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tomeandflickcorner · 3 years

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Movie Review- Ghostbusters II

The sequel to the hit movie, Ghostbusters, was released five years after the original movie. While Columbia Pictures had wanted to make a sequel right away, Director/Producer Ivan Reitman, as well as the main cast, had other things on their minds. Not only did they want to work on other projects, but the original film was meant to be conclusive. And when David Puttnam became the head of Columbia Pictures in 1986, it quickly became clear that he had no interest in a sequel. This changed the following year, when Puttnam was replaced by Dawn Steel, who made Ghostbusters II a priority. After all, thanks to the animated series, The Real Ghostbusters, the franchise was still relevant. She met with Ivan Reitman, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, as well as Bill Murray’s agent, Michael Ovitz, at Jimmy’s, a restaurant in Beverly Hills. By the time the lunch meeting came to an end, the plans for the sequel were rolling. As one might expect, the script underwent a few rewrites, but two ideas seemed to be the most prevalent. One was a river of slime, connected to the idea that negative human emotions could lead to major consequences. The other involved a possessed infant. For those of you who have already seen this movie, you can see how those two elements played into the final draft.

Now, even today, this movie receives some flack because it’s not considered as funny as the original, as well as having a plot that seemed to be a rehash of the first movie. In fact, from what I’ve seen, some people think this movie should be skipped entirely. But I personally disagree. That’s not to say I don’t see where people are coming from when they criticize this movie. After all, I have some criticisms of my own. Despite that, I still feel Ghostbusters II is still worth watching.

The movie opens with an immediate time card, informing us that it’s been five years since the Ghostbusters battled Gozer atop the Shandor Building. Before long, we’re reintroduced to Dana Barrett, the woman from the first film, who now has a baby boy named Oscar. Anyway, Dana is currently pushing Oscar down the street in a stroller while balancing two bags of groceries. As she walks, we see a few reminders that this is New York City, where people can be downright unpleasant. For instance, we see a man arguing with a meter maid over how his car got ticketed for being parked illegally and is about to be towed. Another guy bumps into a woman on crutches and is met with an angry response. That sort of thing. However, Dana doesn’t notice that a small pool of pink slime is seeping out of a crack in the sidewalk in front of her. She simply walks on, with the wheels of the baby carriage going right through the slime.

Eventually, Dana reaches her new apartment building. Obviously, she had to move into a new place after her last apartment got blown up during the events of the original film. Upon reaching the apartment building, she happens to run into the building’s superintendent, who is currently arguing with another man about checking the waterlines attached to the boiler. She strikes up a conversation with him, telling him that he still hasn’t gotten around to fixing the radiator in the baby’s room. Since it’s apparently late in the year (and the movie subtly reminds us of that by showing us people wearing Santa hats and such throughout the film), Dana is concerned over how cold it’s getting in that room. However, Dana’s words trail off when she notices that Oscar’s carriage has moved on its own while she and the superintendent were talking. Dana stands there in a confusion for a brief moment, because she was sure Oscar’s carriage was within arm’s length a moment ago, but now it’s not. But when she starts walking towards the carriage in order to reach it, the carriage begins to roll away again, picking up speed whenever Dana increases her pace. In a matter of seconds, Dana is forced to break out into a run, because Oscar’s carriage is speeding away from her, weaving in and out of traffic. Which naturally makes Dana even more frantic to reach her baby. It does surprise me how nobody else seems to be trying to stop the runaway baby carriage, though. Apart from some moving men who do make a valiant effort to grab the carriage as it passes by them, everyone else seems to be simply dodging out of the way. I realize it’s a common trope that New Yorkers can be a bit callous, but this still seems a bit farfetched. Regardless, after a harrowing sequence, the carriage suddenly stops right in the middle of a busy street, just narrowly missing a passing bus. Without hesitation, Dana races over and scoops up Oscar, holding him to her chest in relief as the opening title card appears, and the trademark theme music begins to play.

The scene then switches over to show the Ecto-1 speeding down the street, with the iconic sirens blaring. Upon reaching their destination, Ray and Winston exit the vehicle and approach a particular residence, where the obvious homeowner is waiting for them. At first, it looks as if Ray and Winston are there on typical Ghostbuster business, as Ray, Winston and the homeowner discuss matters, but it’s soon revealed that this was just a fake out. Turns out, there aren’t any ghosts here. Ray and Winston were simply called there to be the entertainment at a kid’s birthday party. Only the kids are not the least bit impressed, as they had all been expecting He-Man to show up. And they don’t hesitate to make their disappointment known.

When the party winds down and Ray and Winston get ready to head off, we get a bit of exposition that explains exactly why the Ghostbusters’ popularity has diminished. Even though they did save the world by defeating Gozer and all, a number of high-ranking bigwigs ended up holding the Ghostbusters responsible for all the collateral damage that resulted from the battle. As a result, the Ghostbusters had been sued by various agencies, which forced them to go out of business. Now, they’ve been reduced to making appearances at parties and events in order to make ends meet. Quite a fall from grace.

Of course, I do have to complement the scene that reveals all of this information. I’m well aware that exposition scenes can be seen as filled with annoying tropes. Such at someone saying ‘as you know’ and things like that. But I personally felt they did this exposition scene right. While Winston and Ray’s dialogue did reveal a lot of much-needed backstory to the viewing audience, it still felt like a believable conversation between the two.

Anyway, now that it’s been established that the Ghostbusters are no longer in operation, we return to the main plot. After the incident with Oscar’s baby carriage, Dana decides to seek out Egon, who is most likely the one person she knows she can go to for answers. Since the Ghostbusters disbanded, he’s apparently gone back to working at Columbia University, who I guess regretted kicking him off campus in the first movie. This time, Egon is working in the Institute for Advanced Theoretical Research section of campus. Upon meeting with Egon, Dana tells him what happened with Oscar’s baby carriage. Egon agrees to help figure out what caused the incident, stating he plans on collaborating with Ray. Dana voices her approval of this, but requests that they leave Peter out of the matter.

This is when they reveal Ghostbusters II utilized one of the sequel tropes I loathe the most- splitting up the main couple of the original film just so they could get back together in the sequel. Yeah, it turns out that, after Peter and Dana appeared to be together at the end of Ghostbusters, they ended up breaking up. Dana then went on to marry someone else, which resulted in the birth of Oscar. This was one of the aspects of Ghostbusters II that I don’t like. But to further explain why it particularly annoys me in this case, I’m going to have to hold off until they reveal more details on Peter and Dana’s breakup later on.

