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'''Ghostbusters II''' is the 1989 sequel to ''Ghostbusters'' (1984). 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), a record that was broken precisely one week later by ''Batman'' ($40,505,884).

Contents

Plot

Cast

Development

Production notes

Comic book adaptation

Novelization

Cultural references

In the movie

Outside the movie

Soundtrack

References

External links

Plot

After the events of ''Ghostbusters'', the company was sued by several city and state agencies for destroying the top three floors of 55 Central Park West, among other instances of property damage. As a result, (c. 1987) a judge issued an injunction, banning them from operating as paranormal investigators and eliminators--effectively putting the Ghostbusters out of business.
Ray Stantz now owns an occult book shop in Manhattan, and along with Winston Zeddemore puts on special appearances at children's birthday parties. Peter Venkman has his own TV series, ''World of the Psychic'', in which he ridicules people who believe they have telepathic powers. Egon Spengler, meanwhile, is a researcher at ''The Institute for Advanced Theoretical Research''. Dana Barrett and Venkman did not remain sexually involved after ''Ghostbusters''; she now has baby named Oscar, who was sired by a musician. The father having departed for England, Dana restores old paintings at the Manhattan Museum of Art. Dana's boss, Dr. Janosz Poha, is at work restoring a notable painting - a self-portrait of Vigo the Carpathian ("the scourge of Carpathia"), a cruel 16th-century Moldavian ruler.
One day, while Dana pushes Oscar's carriage, pink slime emerges from a street crack and touches the stroller, causing the stroller to momentarily assume animation of its own. Dana, frightened, consults Egon, who recruits Stantz to help investigate. Venkman and Winston join as well.
Posing as workmen, the Ghostbusters drill into a street to investigate the slime. Stantz discovers a huge river of slime flowing through the ruins of Beach's Pneumatic Subway; at this, Stantz takes a sample of the slime for them to study. Skeletal arms form out of the slime and attack him. While being hoisted back to the surface, he inadvertently damages a power line, plunging all of New York into a blackout. The Ghostbusters are arrested.
In court, the Ghostbusters are tried by Judge Wexler and defended by Louis Tully (Rick Moranis), who is good at tax law but inept as a general-purpose lawyer. All the Ghostbusters' equipment is in the courtroom as evidence, and is in working order. The Ghostbusters lose the case and are sentenced to 18 months in prison. As Judge Wexler becomes angrier and angrier during the sentencing, the slime (taken as evidence) proceeds to boil and overflow the jar. When the judge's rage reaches its pinnacle, the slime explodes, releasing the vengeful ghosts of the Scoleri Brothers, two murderers whom Wexler had sent to the electric chair. The Scoleri brothers cause chaos in the courtroom. Wexler pleads with the Ghostbusters to intervene. Louis Tully points out that that would be illegal as they were under a legal restraining order, whereupon Wexler cancels the legal restraining order and the sentencing. This lets the Ghostbusters "bust" the two ghosts. (See Scoleri Brothers for more information.) The Ghostbusters soon recover their previous fame and popularity.
While Venkman is still trying to rebuild his relationship with Dana, the Ghostbusters use their freedom to research the slime. Spengler discovers that it is a kind of "mood slime" that feeds off of the emotions of people around it. Meanwhile, at the museum, Janosz is working alone on Vigo's portrait when it suddenly comes to life, being inhabited by a spirit-like form of its model. Vigo takes control of Janosz, directing him to bring a child so that Vigo can be fully revived by transferrance of his soul at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. He has apparently selected Oscar; this is suggested by the fact that the "mood slime" had prevented Oscar's carriage from colliding with a car.
At the insistence of Dana, the Ghostbusters photograph and examine the painting of Vigo. Spengler and Stantz develop the photos and see that there is a definitely a living spirit inside of the portrait, and that it is co-related with the slime. The Ghostbusters (without Venkman) venture into a network of abandoned subway tunnels, apparently trying to trace the source of the slime flow. They fall into the slime river. After emerging from the sewers, the Ghostbusters, covered in slime, begin fighting, before taking off their clothes and regaining their wits. All four men contact the mayor, to warn him of impending disaster. The mayor scoffs, whereupon the Ghostbusters threaten to go to the news media. The mayor's aide, Jack Hardemeyer, has them committed to avoid embarrassing the mayor, who is seeking re-election.
Louis and Janine are babysitting Oscar when a supernatually-empowered Janosz kidnaps Oscar and brings him to the museum. Dana pursues them. Unknown to Dana, the slime flow is now rising out of the ground all over New York and causing supernatural happenings, including the appearance of a full-sized ghost of the RMS Titanic docking, from which emerge the ghosts of passengers via the hole that caused the ''Titanic'' to sink. When she enters the museum, the museum becomes encased in slime and sealed shut.
Janine dresses Louis Tully in a spare uniform of Egon's and gives him a proton pack, then goes on foot to the musem. On the way, he gets on a bus, and finds that Slimer is driving it.
On New Year's Eve, the mayhem overrunning the city eventually convinces the mayor to send for the Ghostbusters. With no way into the museum, the Ghostbusters enter the Statue of Liberty and cover its inside in positively-charged mood slime. Using a portable stereo, they play the slime's favorite song, "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher", whereupon the psychokinetic energy in the slime possesses the statue and brings it to life. They direct the statue to wade to Manhattan Island and then walk to the museum. Along the way, people cheer and scream in joy, causing the negative slime to ebb away from the museum's dome. "Libby" destroys the glass of the dome with a blow of her torch, and the foursome lower themselves in by abseiling down ropes tied to the statue's crown.
Taking advantage of the interruption, Dana snatches Oscar. Janosz is released from Vigo's control; at this, Vigo appears in person. Peter hides Oscar and then all four Ghostbuters attack Vigo. Vigo throws lightning from his hands, leaving the Ghostbusters paralyzed on the floor. Vigo seeks and finds Oscar. He holds Oscar aloft and prepares to possess him; here, all hear a song from outside. It is just past midnight, and the crowd, full of good cheer and happiness, is singing Auld Lang Syne in unison. The singing counteracts the power of Vigo's destructive magic, causing his corporeal form to vanish.
Oscar is safe, and the Ghostbusters prepare to attack the painting, to which Vigo has returned. Before they can do so, he uses his hypnotic powers to possess Ray. Undaunted, the remaining trio spray him with a combination of positive slime and proton beams. Vigo's spirit leaves Ray and is sent spiraling into his painting, screaming, until he finally explodes. The Vigo painting is gone, revealing another painting underneath featuring Oscar and the Ghostbusters. As the shell encasing the museum disintegrates, Louis Tully reaches the museum, exclaiming "I did it!". The Ghostbusters emerge as heroes.

