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Ghostbusters II is the 1989 sequel to Ghostbusters (1984) produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. It takes place in New York City, five years after the events in the first film. It is the second Ghostbusters related material that fits in mostly the Movie Canon, and some of it was tied in the Animated Canon via The Real Ghostbusters episode "Partners in Slime".

For a decade, Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Version) served as the conclusion to the movie series as well as addressing some questions about who made the Mood slime was addressed. As of 2021, the video game was changed to its own continuity and Ghostbusters: Afterlife became the third entry in the Movie Canon taking place around 31 and a half years after the end of Ghostbusters II.

Crew[]

Script Writers:
Harold Ramis
Dan Aykroyd

Director:
Ivan Reitman

Producers:
Ivan Reitman

Music:
Randy Edelman

The rest of the credits can be seen here.

Characters[]

Main Characters[]

Minor Characters[]

Entities[]

Mentioned Only[]

Deleted Scene Characters[]

Environmental[]

Equipment[]

Items[]

Mentioned Only[]

Vehicles[]

Locations[]

Mentioned Only[]

Deleted Scene Locations[]

Plot synopsis[]

Five years after the events of the first film, in the opening of the film, Ghostbusters is closed. They were sued by the city, county, and state of New York and served a judicial restraining order preventing them from conducting paranormal investigations and eliminations sometime after Gozer was defeated. Dana Barrett is making her way with Oscar back to her apartment. While talking to the superintendent, slime on the wheels of Oscar's stroller cause it to roll away, weaving around oncoming traffic and people. Dana chases after it, and eventually it stops in the middle of the intersection, right in front of a City Bus. As for the Ghostbusters, they are undeservingly out of business, having been sued by the city for property damage and because of a restraining order, are barred from paranormal investigations. Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore are regular entertainers at children's birthday parties, although they are usually greeted with jeers and hostility from the children. Dana visits Egon Spengler at his lab office, where he is conducting various experiments on human emotions, and explains to him what happened earlier and that she needs help. He tells her he would like to get Ray involved and Dana agrees but tells him not to involve Peter Venkman, as they are not on good speaking terms. In the meantime, Peter Venkman is the host of "The World of the Psychic", a television show that, unfortunately, is avoided by renowned psychics stemming from the belief that Peter is a fraud. After the show, he runs into the Mayor and tries to talk to him but is stopped by Jack Hardemeyer, the Mayor's assistant. He tells him to keep away from the Mayor. They instantly dislike one another and Peter reminds him of how "bookworms" like himself earned him and his fellow Ghostbusters their public status and reputation.

VigostaringatJanosz

Vigo staring at Janosz

Dana is working at Manhattan Museum of Art, restoring paintings and having to deal with the unwelcome advancements from her boss, Janosz Poha. While Ray and Egon are researching at Ray's Occult Books, Peter shows up and finds out about Dana's recent problem. The next day, the three visit her apartment, prompting an awkward reunion between her and Peter. Egon and Ray examine Oscar and his room, then investigate the street where the stroller stopped. After checking the area and getting a strong reading, they drill a hole in the street. They discover a deep shaft and conclude that one of them must descend to obtain a better reading. Meanwhile, at the art museum, Janosz is touching up Vigo's painting when he receives a shock from it. The painting changes and Vigo orders him to locate a child, possessing him with the evil power.

Ray, meanwhile, is going down through the street in the underground by wire. While the police show up to tell them that the gas leak story they gave doesn't check out, Ray finds out that there is a river of slime flowing under New York. After obtaining a sample, the slime starts attacking him, and he screams, begging them to pull him up. In the panic, Ray kicks a pipe and the power to all of New York City goes out. Janosz goes to Dana's apartment to see if he can get her baby, but is turned down.

