Ghostbusters II

Ghostbusters II
Ghostbusters II movie poster
Directed by	Ivan Reitman
Written by	Harold Ramis Dan Aykroyd
Produced by	Ivan Reitman
Starring	Bill Murray Dan Aykroyd Sigourney Weaver Harold Ramis Rick Moranis Ernie Hudson Annie Potts Peter MacNicol Wilhelm von Homburg
Cinematography	Michael Chapman
Edited by	Donn Cambern Sheldon Kahn
Music by	Randy Edelman
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	June 16, 1989
Running time	102 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Ghostbusters II is the 1989 sequel to Ghostbusters (1984) produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. The sci-fi comedy film is about the further adventures of a group of parapsychologists and their organization which combats paranormal activities ("ghostbusting"). The sequel had what was, at the time, the biggest three-day opening weekend gross in history ($29,472,894, which is equal to $52,709,710 today), a record that was broken precisely one week later by Batman ($40,505,884). Although the film was popular and was generally well received by fans, it received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Five years after the events of the first film, the Ghostbusters are out of business after being sued by the city for property damage. Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore have become entertainers at childrens' parties, Egon Spengler works in a laboratory conducting various experiments, Peter Venkman hosts a "psychic" television show, and Dana Barrett is working at an art museum restoring paintings and raising her infant son Oscar at a new apartment.

One day, Oscar's carriage starts rolling down the street by itself, nearly being run over by traffic. Ray, Egon, and Peter investigate. Meanwhile, Dana's boss, Dr. Janosz Poha, is restoring a painting of a seventeenth-century tyrant named Vigo the Carpathian, when the real Vigo (whose spirit is located inside the painting) orders Janosz to find a child so that Vigo may live again. When Ray is lowered underground, he discovers a river of pink slime beneath the streets. After Ray gets a sample, the Ghostbusters are arrested after Ray accidentally knocks most of the city's power out. During court, two ghosts appear out of the slime and attack the court. However, the Ghostbusters manage to capture them using their old equipment and are back in business. During a test on the slime, the Ghostbusters realize that the slime is a substance that feeds on bad vibess, and that all the bad vibes are collected underneath the street in slime form. Meanwhile, the slime appears out of Dana's bathtub and tries to grab her and Oscar. However, she manages to escape. The next morning, the Ghostbusters head over to the museum and investigate the painting. During investigation, Ray notices that the painting is alive. The next night, Ray, Winston, and Egon go through the subway and discover the river of slime. However, Winston and the others are sucked into the river but survive. After they appear back onto the streets, they realize that the slime leads directly to the museum.

Meanwhile, Janosz appears and kidnaps Oscar while Dana heads over to the museum. After Dana enters the museum, the slime appears in a shell form around the museum and the Ghostbusters are called to destroy it. However, the shell contains too much negative energy. But the Ghostbusters know one source of positive energy in the state: the Statue of Liberty. The statue appears over the museum and destroys part of the rooftop with its torch. When the Ghostbusters are in the museum, Vigo appears out of the painting and grabs Oscar. However, the people singing outside weaken the shell around the museum and the Ghostbusters send Vigo back into the painting. However, Vigo hypnotizes Ray, but the Ghostbusters free Ray and destroy Vigo.

Cast

• Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman
• Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz
• Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett
• Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler
• Rick Moranis as Louis Tully
• Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore
• Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz
• Peter MacNicol as Dr. Janosz Poha
• Harris Yulin as Judge Stephen Wexler
• Janet Margolin as Prosecuting Attorney "Kitten"
• David Margulies as Mayor "Lenny"
• Kurt Fuller as Jack Hardemeyer
• Wilhelm von Homburg as Vigo
• William T. Deutschendorf and Henry J. Deutschendorf II as Baby Oscar
• Cheech Marin as Dock Supervisor

Development

After the success of the first film and the animated series, The Real Ghostbusters, Columbia Pictures pressured the producers to make a sequel. However, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman were uncomfortable with this as the original film was intended to be conclusive and they wished to work on other projects. Eventually, they agreed and created a script. Annie Potts was also working on her TV series, Designing Women, at the same time. Reportedly, some of the cast and crew were ultimately dissatisfied with the film as well as its box office reception. Though there was initially talk of doing a third movie, it turns out that, instead, the video game, slated to be released in 2009, will basically be considered the third movie. In an interview with the video game magazine Game Informer, Aykroyd is quoted as saying that he tells people "If you have an appetite for the third movie, then the video game is it."

The Scoleri Brothers are played (uncredited) by Tim Lawrence and Jim Fyfe in latex suits with animatronic masks. Ostensibly, Tony and Nunzio are based on the real-life Scoleri Brothers, who once robbed Harold Ramis's father Nate Ramis' store. "The ghosts themselves were very loosely based on the fact that my father was a storekeeper who was once robbed and assaulted by the Scoleri Brothers." Some however have suggested that they might be based instead on Tony and Eddie Scoleri, who were convicted of robbing and killing a store owner in Philadelphia in the 1960s. None of this is known for certain however. The designs were created by the Visual Development Artist Henry Mayo (Credited) after extensive input from the Producer Michael Gross.

Production notes

• The original Laserdisc and VHS versions of the film were made incorrectly: instead of being produced either in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 or panned and scanned at the aspect ratio of 1.33:1, the movie was panned and scanned in a 1.66:1 frame. Compared to the 'proper' pan and scan version at 1.33:1, width is definitely gained on the edges, though very slightly. However, the DVD version was transferred and encoded at the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

• There are no opening titles. The movie's title is represented by an animation of the movie's logo, but the title is never displayed onscreen until the very end of the closing titles.