Of course, it’s also probably worth mentioning that we see Egon is in the middle of conducting some experiments on human nature during his meeting with Dana. It seems that, while they were still Ghostbusters, Ray and Egon had developed a theory that human emotions can affect the physical environment. And that’s the theory that Egon is experimenting with. For instance, they’ve got an angry, arguing couple inside a room made up to look like a waiting room, where the temperature is being gradually increased the longer they’re being kept waiting. (The angry couple is under the assumption that they’re there for marriage counselling and have been waiting for two and a half hours.) I guess the couple’s mounting frustration is registering on Egon’s fancy instruments and scanners. While this might seem like a throwaway moment to remind us of Egon’s characterization, it actually does subtlety connect with the overall plot. Which was a nice touch, if I say so myself. (Interestingly, keep a close eye on Egon when he tells Dana that Peter never mentioned her after they broke up. He actually takes a moment to scan her with the same device he’s using in his experiment. Which makes you wonder if he was lying to Dana in order to record her reaction.)

Anyway, the movie then cuts over to Peter, who is now the host of a daytime talk show called World of the Psychic. From what I can tell, Peter’s talk show predominantly features guests coming in and talking about their strange psychic experiences. At this particular moment, they’re currently filming an episode revolving around the topic of predicting the precise date of the end of the world. Peter is currently interviewing his two guests- a man named Milton, who just wrote and published a book predicting the world would end on New Year’s Eve of that very year, and a woman named Elaine, who apparently was told by a space alien that the world would end on February 14, 2016. For the most part, I’d say this scene was mostly there for filler and to simply show us what Peter was doing now that the Ghostbusters are out of business. Though it’s probably noteworthy to point out that we might have gotten one of the first (if not the first) ‘stares directly into the camera’ moments here. Just watch Peter’s reaction where Elaine is recounting her experience with the space alien she encountered at the Holiday Inn in Paramus. In addition, it’s rather interesting in hindsight that Milton insisted he had a strong psychic belief about his selected date for the end of the world. Considering the movie’s climactic battle will actually occur on New Year’s Eve, one has to wonder if Milton had a legitimate psychic warning about what was about to happen.

After the show’s episode finished filming, Peter meets with his producer, Norman, complaining about the nutty people he’d just had to interview, stating they were supposed to be getting a telekinetic guy who could bend spoons. Norman explains that the telekinetic guy canceled at the last minute, and that Milton and Elaine were the best guests he could find on such short notice. Peter and Norman’s conversation is cut off when Peter notices Mayor Lenny walking through the backstage areas of the TV studio, accompanied by an entourage. Peter attempts to approach Mayor Lenny in order to discuss the matter of how the city government had either not paid the Ghostbusters for stopping Gozer back in the day or had paid them less than the agreed-on price for their services. However, Peter is intercepted by Mayor Lenny’s assistant, Jack Hardemeyer. He sternly instructs Peter to stay away from Mayor Lenny, as he’s planning on running for state governor and, as Hardemeyer puts it, his chances of being elected will not be helped by being associated by ‘two-bit frauds and publicity hounds.’

It then cuts over to the Manhattan Museum of Art. There, we find Dana in the art restoration room, where she now works under the supervision of a man named Janosz Poha (whose national origin is unclear; he later claims to be from the Upper West Side, but his thick, hard to place accent suggests he wasn’t born in the US). After overseeing the placement of a painting of Vigo the Carpathian, Janosz approaches Dana, who is currently cleaning a Richard Parkes Bonington painting. Right away, it becomes rather clear that Janosz is attracted to Dana. He tells her that she has been doing very well in the restoration department, and it probably won’t be long before she starts assisting him in the more important restorations. Dana, either oblivious to Janosz’ suggestive tone or choosing to disregard it in order to keep things professional, thanks Janosz for his complements. However, she informs him that, while she has enjoyed working at the art museum, she is planning to try to rejoin the orchestra now that Oscar is a little older. Dana then announces she has to head out in order to make an appointment, which most likely involves her meeting with Egon and Ray to discuss what happened with Oscar’s baby carriage. Once again, Janosz attempts to arrange a lunch date with Dana, as a way of wishing her well when she leaves the art museum, but she graciously turns him down. As Dana walks away, nobody notices as the face of Vigo seems to bulge out from the painting behind Janosz.

Elsewhere, Egon is visiting with Ray at Ray’s Occult Books, a bookstore Ray apparently opened up during the five year time skip. While making every effort to not neglect his customers, Ray is looking over some entries in a few books Egon brought over, discussing various occurrences where objects would start moving on their own. Such as the time a flower cart in Berlin took off by itself and traveled half a kilometer in front of three hundred eyewitnesses in 1939. As they continue to conduct their research, Peter unexpectedly walks in. He apparently is looking to pull Ray out of work for either a late lunch or early dinner. Ray, however, tells Peter that he can’t join him for calzones right now as he’s working on something. Peter, out of curiosity, asks them what they’re working on. Ray, taking note of Egon’s subtle warning to keep Peter out of this, per Dana’s request, simply tells Peter they’re checking something out for an old friend. However, this isn’t good enough for Peter, and he continues to wheedle Ray for more details. While Ray tries to stay firm in keeping silent, Peter eventually resorts to yanking on Ray’s ears, which forces him to admit that Dana is involved. The mention of Dana leaves Peter visibly surprised.

Before I can continue, I have to take a moment to talk about how those last two scenes are placed. Like with the first movie, I think they’re showing us scenes out of order. In the scene where Dana is leaving the art museum, it seems to be daytime. Plus, we’re apparently supposed to realize the appointment she’s trying to make is her meeting with Egon and Ray. However, in the scene at Ray’s Occult Books, it’s dark and rainy. And we saw that Egon and Ray were still researching some stuff, and didn’t seem like they were planning to meet with Dana soon. So I think the scene at Ray’s bookstore actually is supposed to take place right after Peter’s confrontation with Jack Hardemeyer. Admittedly, I’m not a film maker, but I do wonder why they arranged these two scenes the way they did. Did they think the audience would get bored if they cut right to the scene at Dana’s apartment after showing her leave the art museum, so they threw in the scene with Egon, Ray and Peter between them to keep us entertained?

Regardless, it then cuts to Dana’s apartment, where Dana is playing her cello while Oscar is being fed by a woman the script transcript refers to as Maria, Oscar’s nanny. And I love the attention to detail here. Dana has just announced she’s hoping to return to her old job in the orchestra, so it makes sense that we’ll see her practicing on her cello, most likely to try and get back into the swing of it. Dana’s cello practice is interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door, signaling the arrival of Egon and Ray. Dana puts aside her cello to let them in and, after greeting Egon and Ray, she starts to close the door. Only for Peter, who decided to invite himself, also pushes his way into the apartment, with Ray apologetically explaining to Dana that Peter forced him to spill the beans.