RayandtheRiverofSlime

Ray Fleeing the River of Slime

TheBoysWithMoodSlime

Ray is giving the Mood Slime a piece of his mind

The next day, Peter, Ray, and Egon are put on trial for violating their restraining order. They are poorly defended by Louis Tully and are found guilty. However, when Judge Stephen Wexler begins angrily insulting the trio, the slime starts boiling and after a final tirade, the slime explodes, releasing the ghosts of two murderers the judge had executed. Wexler begs for the Ghostbusters to do something, dismissing the charges and rescinding the restraining order. They then successfully capture the two ghosts. They reopen their business of investigating the paranormal. During this, Ray and Egon find the slime all over the city.

The Ghostbusters had started researching and experimenting on what Peter called "Mood slime". It was shown that the slime reacts to threats and verbal abuse, however it also reacts to singing as they did a toast with a toaster where it would dance to the music. Peter then goes to the museum of art to visit Dana and while there Dana tells him about how it feels like the painting is watching her, which also they together notice Janosz is talking to the painting. Later that night while preparing Oscar to take a bath the bathtub filled with pink slime attacks. She runs with Oscar and goes to Peter's apartment and after telling Peter what happened, Peter calls Ray and Egon at the Firehouse, and they agreed to go to Dana's apartment. Egon also showed him history on Vigo and they also decided to go look at that painting the next day as well.

The next day, they head on into the Art Museum and against Janosz's wishes photograph, and study the Vigo Painting. Later, Peter comes home to find Dana cleaned his apartment. He asks her out on a night on the town, and she says yes. Meanwhile after closing the Firehouse for the day, Louis asks Janine out for a bite to eat. She says that she can't as she's babysitting Oscar for Peter, however, she invited him to come over at 8:00 pm. He says yes. Meanwhile, Egon and Ray are looking over the pictures using the Spectral analyzer and they noticed not only is a living presence but the River of Slime. After that, the whole room caught on fire, but Winston came in and extinguished the fire.

Egon, Ray, and Winston meet up with Peter, and Dana and ask him to join them as they go down in the sewers to look for slime. Peter says no so the three go down there. While down there they see impaled heads, and a Ghost Train which goes through Winston. Finally they find the River of Slime. Egon and Ray talk about how the thriving underground rat population is increasing; much like the sponge migration from 1984. A sign of high, paranormal activities, to which Winston is dismayed. (see: "the Twinkie") Winston tries to measure how deep it is when the slime pulls him in, and he goes downriver. Ray and Egon jump in after him. Meanwhile Dana and Peter seem to be patching things up in their relationship at the restaurant and Janine and Louis are enjoying the time together at Peter's apartment. Later on Ray, Winston, and Egon get out of the sewers all covered in slime and fighting. Egon tells them to remove the clothes they are wearing, and then, they lost their anger towards each other. They then look to find out that the River of Slime flows to the Art Museum.

TheBoysExplainingTheProblem

Winston trying to explain the River of Slime

The Ghostbusters come into Armand's Restaurant where Peter and Dana were enjoying dinner. Noting that they were in their underwear and covered in slime the restaurant manager called the cops as the guys told Peter and Dana about the river of slime and the events. The cops take them away, and Peter goes along with them. Meanwhile, Dana comes to Peter's place to see how Oscar is doing as the date is over. Janine and Louis were caught asleep on a couch together, however, Oscar is fine in bed. Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters meet the Mayor at Gracie Mansion and Jack Hardemeyer is there: being a jerk. The Ghostbusters try to convince the mayor that the negativity of the city is making a River of Slime, and if people don't start being more positive the whole city is going to blow with supernatural activity. The Mayor didn't believe them and says being miserable and treating people like dirt is every New Yorker's God-given right. After the Mayor left, the Ghostbusters talked about going to the press with the story, then Jack suggested to first tell the people downtown. What Jack didn't tell them was that the people downtown work for the Parkview Psychiatric Hospital, an insane asylum.

Meanwhile Vigo is talking to Janosz and a deal is struck that Vigo would be reborn as the baby for Dana and Dana would be Janosz's wife. Meanwhile, at Peter's apartment, Louis, Janine, and Dana are watching a movie, when all of a sudden, a window in the bedroom opens and Oscar walks out onto the building's ledge. Dana notices and sees the window up. She sees Oscar as a supernaturally powered Janosz takes him. Dana leaves for the art museum while Louis looks for the guys.

