Slimer was a bad guy—not the Ghostbusters’ funny little boogery sidekick. Oh, and Egon isn’t, like, the leader—he’s just their resident über nerd. That’s about the extent of it. Oh and, “There is no Dana, only Zuul.”

1) The opening scene in the library totally stressed me out. Not because the ghosts were scary, but because Bill Murray wiped ectoplasm on books, and that card catalog mess was going to take FOREVER to clean up. That’s actually why the librarian was screaming. She wasn’t scared either, she was just like, “Oh, hell no. I’m not cleaning that up. I quit.” She just forgot her lines and screamed instead. That’s my opinion, anyway.

2) The scene in which Sigourney Weaver opens her fridge to another dimension and there’s some monster that says Zuul? Those were some amazing special effects, man. I mean, I could almost understand the idea they were trying to communicate, but not quite. And when the monsters rip through her armchair and drag her to the kitchen? That was hilarious. But I wonder if it was scary in 1984. I don't remember.

3) I’m going to need to know more about that defunct firehouse and the super-sweet Ghostbustermobile. Ecto-1 must’ve toured the country for a while, because I saw it in person at the South Florida Fair back in the day, and it totally made my year. According to this site, one of the cars is just rotting away in a prop yard in Culver City. That makes me sad, because wouldn’t I be the coolest mom in the world if I pulled into the elementary school lot in that? And station wagons are really hard to come by these days, so converting an old ambulance/hearse wouldn’t be a terrible way to get one. That firehouse? Yeah, it’s still a functioning firehouse—Hook and Ladder 8, NYC. You can go see it, if you want. Or you can stalk them via their photos on Yelp.

So what about the actual movie, Kristin? What did you think about the ACTUAL movie?

I still liked it. I still thought the suits and gadgets were awesome, and the idea of a crew of undervalued paranormal scientists battling ghosts in New York City is kind of fun. Interesting, particularly, that an EPA agent was villainized by Hollywood. I wonder what that says about the ‘80s. I want to know how Egon comes up with the necessary tools straight out of the gate, when they had no plan of approach at the library. And what does happen to the spirits they contain in their ghost dumpster anyway? And so the ghosts just want to make a mess and end the world—is that the deal? I didn’t feel like my questions were all answered, but maybe the all-chick team of ghostbusters will take care of that for me this summer. Because, yeah, I’m definitely going to see it. If only because the theme song is the best one in the history of movies—ever. “I ain’t scared of no ghost.”

Ghostbusters. Prod./Dir. Ivan Reitman. Perf. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver. Columbia Pictures, 1984. DVD.