GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)

"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together...mass hysteria!"

New York City, 1984. Three Paranormal Studies professors at Columbia University get a call that there’s a ghost lurking in the basement of the New York Public Library. Usually calls like this end up being nothing, but this time around, they encounter an actual real ghost! So, uhhh, what do they do now? They never thought this far ahead.

It would be difficult to talk about popular American Cinema of the 1980’s and not mention GHOSTBUSTERS. I was just a sexy little kid back in 1984, but I remember straight tripping balls over GHOSTBUSTERS! (And GREMLINS, since they were both released on the same day.) The story, the special effects, the music, the fucking demon dogs. It was all so...cool! And strangely enough, watching it again for this review, the movie still holds up. Yeah, it’s obviously dated (and younger generations would probably shit all over it), but for the most part it’s a totally watchable and enjoyable film.

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, a giant Slor, an outstanding cast all knocking out legendary performances, many quotable lines, zero nudity, zero gore, zero blood but lots of slime, lots of cool-looking ghosts, a giant Twinkie, a pissed off marshmallow, a rocket ship pace that makes me wish the movie was longer, tons of iconic scenes, awesome New York City locations and sets (I love the few scenes at the NYC Library, so badass!), real smoked salmon from Nova Scotia, Canada, $24.95 a pound, a great theme song (that seems to sound a lot like Huey Lewis and the News), a man with no dick and, if that’s not enough for you…the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants! I doubt there’s anything I can say about GHOSTBUSTERS that hasn’t already been said a billion times before, so if you haven’t seen it, just watch it. Especially if bustin’ makes you feel good. If nothing else, it’s a great example of impressive editing and storytelling. The movie just flows with no slow parts. It’s always moving forward.

[Post- review comment: I remember on the week that GHOSTBUSTERS came out on VHS (October, 1985), I went to my local Hastings and when I walked around the corner to the New Release section, there was like 300 VHS copies of GHOSTBUSTERS taking up and entire wall! It was so fucking rad. What a stupid, worthless piece of shit child I was to not have a smart phone on me to take a picture with. No wonder my family hated me so much.]

Part 2 - Ghostbusters II (1989)
Part 3 - Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Part 4 - Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Reboot 1 - Ghostbusters (2016)

LEVIATHAN (1989)

"Say 'Aah.' motherfucker!"

For whatever reason, 1989 was a big year for underwater movies.  THE ABYSS, DEEPSTAR SIX, THE EVIL BELOW, LORDS OF THE DEEP, LEVIATHAN and god only knows what else.  Unfortunately, the only film (that I've seen) that ended up being any good was James Cameron's THE ABYSS.  The rest sucked.  The less suckiest of the remaining suckers was LEVIATHAN which is simply an underwater retelling of ALIEN mixed with THE THING, but with all of the tension removed and replaced with bigger flamethrowers.

One day, some deep sea miners are doing their deep sea mining duties when they discover a sunken Russian ship called Leviathan.  Stuff happens and before you can say "Oh god, I hope my penis doesn't fall off!" people are starting growing icky scales and weird stuff like a mouth on their hand.  That sounds really cool, but after the initial shock wears off, it just turns into your standard monster movie.

Overall, LEVIATHAN is an entertaining ride and a neat time capsule to the world of cheesy-looking 80's monsters.  A little blood, mildly scary monster, average special effects, awesome failed attempt at a catchphrase ("Say 'Aah.' motherfucker!"), good acting, what appears to be Luxo Jr. on a computer monitor, average monster movie pace, strong cast.  Not a horrible movie, but it's nothing to write home about either.  Honestly, I expected more from Director George P. Cosmatos, who also brought us RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II and TOMBSTONE.

Is that Luxo?!