Celebrate National Ghostbusters Day With Two Vintage Featurettes

By Brent McKnight | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Tomorrow is the day we’ve all been waiting for. I’m sure you’ve all had National Ghostbusters Day marked on your calendar for months, even though, you know, it was only announced last week. But still, National Ghostbusters Day. To mark the occasion, we have two vintage features for your enjoyment, one from the 1984 original Ghostbusters, and another from the 1989 sequel Ghostbusters 2.

This first behind the scenes feature gives you a peek beyond the curtain at the production of the classic comedy, which, if you’ve done the math, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. There are interviews with all of the key players, including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis (RIP), director Ivan Reitman, and Sigourney Weaver.

This lays out the basic concept of the film, introduces the characters and actors, and shows off the scale and scope of the production, which, especially for the time, was rather massive. A large part of their collective plan was to take a classic comedy concept and give it a modern twist—1984 modern that is. Comedy teams like Abbot and Costello had been running into ghosts and ghouls for years, and Ghostbusters is a bunch of modern comedy geniuses attempting to put their own unique spin on this approach. This is definitely a must watch for any Ghostbusters fan.

And who knew Bill Murray was such a sexpot? I mean I love the guy, but sexy is definitely not the first word I would use to describe him. Then again, this was 1989, and there was a different set of rules in play for everyone. The team talks about how Ghostbusters 2 came about, especially when they never expected that they would make a sequel.

Much like the first video, this one takes you to the set of the film, and lets you listen to the key players talk about the legacy of these characters, and this film in particular. You have to love watching Murray use a megaphone to entice a group of extras from New York to beat up tourists, I’m sure government officials love that one. There’s even a nice quick look at the special effects, and how the team at Industrial Light and Magic created the ghosts like Slimer and the good and bad slimes that play such a large part in the sequel.

Because 30 years is one hell of a milestone, you can bet that there are all kinds of special events planned, and Sony Pictures Entertainment certainly has some in store. Chief among these is a limited theatrical rerelease of the film this weekend. A new remastered 4K version of the original Ghostbusters will hit 700 theaters starting Friday, with a new Blu-ray release of both films to follow on September 16. And what better way to spend your Labor Day Weekend than by sitting in a darkened movie theater and watching Ghostbusters over and over again?