While Ray and Egon begin their physical examination of Oscar, we get to witness the awkward interaction between Peter and Dana. I get the feeling that this is the first time they’ve seen each other since they broke up. During their conversation, it comes out that Oscar’s father and Dana’s now-ex-husband, who Peter refers to as Mr. Right, ended up moving to England upon getting a job offer with an orchestra in London. Peter basically shrugs and tells Dana she’d have been better off marrying him. In response, Dana reminds Peter that he never asked her, and he always seemed to fall asleep on her whenever she broached the subject of marriage. The final straw for Dana was when Peter began introducing her as ‘the old ball and chain.’

Okay, so as I mentioned before, this is one of my biggest complaints about this movie. You’re telling me that, within the last five years, Dana was with Peter long enough for her to think about marrying him, but then they broke up because Peter decided he didn’t want to commit and was a jerk about it, then Dana was involved with another guy (most likely that violin player we briefly saw Dana talking to in the last movie), was with him long enough for them to consider marriage, leading to them actually getting married before conceiving Oscar, and then the husband decided to end the marriage in order to pursue a job opportunity in London? All of that happened within the span of five years? While I suppose it’s possible, it’s a bit unlikely. Why didn’t they just have it so Dana and Peter got married, with Oscar being their kid? Wouldn’t that have made more sense? Apparently though, this was something Bill Murray thought was necessary, because he felt having Oscar be Peter and Dana’s son would have resulted in a greater emphasis on Peter and Dana’s relationship with their child rather than the actual Ghostbusters and their interactions with each other. Well, no offence to Murray, but that was just stupid. Because now you have to deal with the whole subplot of having Peter and Dana getting back together. Which is a problem because the fact that they broke up in the first place leaves you feeling that maybe they shouldn’t be together, especially when you consider the reasons why they broke up! How are we supposed to root for a couple once it’s already been established they couldn’t stay together through everyday ups and downs?

Eventually, Dana leads Egon, Peter and Ray to the place where Oscar’s baby carriage stopped abruptly after its sudden getaway attempt. Pulling out their PKE Meter and Giga Meter, Egon and Ray are able to determine there is definitely something supernatural brewing beneath First Avenue. Of course, this presents a bit of an issue. As was previously established, the Ghostbusters are no longer in business. And, as we’ll learn shortly, because of all the lawsuits they were slapped with after the battle with Gozer, they’re all under a judicial restraining order that forbids them from doing anything remotely related to investigating and eliminating paranormal activity. At the same time, it’s not as if they can sit back and do nothing about it. After all, this is something that directly affects Dana, who, despite her breakup with Peter, is still their friend. The solution Egon, Peter and Ray come up with is to simply go ahead and drill their way through the city street while mascaraing as road workers in order to avoid suspicion from the general public. And the cover does seem to be doing the trick, as they are able to effectivly alleviate a passing cop’s curiosity when he pulls up in a squad car. Once the cop drives off, Peter, Egon and Ray find that their digging has uncovered an old air shaft that seems to go down quite a long way. Once again, Egon takes some readings with his Giga Meter, but soon decides that they should get a reading even further down. One of them will have to rappel down the air shaft to see where it leads. And it quickly becomes clear that Egon and Peter have decided to nominate Ray for the job.

Meanwhile, back at the Manhattan Museum of Art, we find Janosz is working late, touching up the portrait of Vigo. Without warning, orange lightning bolts burst out of the portrait, literally shocking Janosz. As Janosz writhes about on the ground, the portrait shifts to reveal an image of a large chamber filled with pink ectoplasm, with the large disembodied head of Vigo floating above it. After delivering a typical evil introduction by stating he once sat on a throne of blood and whatnot, Vigo instructs Janosz to find him a child so he could live once again. Janosz’s reaction to this is something I do find enjoyable. At first he’s nodding in agreement, and getting up to find that child. But the next second, the oddness of the statement catches up to him, and he’s all ‘wait, what?’ So Vigo has to send another wave of lightning bolts at him. This time, the lightning goes right into Janosz’ eyes, which results in him essentially getting possessed, and he instantly becomes Vigo’s mind-controlled flunky.

We then cut back to Egon, Peter and Ray, with Ray being lowered down the air shaft on a wire. Ray discovers the air shaft leads down to the Pneumatic Transit System, which was a proposed subway line that had been built in 1870 only to be abruptly abandoned, with the tunnels getting sealed up and forgotten. To Ray’s surprise, the tunnels have been taken over by a river of pink ectoplasmic slime. He promptly gets to work in collecting a sample of the pink slime with a device he just happens to have with him. As he’s collecting the sample, though, the cop who had driven by earlier returns. This time, he’s accompanied by a legit worker from Con Edison. It turns out that the cop had actually double checked on Peter, Egon and Ray’s claim to be road workers and determined that they were not actually employed by Con Ed or the phone company. Briefly, Peter does his best to come up with another cover story, but his attempt is interrupted by Ray’s shouts of alarm. Because the river of slime had suddenly started reacting to his presence and began reaching up towards him. Quickly, Egon and Peter begin to pull Ray back out of there, but in Ray’s panic, he accidently kicks out at a pipe hard enough to dislodge it. The pipe falls right into a powerline, resulting in a city-wide blackout. (Oops.)

Over at Dana’s apartment, Dana is checking on Oscar when she gets a sudden visit from Janosz. And you can tell from Dana’s reaction upon hearing his voice outside her door that she is not pleased he’s there. Still, she is perfectly polite to him upon answering the door. Janosz claims to have simply been in the area and decided to stop by to check up on her on account of the city-wide blackout. He then asks if Dana would like for him to come in. And in a subtly creepy tone, at that. Dana, however, cordially turns him away and bids him goodnight. And a good thing too, as once Dana closes and locks her door again, lights start shining out from Janosz eyes, further reminding us that he’s under Vigo’s control and had come to Dana’s apartment with the sole intention of getting Oscar.

The following morning, we find a court case about to begin at Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse. It seems Peter, Egon and Ray are about to stand trial for their actions in digging the hole into the street. Overseeing the proceedings is Judge Wexler, who makes it clear right off the bat that he’s a strict and close-minded judge who doesn’t believe in ghosts and demands that all talk of spooks and demons be left out of the trial. Winston, who has come down to the courthouse to offer moral support for his friends and former teammates, is particularly taken aback from Judge Wexler’s attitude. In response, Ray basically shrugs and states they can’t do anything about the judge they ended up getting. All they can do is hope their lawyer can successfully help them win the case. Of course, it’s quickly revealed their lawyer is Louis Tully, who I guess left his last job of accountant to get a law degree. Though I’m not sure why they picked Louis to be their lawyer, as not even Louis himself seems confident in his ability to defend the former Ghostbusters. He even states that he mostly deals with cases involving tax laws and probate stuff. He even got his law degree at night school. So why did they pick Louis as their lawyer? Could they simply not afford anyone else? Well, at the very least, we do get a really funny moment where Louis makes a reference to how he was previously possessed by Vinz Clortho during his opening remarks. Judge Wexler’s expression upon hearing Louis saying ‘one time I turned into a dog and they helped me’ is hilarious. Anyway, it’s also shown that Jack Hardemeyer is also there, and is very eager to see Peter, Ray and Egon end up in jail.