Dana gets to the museum which after entering the whole outside covers in slime. Inside, Dana tries to take back Oscar while Janosz starts telling the plans Vigo has. After that, beneath the city, the slime raises causing massive mayhem as ghosts and monsters randomly pop out and terrorize citizens. The mayor getting desperate says to call the Ghostbusters, which at that point Jack Hardemeyer tells him that he had the Ghostbusters committed. The mayor then fires Jack and sends someone to get the Ghostbusters, and at that point, a slime eclipse happens outside.

After that, Louis is with the Ghostbusters as they are leaving and Ray is explaining that Vigo is going to take Oscar and become reborn in Oscar's body and they need to stop it. Then, a few minutes, later the Ghostbusters get to the museum. They try to blast open through the slime on the museum, but it's too strong. The boys then get an idea that they need a positive symbol to lift the spirits of the people in the city. Then they get to the Statue of Liberty and Ray and Winston spray down the inside with the Slime Blowers and Egon sets up the joystick controls to steer the Statue. They then started to play "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher" over the speakers in the Statue. The Statue then started walking and went through the bay.

VigoTowardstheEnd

Vigo's last Stand

Meanwhile, back at the firehouse Janine dresses up Louis in Egon's jumpsuit and then he leaves on foot to help the guys. The Ghostbusters then were directing the Statue of Liberty through New York, cheering up the whole town. They get back to the museum now weakened, and inside Dana runs and grabs up Oscar as the Ghostbusters come through the roof. The first thing they do, as Janosz rants, is hose him down with the Slime Blowers. All of a sudden, a hose ties up Dana, while Peter puts Oscar behind some stuff, away from the action. Vigo reveals himself outside of the painting, walking in plain sight. Then Egon and Peter shoot at him and Vigo stuns all four of them. Vigo then gets the baby. Peter says a few comments, which angers Vigo and then he shocks all four again. Then the people start singing outside and are happy, which weakens Vigo and he goes back to the painting while leaving Oscar behind. Meanwhile, outside, Louis shows up and starts shooting at the gelatinous Slime Shell. Inside, Vigo takes possession of Ray, and Winston uses the Slime Blower to drive Vigo out and back into the painting, and Egon and Peter blast him until he disappears for good.

GB2Victorywalk

Victory Walk

Peter and Dana kiss, while Ray wakes up and is very happy. Ray then pulls up a very cheerful Janosz and they share the love. Then all four Ghostbusters, Dana, Oscar and Janosz look at the painting that appears of the four Ghostbusters and a baby. Then they leave the Museum. Outside, the city cheers them on, with a changed Jack among the chorus.

Development[]

Reuniting[]

Columbia Pictures wanted to immediately do a sequel. Ivan Reitman and the main cast had other things they wanted to do. They were uncomfortable with this as the original film was intended to be conclusive and they wished to work on other projects.[1][2] In December 1984, a sequel was discussed.[3]

David Puttnam became head of Columbia Pictures in June 1986. He had no interest in a sequel. At one point, he considered making a sequel with a new and lower-salaried cast.[4] Columbia Pictures executives even tried to make a secret deal to greenlight the movie during Puttnam's reign.[5]

Even before the sequel was agreed upon by all parties, there were rumors as early as 1986 that Dan Aykroyd was writing a script.[6] The first script was finished in September 1986 by Dan Aykroyd. It was titled "Ghostbusters: The Seed."[7]

Dawn Steel took over in 1987 and made Ghostbusters II a priority.[8] One of the first things Steel talked about in her job interview was getting a sequel off the ground.[9] Meanwhile, the animated series, The Real Ghostbusters was a hit and kept interest in the Ghostbusters alive with the public over the years. A four-hour lunch meeting was held in early 1988 at Jimmy's in Beverly Hills mainly to see if the team of Aykroyd, Murray, Ramis, and Reitman would reunite, but not necessarily for a sequel. In attendance with them were CAA agent Michael Ovitz and CAA's head of business affairs Ray Kurtzman.[10] Through the course of the lunch, they all had so many laughs and fun, it became clear they could work together again.[11] Eventually, they agreed and created a script. A budget of $25 to $30 million was given for the movie. To keep the budget down from $50 million to $30 million, the cast took lower than standard salaries.[12][13][14] Annie Potts was also working on her TV series, Designing Women, at the same time. Reportedly, some of the cast and crew were ultimately dissatisfied with the film as well as its box office reception.