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 'Janosz Poha'

★ 'Harris Yulin' as 'The Judge'

★ 'David Margulies' as 'The Mayor of New York'

★ 'Kurt Fuller' as 'Hardemeyer'

★ 'Janet Margolin' as 'The Prosecutor'

★ 'Wilhelm von Homburg' as 'Vigo'

★ 'William T. Deutschendorf' and 'Henry J. Deutschendorf II' (twin babies) as 'Oscar'.

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. Reportedly, some of the cast and crew were ultimately dissatisfied with the film as well as its box office reception. Still, there has been talk of making a third film, with Dan Aykroyd at the helm.^[1]
The 'Scoleri Brothers' are played (uncredited) by Tim Lawrence and Jim Fyfe in latex suits with animatronic masks. Ostensibly, Tony and Nunzio are based off of the real-life Scoleri Brothers, who once robbed Harold Ramis' 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. What is known, though, is that Tim Lawrence, the special effects supervisor who also played Nunzio in the film, designed the overall look of the two brothers on the Blues Brothers: "In the first draft of the script that I saw, the description of the characters was quite vague--as is often the case with fantasy characters that have not yet been fully designed. I believe the script read something like, 'Big in life, even bigger in death, the Scoleri brothers sweep into the courtroom.' Knowing that Dan Aykroyd had written this bit, one of the first images that came to me was the Blues Brothers--and it was this idea of a tall thin guy and a short fat guy that colored my thinking as I developed the characters."

Production notes

★ The original Laserdisc and VHS versions of the film were made wrongly: 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'' (1984)). 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'.

★ 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.

★ The Statue of Liberty was controlled by a heavily modified NES Advantage.

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

★ Venkman's apartment is at the Flat Iron Building, between Broadway and Fifth Avenue.

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).

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.

Cultural references

In the movie

★ After Dana has arrived at the museum to rescue her baby, Dr. Janosz Poha exclaims that the painting "Take a look, it's not Gainsborough's ''Blue Boy'', there. He is Vigo!". The Blue Boy is one of Thomas Gainsborough's well known paintings, depicting an androgynous looking boy in blue attire.

★ When Dana agrees to go out with Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), he says that he has a collection of videos starring Laura Antonelli, the well-known sex symbol in Italian and international films.

Outside the movie

★ In the Flash cartoon Homestar Runner, in the Strong Bad Email 'ghosts', Strong Bad and The Cheat check for ghosts while wearing ''Ghostbusters II'' T-Shirts.

★ Danny Phantom is loosely based on the Ghostbusters, the fact that ghosts are ectoplasmic beings and the gadgets that capture them.

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
# (original version), performed by Jackie Wilson
# (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 Crumpler
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, or any of Randy Edelman's score).

References

1. ''The Movies of the Eighties'' (1990) by Ron Base and David Haslam.

External links

★

★ Spook Central: The Ghostbusters Companion

★ Ghostbusters Prop Archive

★ Ghostbusters.net

★ Proton Charging - Ghostbusters news and information

★ Ghostbusters Headquarters

★ The Ectozone

★ ECTO-WEB