So the trial begins. And it doesn’t go so well for Peter, Ray and Egon. First, the cops had found their old Ghostbusting equipment stashed in the truck they had been using. Which was particularly bad as the lawyer leading the prosecution reminds the jury that they were under a judicial restraining order that forbid them from doing any sort of paranormal investigation or elimination. Then we got the worker from Con Edison stating he had not encountered any of the pink ectoplasm underground within the 27 years he’d worked for the phone company. (And Ray is unable to hold back an angry outburst from the insinuation that they might have put the slime there themselves.) Finally, there was a rather awkward moment when Peter was on the stand and was very clearly feeding Louis his lines. Needless to say, Judge Wexler ultimately finds the three of them guilty on all charges, and they’re sentenced to 18 months in the correctional facility at Riker’s Island, on top of a fine of $25,000 each. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately, depending on your point of view), Judge Wexler then decides to put his professionalism aside to go on a heated tirade about exactly what he truly thinks of the former Ghostbusters, calling them tricksters and charlatans that have no place in society, and announcing that if he had his way, he’d have all of them burned at the stake. As he continues to rant, the jar of pink ectoplasm that’s sitting on the evidence table starts to bubble vigorously. Something that Ray and Egon quickly notice. Ray makes an effort to alert Judge Wexler to this, but the judge blatantly ignores Ray’s attempts to warn him. Until the jar explodes violently, and two ghosts manifest within the courtroom. As one might expect, everyone within the room begins to panic and tries to flee, with those who couldn’t get out diving for cover. Judge Wexler ends up seeking refuge under the same table Egon, Peter, Ray and Louis were hiding under when the two ghosts divebombed the judge’s bench. He announces he recognizes the ghosts as Tony and Nunzio Scoleri, a pair of brothers who had previously stood before him on murder charges and were subsequently sentenced to death by electric chair. Judge Wexler begs them to do something, but he’s initially met with a petty response from Egon, who suggests he simply try telling the Scoleri Brothers that he doesn’t believe in ghosts. Ray and Louis also remind him that they’re still under a judicial restraining order. Desperation sinking in, Judge Wexler announces that he’s rescinding the order and dismissing the case. With that hurtle dealt with, Ray, Egon and Peter are able to gear up and strap on their Proton Packs again, and after a bit of a struggle, they manage to catch the Scoleri Brothers. With the job done, the reinstated Ghostbusters emerge from the courtroom to be met with applause and cheers from the onlookers.

Now, I have to pause to talk about something that is bothering me a little. What was Winston doing during all of this? After all, we saw that he was in the courtroom as well. So wouldn’t he have been helping with the Scoleri Brothers, too? Then again, maybe it does make sense. They probably didn’t have his Proton Pack in the courtroom, considering the others didn’t involve him when they were trying to investigate what had happened with Oscar’s baby carriage. I’m guessing Egon, Ray and Peter didn’t include him because Winston didn’t have the fancy doctorate degree like the rest of them. (And I believe there’s a mini comic story somewhere that shows what Winston was doing during the whole debacle.) However, that does leave one major question. What exactly was Winston doing these past five years? After all, they clearly showed us that Egon was back to working at the university, Ray had the occult bookstore and Peter was a talk show host. But to my knowledge, we have no indication as to what Winston was up to. Yeah, we saw he was making guest appearances at parties and events, but since Ray was also with him, I think it’s safe to assume that’s merely a side-gig and wasn’t his main source of income.

Anyway, thus begins the movie’s montage, which shows the newly-reinstated Ghostbusters getting back to work in hunting down and catching a fresh wave of ghosts popping up in the city. They even are able to put up a fresh new sign outside the Firehouse, and it seems that they also were able to locate and rehire Janine (with a completely new haircut) as their secretary. There are a few points of interest in this montage, such as the implication that they’re finding more of that pink ectoplasm during their various cases. Also, we see that they managed to get Janine and Louis to assist them in filming a new commercial advertising their services, by acting like a married couple being plagued by a ghost. (This is particularly cool as I believe this commercial was meant to have been featured in the first movie, but they had to cut it for whatever reason.) Finally, there was one noteworthy segment of the montage that shows Ray driving the Ecto-1 rather erratically and shouting something at the other drivers while Peter and Egon react with worry and confusion. That small segment is actually what remains of a deleted scene. I’ll talk more about that later. Oh, and we also see Slimer is now lurking around the Firehouse, with Louis discovering the green ghost helping himself to the contents of Louis’ lunchbox. This was clearly a reference to how Slimer was the Ghostbuster’s pet ghost in the animated show.

As the montage concludes, we find the Ghostbusters gathered around a table at the Firehouse. It seems that Ray and Egon have been conducting tests on the pink ectoplasm they’ve been gathering and they’ve discovered that the ectoplasm seems to react to the emotional states of humans. For instance, if you shout angrily at the slime, it will start to bubble and boil. In other words, this substance is, to use Peter’s term, ‘mood slime.’ Ray and Egon also demonstrate an additional feature of the Mood Slime to Peter and Winston by pouring some of it into an ordinary household toaster. They then turn on a recording of Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher, explaining that the Mood Slime also reacts to music. After a few moments, the toaster begins to ‘dance’ in time to the song. This leads to a bit of a comedic moment where Peter voices his excitement over this, suggesting that perhaps they can sell these dancing toasters as a novelty before pretending that the toaster ate his hand.

An undetermined amount of time later, Dana is once again at work in the art museum’s restoration room. As she passes by the portrait of Vigo, the intimidating figure smirks at her. Dana, it seems, notices the change in Vigo’s expression out of the corner of her eye and turns to look, only for Vigo’s smirk to vanish as she turned her head. Still, she is clearly feeling uneasy. She manages to shake off her worry to get to work at cleaning a Gauguin painting. As she goes about her work, she receives a surprise visit from Peter, and the two begin a casual conversation. Their talk is interrupted when Janosz approaches them, leading to Dana introducing the two to each other. After a few seconds, Peter seems to notice the portrait of Vigo, and the conversation shifts to that. Janosz begins waxing poetic about Vigo, stating he was once the ruler of Carpathia and Moldavia, and was also a powerful and genius magician. Dana counters this by pointing out that Vigo had also been a genocidal madman. She then confides in Peter that she sometimes gets the feeling that the portrait of Vigo is watching her. Peter and Dana’s concern only grows when they spot Janosz seemingly talking to the painting.

Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this scene. I understand why it was necessary, since they had to have some way for Peter and the other Ghostbusters to learn about Vigo. But I am a bit confused as to why Peter was there in the first place. Was he stopping by to give Dana an update on their attempts to figure out what caused Oscar’s baby carriage to roll off on its own, or was he just looking for a chance to flirt with Dana? It’s never explained.

Regardless, it then cuts to what I believe to be that night. Dana is back at her apartment, getting ready to give Oscar a bath. After turning on the water in the bathtub, Dana turns her back on the tub in order to undress Oscar. While her back was turned, the water flow suddenly stops, and more of that pink ectoplasm begins to flow into the tub instead. By the time Dana turns back in order to begin Oscar’s bath, the bathtub is filled with pink ectoplasm, which comes alive and lunges towards Oscar. In a panic, Dana turns and runs out of the bathroom, clutching Oscar to her chest. Out of desperation, Dana ends up seeking refuge at Peter’s apartment. While Peter initially seems grumpy upon being woken up by Dana’s frantic knocking at his front door, his mood shifts to concern when he listens to Dana’s explanation of what had happened with her bathtub and he is quick to console her. He ushers Dana and Oscar over to his couch and, once he’s sure they’re okay, he heads straight to the phone in order to call Ray and Egon back at the Firehouse in order to let them know what happened. Ray and Egon agree to go over to Dana’s apartment to check it out while Peter continues to offer Dana and Oscar shelter. Peter, being Peter, takes this chance to attempt to flirt a bit with Dana, but she’s not having it. As for Ray and Egon, we see them having a brief discussion before venturing off to Dana’s apartment. Egon tells Ray he looked up Vigo the Carpathian through the Occult Reference Net, which labeled him as a tyrant sorcerer. The two begin to suspect there might by a connection between Vigo and the pink ectoplasm they’ve been researching and resolve to take a look at the painting of Vigo over at the art museum in the morning. (Also important to note that we see Egon working on a blower gun, which will come into play later on.)

The following morning, Peter meets Egon, Ray and Winston outside the art museum. They tell him that they didn’t find anything at Dana’s apartment, apart from some Mood Slime residue in the bathtub. But they had managed to gather up the dirt on Vigo the Carpathian. Turns out, he was born in 1505 and died in 1610. And he didn’t die from old age. As Ray announces, ‘he was poisoned, stabbed, shot, hung, stretched, disemboweled, drawn and quartered.’ In addition, his last words were ‘death is but a door, time is but a window. I’ll be back.’

With these words hanging in the air, the Ghostbusters venture into the art museum. Despite an agitated Janosz’ attempts to chase them away, they take a series of readings and photographs of Vigo’s painting. However, as Ray is taking some readings of the painting, he ends up making eye contact with Vigo and something clearly comes over him. He begins to stare at Vigo in a daze and doesn’t snap out of it until Winston pats at his arm to get his attention. Still, Winston can’t help but notice that Ray looks a bit out of it as he leads him away to catch up with Egon and Peter, who had already started to walk off.

Now, this is where that deleted scene I mentioned earlier comes into play. There was originally supposed to be a scene where Ray suddenly seemed to come down with a severe case of road rage as they drove away from the museum, shouting angrily at the other drivers while driving erratically. In fact, he even comes close to crashing the Ecto-1 into a tree until Winston punches him out and slams his own foot on the brake. However, they ended up cutting that scene out of the final draft, with a tiny segment of that scene being used in the montage. I’m not entirely sure of why they decided to cut that scene, though.

Sometime later, Peter returns to his apartment to check up on Dana and Oscar, with a suitcase of some of their clothes in tow. Since Dana had left her apartment in a hurry, she didn’t have time to grab anything for her and Oscar to wear. Although, Peter is briefly taken aback to see Dana had decided to clean up his apartment while he was gone. Upon coming out to meet him, Dana asks about what Ray and Egon found when investigating her apartment and is clearly discouraged when told they didn’t find much. However, Peter ends up changing the subject and up and asks her to have dinner with him that night, claiming that a night out is exactly what she needs right now. He even announces he’s gotten Janine to agree to babysit Oscar. While initially hesitant, Dana eventually agrees to go out to dinner with Peter, on the condition that he not try and pull any of his old cheap moves on her after dinner, and she accepts the bouquet of flowers he’d brought her. (Question. Didn’t we see earlier that Oscar had a nanny? Wouldn’t she have been able to watch him while Dana and Peter went out?)

Back at the Firehouse, we see Janine getting ready to close up the Firehouse for the evening. She ends up walking out with Louis. Out of seemingly nowhere, Louis nervously asks Janine if she’d want to get something to eat with him. Janie tells him that she’d like that, but she’d already promised Peter that she’d babysit Oscar. However, she invites Louis to come babysit with her, and Louis readily agrees. Which brings me to another major complaint I have with this movie. It seems that this movie has decided to pair up Janine and Louis romantically. Words cannot describe how much I hate this. First of all, where did this come from?! I thought Janine liked Egon! So why is she suddenly into Louis? Although, I heard something about how this was a decision that Harold Ramis was behind because he didn’t approve of the Egon/Janine element in the first movie. Harold, I love you, buddy, but what is wrong with you!? Apart from that, there’s the fact that I’m still scratching my head as to why the Ghostbusters are keeping Louis around like this. Don’t get me wrong, because I have the utmost respect for Rick Moranis as a person and an actor. My problem lies with the character of Louis Tully. Because while he wasn’t as overt as Janosz, Louis was a bit of a creeper in the first movie. It was heavily implied that he was listening at the door for Dana to come home in order to ask her out, which is edging into stalking territory. And, in the novelization, I believe it was even stated he was planning to try and make a copy of her key, which would have enabled him to let himself into Dana’s apartment whenever he liked. The guy was hitting a lot of boxes on the creepy stalker checklist. So it’s a bit weird that the sequel is seemingly rewarding him with a job that allows him to work closely with the Ghostbusters and also gain a possible relationship with Janine.

Moving on, we then see Ray and Egon in a dark room, developing the photographs Peter had taken of Vigo’s painting. It’s clear that they’re finding some weird things with the photographs, as explained through some technobabble about multi-planar Kirlian emanations. In simple terms, there is definitely something paranormal going on with the Vigo painting. And, after they run a wider shot through the specto analyzer (while discussing what they plan to have for dinner), they find the image of the painting has suddenly altered to reveal the disembodied head of Vigo floating above a river of pink slime. Upon seeing it, Ray is able to identify the River of Slime as the same thing he’s seen when he was investigating the air shaft earlier in the movie.

At that moment, the developed photographs they have hung up on the line burst into flame. And when Egon and Ray try to make for the door, they find that the door has locked itself on its own, preventing their escape. They begin to panic a bit as they’re now trapped in a room that’s on fire and have no obvious way of putting out the flames. Fortunately, Winston had heard their shouting and came to the rescue, breaking down the door with the butt of a fire extinguisher, which he subsequently used to put out the fire.

