Sequel Baiting #5 - Ghostbusters vs Ghostbusters II

When there’s something strange in your neighbourhood, who you gonna call?

Nah, not today. Today we’re looking at the originals in this Sequel Baiting Halloween Special

Yeah, it probably is odd that I haven’t done a Halloween special in the past, truthfully, if you’ve seen any of my thriller reviews, you probably know Horror on its own doesn’t interest me. So yes, I’ve not lived with the nostalgia of Ghostbusters, in fact, prior to reviewing this, I hadn't even seen Ghostbusters 2. Both movies enjoyed a certain amount of financial success but it’s clear that the first one was more successful, both critically and financially. Hell, if it weren’t for Linkara saying he preferred the second movie, I’d have called this a foregone conclusion and left it be. But here we are. The rules from the Tomb Raider review apply here, the winner in each of the 6 categories gets a point, with 1 bonus point available for where one outdoes the other most significantly.

Plot

The plot of the Ghostbusters movies seem straightforward but it’s the framework for everything. The comedy, the character development and the scares.

Ghostbusters tells the story of 3 friends with paranormal interests who, after being kicked out of a University, decide to set up a Ghostbusting business. After showcasing their efforts with a moody client, the enjoy some success, despite media claiming them to be frauds and being dogged by government assholes, but a client close to them shows signs of unleashing an ancient evil, the gang will have to be resourceful, quick witted and have some good one-liners to make it out alive.

Ghostbusters 2 begins with the team split up, with restraining orders against them ghostbusting after some cr*p happened after the last movie. But when a threat arises in the form of pink goo, I’m deadly serious, it’s up the team to rehash the first movie, in some cases plot-point for plot-point in order to stop some evil painting gaining form in a baby with the help of the pink goo.

Ghostbusters 2 has some major issues when it comes to plot. The restraining order segment of the movie existed basically to waste 30 minutes of our time. And I’m not kidding when I say the plot is eerily similar to the first movie which, whilst not flawless, at least felt, somewhat original? Point to the first movie

Ghostbusters - 1

Ghostbusters II – 0

Comedy

Primarily, the Ghostbusters movies are comedies, so we should expect there to be some laughs along the way

Both Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II benefit from the chemistry between the three leads, no offence to Ernie Hudson but he’s not a focus character. Whilst neither provides me with laugh out loud moments I did find myself laughing at most of the jokes, just more on the inside. There is a problem with Ghostbusters II though and unfortunately it winds back to the plot playing out too similarly to the original. Most of the jokes end up being predictable. Beyond that, there’s a missed opportunity when Tully gets on a bus driven by Slimer and nothing happens to him. Point goes to the first movie again

Ghostbusters - 2

Ghostbusters II -  0

Characters

I suppose I could break this down into leads, supporting characters and villains but I’m going to cover them all in one shot.

Let’s start with Peter Venkman, the wiseass behind the Ghostbusters. He takes on a leadership role but has a very creepy relationship with any woman in his path, much like Dana Barrett. To her credit, as well as being a love interest for Venkman she’s necessary to the plot in her own right, as she becomes the host of Zuul, one of the servants of the deity I mentioned in the plot summary. In the second movie she’d moved away from Venkman but returned with her baby. When her house begins spewing pink slime, Venkman creepily offers to have her live with him. This offers some character development for Venkman as he has to deal with having a woman in the house for the first time in probably forever. Dana has a more active role in the second movie as it’s her child that’s the target of the new villain.

Next up we have Ray Stanz, the historical and metal expert of the group who comes up with a lot of the terminology. There’s really not much more to him, and he doesn’t change in the sequel. Egon Spengler is the third original member of the group, and he’s the nerd of the group, the guy who creates all their technology and handles all their equipment. Again, he doesn’t really have much of an arc in either movie. Someone who definitely does is Sully, he’s a comic relief Nerd introduced around the same time as Dana in the first movie, he also ends up being an important part of the climax of the movie and gets some genuine laughs with his odd behaviours. In the second movie he takes a more active role in the Ghostbusters, defending them in court and later donning a proton pack which he ultimately does nothing with. Interestingly, there’s an out-of-nowhere love subplot between him and the secretary Janine Melnitz, aside from the romance angle, she’s your standard snarky secretary.

But let’s talk a little about the villains, both have some government asshole who exists solely to make life harder for the Ghostbusters, Walter Peck is just more interesting as Jack Hardemeyer, who really comes off as a lite-Walter Peck. The same can be said for the villains on the ghosts side. I wouldn’t say Gozer had much of a personality, but Zuul does help make up for that. Vigo is boring and so is Dr. Janosz, well, aside from the delivery of one line.

Overall though, I commend Ghostbusters 2 for at least trying to give some characters more of an arc

Ghostbusters - 2

Ghostbusters II – 1

Scares

In a story about ghosts there’s bound to be some scary imagery right?

In short, not really, these movies focus more on the comedy than they do on being scary, but that’s entirely by intention and there are some scares to be had. I personally really liked the emergence of the first living statue in the original Ghostbusters. But the brief flash of skulls in the subway in Ghostbusters II ultimately is the scariest moment I remember so the point goes to the second movie

Ghostbusters – 2

Ghostbusters II – 2

They’re level pegging, bet you weren’t expecting that?

Music

Is this really a competition? The first one had 3 songs I remember, aside from the names of them. Of course one of them is a classic still performed today. Ghostbusters II had an awful remix of this song, and a remix of Higher and Higher for the film’s dumb climax. I don’t think the original could really be topped, so it wins the bonus point

Ghostbusters - 4

Ghostbusters II - 2

Effects

I know both of these movies were made in the 80s, where CGI had not been perfected, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna tell you both of these movies have very dated looking effects. From the fake map drawings and see-through Staypuff in the original (alongside the awful CGI hound statue) to the totally unconvincing State of Liberty sequence in the sequel. In the end both of these movies adopt the same style, so it’s hard to draw more than an equal pairing to them. That said… Slimer, the most original character in the movie and entirely down to special effects, and he looks good. I’m gonna have to give this point to the original for that.

Ghostbusters – 5

Ghostbusters II – 2

Conclusion

I guess I’m with the masses, Ghostbusters is better than Ghostbusters 2, whilst 2 has the edge with its character arcs and something that genuinely raised my pulse a little, it failed to capitalise on where the first movie left off, resulting in weaker story that rehashed elements of the original, making the jokes less funny as a result. It also failed to create any new creative ghost designs and didn’t have the iconic music of the original.