• At the end of the version shown in theaters, Slimer comes out from behind the Statue of Liberty and goes right into the camera (as he did at the end of Ghostbusters). The video version just ends with a pan up to the statue's head, then a fade to black. Also, in an unusual move, Slimer has his own cast billing in the credits: 'and Slimer'. Slimer was puppeted and controlled by Robyn Shelby whom much of her performance ended up on the cutting room floor.

• A great deal of merchandise (such as coloring books) came out with the release of this film. As was the case with the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, the makers of this material may have wanted to avoid likeness fees and as a result, the main characters in these bear little resemblance to any other version of the characters.

• Ernie Hudson had a special guest appearance (advertising Ghostbusters II) in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, where he played a member of the "Slime Busters" who tries to stop a ghost who eventually possesses Luigi.

• Vigo's full name, found by Egon in a computer encyclopedia, was Prince Vigo von Homburg Deutschendorf, a wordplay on the name of the actor who played Vigo and the surname of the twin babies.

• Filmed from November 28, 1988 to March 1989.

• Assuming the first Ghostbusters movie took place in 1984, this movie takes place in Christmas 1989, due to the title card stating "FIVE YEARS LATER".

• Some notable cast members in the film include one of Bill Murray's siblings, Brian Doyle-Murray, who played the psychiatric doctor, and Ben Stein, who played a public works official for the mayor. Cheech Marin and Philip Baker Hall also appear in the movie, as the dock supervisor who sees the Titanic come in, and the city police chief, respectively. Bobby Brown also appears in this movie as the doorman to Gracie Mansion when the Ghostbusters go to see the mayor of New York City. In the scene he asks the Ghostbusters for a proton-pack for his kid brother to which Egon answers "A proton pack is not a toy".

• The second version of the PKE Meter was used as a prop for a 1990 promotional video for the Metro Blue Line starring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where it was called the "Gloomsday Device."

• The mention of He-Man in the opening is amusing,(but not neutral) since the cartoon had gone off the air, and the live-action Masters of the Universe was considered a flop. But at the same time the Ghostbusters cartoon was still very popular.

Comic book adaptation

During this period, The Real Ghostbusters comic book produced by NOW Comics ran a three-part adaptation of the film, using the cartoon character designs instead of the likenesses of the actors. The overall story received minor alterations to run as a three-parter, and includes several scenes that were in the shooting script but were not included in the released movie.

Most notable is a scene set after their first visit at the museum (and Ray's first encounter with Vigo). In this scene, Ray is momentarily possessed while driving the Ecto-1A, and as a result tries to crash the car and kill the Ghostbusters. They soon bring Ray around to his senses after speeding through New York streets, and he apologises, unable to account for his actions. They never connect it to Vigo since, while possessed, Ray never mentions him. The comic panels further reinforce the movie's scene where Ray is briefly hypnotised by Vigo (leading to him being chosen as a host at the end).

As can be seen in almost all the advance merchandising for the film, the slime featured in this adaptation is depicted bright green as opposed to pink as seen in the movie - perhaps due to the popularity of Slimer.

Novelization

In a novelization of the movie by Ed Naha, Hardemeyer rushes at the museum's slime shell, which sucks him in and engulfs him; the book does not mention him again. (In the end credits of the film, he is shown in the crowd outside the museum, singing along with the rest of them).

Soundtrack and original score

Soundtrack

• "Ghostbusters", the original theme from the first movie, written and performed by Ray Parker Jr.
• "On Our Own", performed by Bobby Brown, who also makes a cameo appearance as a doorman; written by L.A. Reid, Babyface and Daryl Simmons
• "Ghostbusters", a rap performed by Run-D.M.C.; written by Ray Parker Jr.
• "Flip City", performed by Glenn Frey; written by Glenn Frey and Hawk Wolinski
• Two versions of "Higher And Higher", written by Gary Jackson, Carl Smith and Raynard Miner

1. (original version), performed by Jackie Wilson
2. (updated version), performed by Howard Huntsberry

• "Spirit", a rap performed by Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew, written by Doug E. Fresh and Bernard Wright
• "Flesh 'N Blood", performed by Oingo Boingo; written by its leader, Danny Elfman
• "We're Back", performed by Bobby Brown; written by Bobby Brown, Dennis Austin, Larry White and Kirk Crumple Original
  • Good Stuff* By New Jack Artists "Glasswurk" was also a promo to this movie; but was never officially released on the soundtrack

Score

• Years Later
• Hi Peter
• Named After a Hot Dog Brand
• Vigo's Plan
• She's Twitching
• We're Back
• The Painting
• Refuge to Peter
• Oscar, Dana & Peter- The Museum
• Tuck in the Guts, We're The Ghostbusters
• Dates and Sewers
• Take off Your Clothes
• No Reservations
• Trip to the Asylum- Bring Me A Child
• Oscar's Walk on the Ledge
• The Museum
• Total Madness
• Big Ball-o-Yellow- The Symbol
• The Girl Can Walk
• A Fifth Ghostbuster
• The Boy's Are Back
• Put Oscar Somewhere Safe
• Vigo
• Resolution- End Titles

The soundtrack album of the film also contains several songs that do not appear in the film itself (although, ironically, it does not feature the original Ray Parker Jr. version of "Ghostbusters", even though it appears in the film.

External links

• Ghostbusters II at IMDb
• Spook Central: The Ghostbusters Companion
• Ghostbusters Fans - The Largest Online Ghostbusters Community
• Ghostbusters.net
• Proton Charging - Ghostbusters news and information
• Ghostbusters Headquarters
• The Ectozone
• ECTO-WEB