With the crisis averted, Egon, Ray and Winston instantly decide to return to the place where Ray found the river of slime to see if they can locate the source of the flow. They briefly stop by Peter’s place in order to fetch him, only to find that Peter and Dana are in the process of leaving for their date. Which does give us a funny moment where Peter jokingly asks Dana if she’d mind skipping dinner in order to traipse around the sewer looking for some of the pink slime, with Dana simply replying by smiling and hailing for a taxi. So, with Peter unavailable to accompany them, Egon, Ray and Winston head off to the sewers without him.

As they make their way through the underground tunnels, searching for an entrance to the abandoned subway station where Ray encountered the River of Slime, they do encounter some rather creepy things. Such as suddenly finding themselves surrounded by severed heads on stakes, which vanish just as quickly as they appeared. Then a spectral train suddenly appears, moving right towards them. While Ray and Egon dive out of the way, Winston ends up freezing in place, with the ghost train passing right through him. Egon speculates that the ghost train might have been the manifestation of a train that derailed in 1920 and killed hundreds of people and he asks a shaken Winston if he happened to catch the number. Winston, still a bit shell-shocked from his experience admits he didn’t notice that detail.

That’s when they notice that Ray is unaccounted for, and they begin looking around for him. Seconds later, Ray instantly appears behind them, unintentionally startling his teammates. Ray apologizes for spooking them, but then tells them he found the entrance to the Van Home Pneumatic System. Like the last time he was there, the River of Slime is still flowing as strong as ever. They get to work in testing out the depth of the River of Slime, with Winston manning the sounding line. However, as he lowers the line, he suddenly realizes that something is pulling on it, thereby putting him in danger of getting pulled into the River of Slime himself. Despite the best efforts of Egon and Ray to separate Winston from the sounding line, which is attached to his belt, Winston is yanked into the River of Slime and is carried away by the current. After sharing a glance, Ray and Egon both jump in as well in an attempt to follow Winston. (Boy, poor Winston is really getting the short end of the stick during this escapade.)

Sometime later, they emerge from beneath a manhole just outside the Manhattan Museum of Art. After catching their breaths, Winston and Ray start to get into a shouting match, with Winston accusing Ray of trying to drown him and Ray insinuating that Winston had been too stupid to drop the plumb line. In an instant, the pair are wrestling with each other, and not in a playful way. Until Egon steps in, instructing them both to remove their slime-coated clothing. Ray and Winston follow his lead, removing their clothes until they’re down to their long underwear. Instantly, the two of them are back to normal, although taken aback by the knowledge that they had been ready to kill one another moments before. Ray realizes that their behavior had been influenced by the pink ectoplasm, stating the stuff is like pure, concentrated evil. And it all seems to be flowing right to the art museum. They realize they have to inform Peter and Dana immediately, and set off to Armand’s, the fancy upscale restaurant where they are currently dining at.

It seems Peter and Dana’s date is going pretty well, with Dana toasting Peter as the most charming, kindest and most unusual man she’s ever broken up with. Which prompts Peter to ask exactly why Dana dumped him. (Uh, didn’t we already establish that? It was because you were unwilling to commit and was a jerk about it. Or did they forget about how Dana mentioned how Peter had started calling her the ‘old ball and chain?’) Regardless, they do end up sharing a kiss, suggesting they might end up trying to start over again. But that’s when Egon, Ray and Winston storm into the restaurant, still dressed only in their long underwear. Needless to say, they’re causing quite the scene. Eventually, Peter is able to get them to stop talking all at once, enabling them to give a rushed explanation of how the River of Slime leads right towards the art museum. Dana is visibly stunned at the revelation that her place of work is seemingly the focal point of it all. But before more could be said, the restaurant’s Maitre D’, annoyed over the disturbance the Ghostbusters were causing in the upscale establishment, manages to summon a pair of police officers. As such, Egon, Ray and Winston are corralled away, with Peter reluctantly deciding he better go with them.

The police, seemingly at the Ghostbusters’ request, bring them to Gracie Mansion in order to have an audience with Mayor Lenny, who was apparently was in the middle of entertaining some high ranking folks. Because of this, he announces that he’s only going to give the Ghostbusters two minutes of his time. So the Ghostbusters attempt to explain how all the anger and hateful feelings that have been escalating within the city lately have been conjuring up rivers of the pink ectoplasm. And if they don’t do something about it soon, the entire city could go up in smoke. Unfortunately, Mayor Lenny doesn’t seem to take their claims seriously, stating he can hardly go on television and tell millions of people they have to start being nice to each other. He then turns and walks out, announcing their two minutes are up, and that treating people like dirt is every New Yorker’s God-given right.

Once Mayor Lenny leaves, the Ghostbusters start to discuss what their plan will be now, suggesting taking the story to The New York Times or even The New York Post. However, hearing this gets Jack Hardemeyer on guard. Worried that it could damage Mayor Lenny’s image if the Ghostbusters bring this story to the newspapers, he steps in, asking the Ghostbusters if they’d be interested in telling ‘some of our people downtown’ about the River of Slime. Except it turns out that the people Hardemeyer was referring to were actually doctors at Parkview Psychiatric Hospital. And it immediately cuts to the Ghostbusters being led down a hallway in straightjackets. (Interesting behind the scene tidbit- the head doctor at the psychiatric hospital is portrayed by Bill Murray’s real-life brother. So if you notice a physical resemblance between the two, there’s a good reason for that.)

Over at the art museum’s restoration room, Janosz is receiving further instructions from Vigo, who announces that the season of evil is to begin with the birth of the new year, and that it’s imperative that Janosz bring him Oscar that very night so they can perform the ritual that will place Vigo’s soul inside Oscar’s body. Yeah, so this is Vigo’s master plan. In order for him to return to the world of the living, he needs to implant his soul into the body of a child. And Oscar is to be that child. Which is a bit strange when you think about it. Because if Vigo takes over Oscar’s body, wouldn’t he still be a baby? And therefore have to wait a few more years before he could actually do anything overlord-ly? Yeah, there’s a few flaws in this plan. Regardless, Janosz makes a request of Vigo, asking him if he would be allowed to keep Dana as his wife if he brought Oscar to Vigo. Vigo announces that he’ll allow this, much to Janosz’s delight.

Meanwhile, while all of this is going on, we get to see Louis and Janine as they watch Oscar. Once they put him to bed, after Louis tells him his own version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, we’re subjected to the sight of Janine shamelessly flirting with Louis, telling him how good he is with children and practically hanging all over him, stating she wouldn’t mind a child of her own. As I stated before, however, I am not a fan of this pairing, so all this does is make me want to gorge my eyes out. Regardless, when Dana returns home after Peter and the others were taken away by the cops, she walks in on them making out on her couch.

Dana, to her credit, shrugs this off and goes to check on Oscar. But for some reason, Janine and Louis decide to stick around and continue to make themselves at home. And they don’t pick up on Dana’s obvious annoyance about this. She clearly wants them to leave, but they’re completely oblivious to this. (I’d expect this amount of idiocy from Louis, but Janine always seemed smarter than this. It’s like they gave her a personality downgrade for the sequel.)

Suddenly, Dana notices a draft coming from the room where Oscar had been sleeping. She gets up to investigate and thus discovers the bed is empty. And the window is wide open. In a panic, Dana hurries to the window and her anxiety skyrockets when she sees Oscar is standing out on the ledge. In order to get to Oscar before he falls, Dana crawls out onto the ledge after him. But before she can reach Oscar, a ghostly figure approaches from the sky. It’s Janosz, dressed up to look like an English nanny. While this might sound goofy, I believe many people have stated this is probably the creepiest moment in the movie. Especially when his eyes start to glow a sinister red color. Dana tries to lunge for Oscar, but it’s too late; Janosz has already grabbed hold of Oscar and flown off. Determined to get her baby back, Dana resolves to head over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, realizing that must be where Janosz took Oscar.

When Dana arrives at the art museum, she doesn’t hesitate to hurry inside. The moment the door closes behind her, a dome of pink ectoplasm encases the museum in a massive dome, trapping her inside. Dana, however, doesn’t realize this, and she soon finds Oscar lying on a stone altar within the art restoration room. She makes a beeline towards the altar and scoops him up. At that moment, Janosz appears on the scene and starts babbling about how Oscar has been chosen to be the vessel of Vigo, and how Dana will become the mother of the ruler of the world. However, Dana is not the least bit interested in any of this and attempts to retreat with Oscar. But as she turns to run, she’s telekinetically thrown backward and becomes physically blocked from reentering the room by a steel gate. As such, she can only watch helplessly as Oscar floats back to the altar.

Here, we get another mini-montage of all the paranormal things occurring across the city. Ghosts chase moviegoers out of Movieland Theater in Times Square, with another gigantic ghost manifesting at the Washington Square Arch. A woman in a mink coat walks over some pink ectoplasm, resulting in all the minks that were made into her coat to come back to life. And a dock supervisor at Pier 34 witnesses the ghostly manifestation of the Titanic arriving, with the ghosts of the doomed passengers filing out. Needless to say, all the phone calls being made about the spike in paranormal disturbances and the mob of reporters have greatly concerned Mayor Lenny. Deciding he’d prefer to not go down in history as the mayor who allowed the city to get sucked down to Hell, he decides to call in the Ghostbusters. Which leads to Jack Hardemeyer sheepishly admitting he’d had the Ghostbusters committed to the psychiatric ward in order to protect the mayor’s image. This information leaves Mayor Lenny fuming, and he fires Hardemeyer on the spot, demanding that someone get him the Ghostbusters.

Once the Ghostbusters are freed, they’re greeted by Louis, who fills them in on how Oscar was abducted while they were incarcerated, and how Dana had gone off on her own to get him back. So, once they’ve fetched their gear, the Ghostbusters head to the museum as well. By the time they arrive, a crowd has already gathered, having been alerted to something going down because of the thick shell of hardened pink ectoplasm surrounding the museum. Activating their Proton Packs, the Ghostbusters attempt to blast open a hole through the ectoplasm, but quickly realize their efforts are ineffective. Egon announces that the slime is pulsating with evil, and that it would take a tremendous amount of positive energy for them to crack through it. And it’s doubtful there’s enough goodwill left in New York. A crestfallen Ray takes a moment to mourn over how bad things have gotten, but he still is holding out hope that there’s enough sparks of humanity left. They just have to think of a way to ignite those sparks. As he says this, they all notice, one-by-one, the Ecto-1’s license plate. Particularly what is predominantly featured on the license plate. For those of you too young to remember, back in the late 80s and 90’s, New York license plates depicted the image of the Statue of Liberty. The Ghostbusters realize that the Statue of Liberty is the perfect symbol they need, as it’s something that appeals to the best in everyone.

With a plan formulating, they venture off to Liberty Island, armed with some of those slime blowers we saw Egon working on earlier. The plan involves dousing the interior of the Statue of Liberty with the Mood Slime and activating it by playing Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher, the way they were able to do with the toaster. Only this time, they plan to steer the Statue of Liberty through the streets with a modified NES Advantage controller. (Don’t ask me how they managed to control the movements of the Statue of Liberty with the controller, because I’m not really sure myself.) Despite the unclear methodology, it does seem to work, and when the Statue of Liberty comes to life, the Ghostbusters are able to navigate her towards the art museum. And the sight of the Stature of Liberty walking down the streets, accompanied by a police escort, seems to be resonating with the New Yorkers, as they all start to cheer.

As the Ghostbusters are steering the Statue of Liberty down the city streets, we see Louis has decided on his own to join up with them. With Janine’s assistance, he dons one of Egon’s spare uniforms and puts on an extra Proton Pack. After he shares yet another kiss with Janine (Yuck!), he ventures out to the art museum. Only to find that the equipment is very heavy, and he’ll have a heck of a time getting to the art museum on foot. He ends up deciding to take the bus. And when the door opens, he is taken aback to see Slimer sitting in the driver’s seat. Slimer gestures for him to get on board, indicating that he’ll drive Louis to the museum. This moment is a bit weird, though it makes sense when you know it’s all that remains of a subplot that was ultimately scrapped from the finalized version of the movie. There was originally supposed to be a subplot that depicted Louis attempting to capture Slimer in a Ghost Trap, in an effort to prove he could be a Ghostbuster as well. But his attempts at trapping Slimer always ended up failing spectacularly. In fact, he even came close to killing Janine at one point. Taking that into account, I guess this scene was supposed to show Slimer and Louis deciding the bury the hatchet.

Meanwhile, at the art museum, Janosz has been trying to convince Dana into accepting Oscar’s fate as Vigo’s new vessel. He beseeches her to marry him so they can raise Vigo as their son together. Of course, Dana is uninterested. But as Janosz continues talking, a plan clearly starts to formulate in her mind. Realizing that her best chance at reaching Oscar and saving him depends on it, she decides to play along, stating that perhaps she could learn to love Janosz. Dana’s plan seems to be working, as Janosz willingly allows her to reenter the restoration room, granting her access to Oscar. Unfortunately, when the ritual begins and Vigo’s spirit starts to enter Oscar’s body, Janosz physically retrains Dana when she tries to reach her baby. Fortunately, that’s when the Statue of Liberty reaches the art museum. She manages to break through the skylight with her torch, giving the Ghostbusters a way to rappel themselves into the room. This also distracts Janosz long enough for Dana to break free from his hold, and she immediately runs over and snatches Oscar off the altar, thereby disrupting the transfer of Vigo’s soul. Upon their arrival into the room, Janosz attempts to threaten the Ghostbusters, but his words trail off when he notices Vigo’s painting is suddenly blank. So the Ghostbusters aim their Slime Blowers at him, drenching him with pink ectoplasm.

For a few moments, it looks as if it’s all over, with Oscar unharmed. And Dana gratefully greets Peter. As for Janosz, Ray informs Dana that the slime they drenched him with was positively charged, and he’ll wake up feeling like a million bucks. But then the mood shifts when Egon notices his PKE Meter is suddenly activating. Without warning, a black hose wrapped itself around Dana, and the Ghostbusters quickly get to work in trying to free her. Except for Peter, who takes the time to try hiding Oscar behind some boards to ensure his safety. And a good thing too, because Vigo suddenly manifests himself into the room. The Ghostbusters attempt to open fire with their Proton Packs but their efforts prove to be ineffective, as Vigo is able to throw off the Proton Streams, and unleashes a pulse of energy that knocks the Ghostbusters to the ground. With the Ghostbusters down, Vigo saunters over to Oscar’s hiding place and telekinetically moves the boards aside, allowing him to pick the baby up in order to complete the ritual, much to Dana’s despair.

Peter, while he still can barely move after getting hit by Vigo’s attack, struggles to inch towards Vigo. He begins to openly insult the evil tyrant. After a few moments of this, Vigo firs off more energy rays at the Ghostbusters, which causes them to convulse in pain. So I’m not sure what Peter’s plan was supposed to be here. What did he think was going to happen? Was he just trying to keep Vigo distracted long enough for someone to come up with a better idea?

In any event, Peter’s distraction proved to be beneficial. Because at that moment, the sound of singing could be heard outside. It seems like the clock has just struck midnight, meaning it’s officially New Year’s Day. And everyone outside is singing Alud Lang Syne. Either because the sense of unity and brotherhood coming from everyone singing together is neutralizing the effects of the River of Slime or because he’s failed to transfer his soul into Oscar in time, or maybe a combination of the two, Vigo begins to recoil in pain and soon is forcibly propelled back into the painting, with Peter managing to catch Oscar before he could hit the floor. As the Ghostbusters get back to their feet to finish Vigo off once and for all, and Dana retreats to a safe spot with Oscar, Ray ends up locking eyes with Vigo again. Like before, Vigo is able to manipulate Ray into stepping forward, which results in Ray getting possessed by Vigo.

Of course, this doesn’t really mean much, because before Vigo-Possessed Ray can really begin to announce his victory, Winston fires the Slime Blower at Ray while Egon and Peter shoot the painting with their Proton Packs. This results in Vigo getting ejected out of Ray’s body and back into his painting again. This time, the combination of the Proton Streams and the positively charged ectoplasm manages to defeat him.

And by sheer coincidence, Louis had arrived outside the art museum at the same time. And when he tried firing his Proton Pack at the slime barrier coating the museum, it disintegrated and vanished. Not because his efforts did anything, but because the Ghostbusters had just defeated Vigo. But everyone outside is thinking Louis is the one who saved the day and starts congratulating him. Which leads to Louis believing he’s officially the fifth Ghostbuster. (Who’s going to tell him?)

In the aftermath of Vigo’s defeat, Peter rejoins Dana and Oscar to see how they’re both doing. And Dana and Peter once again kiss, indicating they’re getting back together. As for Ray and Janosz, they both appear to be none the worse for wear. But the fact that they’ve both still drenched with the positively charged Mood Slime means they are feeling overly affectionate, openly declaring that they love everybody. As the Ghostbusters prepare to leave, Winston happens to glance at the painting that once held Vigo’s consciousness. He directs everyone’s attention to the painting, revealing that the image has been altered. It now depicts four men dressed in classic robes gathered around a cherub. And the resemblance of the four men to the Ghostbusters, and the cherub to Oscar, is impossible to ignore. Of course, it’s unclear if this was a legitimate painting that was hidden beneath the painting of Vigo or if the painting magically altered itself once Vigo was defeated. If it was the former, it presents the question of whether some nameless painter in times long past had received a psychic vision of the Ghostbusters saving Oscar from Vigo.

And thus, the movie ends, with the Ghostbusters and Dana exiting the art museum, meeting up with Louis and being greeted by the cheering crowd. After that, it seems as if the movie is desperate to just end because the end credits simply cut to various clips of things that happened throughout the movie. Although, we then get to see a scene with a ceremony being held on Liberty Island, with the Statue of Liberty back on her pedestal. It looks as if Mayor Lenny is presenting the Ghostbusters with a Key to the City. Like with that clip of Ray driving recklessly during the first montage segment, this is what remains of another deleted scene, which had the Ghostbusters and Dana talk about when their families first arrived in America. Egon’s grandparents were immigrants from Poland while Ray states his grandparents were Swiss. And while Peter proudly states his family came from all over, and Dana’s family had been among the settlers of Plymouth Colony, Winston casually mentions that his ancestors arrived in slave ships. (Awkward.)

Come to think of it, there seemed to be a lot of deleted scenes for this movie. Some of them do make sense as to why they were deleted, as they were merely alternate takes of scenes we did get. But there are others I’m rather sad were left out. For instance, there was a scene where Dana wondered why she seemed to be a magnet for paranormal occurrences. First she was selected to be possessed by Zuul during the events of the first movie, and now her baby is being targeted by an evil ghost. Egon speculates it might be possible that she has a genetically-linked etheric emanation that makes her particularly vulnerable to the paranormal. Personally, I think that would have been an interesting thing to explore. Anyway, that was Ghostbusters II. And yes, I still like it. And while I’m sure some people would disagree with me, I think the comedic moments in this one are as noteworthy as the original. Yeah, I can see where some aspects could be considered as rehashes of the first movie. Case in point the character of Jack Hardemeyer, who seems to be meant to be this movie’s version of Walter Peck. Both characters were essentially villainized for simply doing their job, when the only thing they really did wrong was be a jerk about things. But even so, I think there were enough differences between the two to make them unique in their own rights. In fact, my only major complaint, apart from the stupid plot point of Peter and Dana breaking up just to get back together, and deciding to have Janine seem to end up with Louis (which pretty much required giving Janine a personality downgrade), was how Winston seemed to be an afterthought at times. I know he’s not a doctor like Egon, Peter and Ray. But he’s still a Ghostbuster like the rest of them.

In any event, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is set to premiere in theaters in a few weeks, after getting pushed back multiple times due to the current pandemic. Definitely looking forward to that, as it looks as if will be a really great sequel to the Ghostbusters films. Here’s hoping the movie lives up the trailers, and the very legacy of the Ghostbusters franchise.

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