Scripting[]

At first there was a completely different script for Ghostbusters II which Bill Murray nicknamed "The Last of the Ghostbusters" (mainly to make sure there wouldn't be anything like a Ghostbusters III).[15] Needless to say the script was not used and ultimately the story gradually changed after Aykroyd and Ramis began co-writing. They came up with two ideas first. They talked to Murray for a couple days about the ideas, one included Sigourney Weaver reprising Dana.[16][17] The first idea of the river of slime was introduced shortly after they started with the moral notion that negative human emotions have consequences. The idea carried over to the sense that the bad vibes can build up in big cities like New York City and Los Angeles. Eventually, Vigo was created as the prime motivator behind the slime.[18] The second idea entailed Peter Venkman and Dana Barrett getting married and having a child. The infant was possessed and suddenly had adult agility and focus. Ramis concluded it was too horrible an idea for a movie and the marriage angle was a creative dead end. Eventually, the second idea evolved into Dana being a divorced mother.[19] Harold Ramis had two other ideas for the sequel. One had the Ghostbusters as very successful, based in a high rise building, and now a worldwide company called Ghostbusters Inc. and the second idea had the sequel picking up literally from the end of the first movie.[20] Ramis spent some time scripting this iteration of the script alone in early 1987 while Aykroyd filmed "The Couch Trip." They later hunkered down in Aykroyd's bungalow on the Universal Studios lot for rewrites.[21]

August 5, 1988 Collaborative Draft[]

The August 5, 1988 draft contains the general premise of the final movie version - the Ghostbusters go back into business a couple years after the Gozer incident to save a mother and child from Vigo. However, there are notable differences in the story structure and certain characters are missing or replaced. Janosz Poha and Slimer are completely absent from this draft. The only ghosts are Vigo and the Scoleri Brothers. Dana Barrett has been replaced with a new love interest named Lane Walker. Lane's baby son is unnamed throughout the draft. Walter Peck makes a brief appearance. Peter Venkman and Louis Tully have elevated roles while Janine Melnitz and Winston Zeddemore are barely present. Mayor Lenny is replaced with a politician named Maury. The River of Slime does not appear and is instead represented by a horde of insects. The Ecto-1 remains Ecto-1 throughout the draft. Since there is no River of Slime, there are no Slime Blowers. The Statue of Liberty is used for evil by Vigo. In terms of story, the New Year's Eve backdrop is absent, montages are barely a presence, and several locations like the Parkview Psychiatric Hospital and Peter's apartment are absent nor have any comparable stand-ins. At some point in the writing process, Elaine May was booked for six hours at Bill Murray's behest to work on the script.[22][23]

For more information on this draft and other drafts, see the Ghostbusters II Scripts page

Production[]

Ivan Reitman and Michael Gross decided to go with Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) and supervisor Dennis Muren. Due to his schedule, Reitman only went to ILM to shoot bluescreen for three days.[24] The 80's rap song On Our Own by Bobby Brown featured on the Ghostbusters II Soundtrack. Ghostbusters II started filming on November 28, 1988 in New York City.[25] Filming in New York was a tight schedule of 67 days.[26] The possessed baby carriage scene was filmed at the beginning of production during the two weeks of location shooting in New York.[27] The last shoot was at 2 am with the Statue of Liberty on Fifth Avenue scene. 460 extras were used for the scene.[28] After completion of New York exteriors, the cast and crew returned to Los Angeles and filmed the remainder of the movie. Most of the production took place at The Burbank Studios. Downtown LA was used as a stand-in for Manhattan's East 77th and 1st Avenue when Peter, Ray, and Egon dug a very big hole in 1st Avenue. The Armand's Restaurant was shot at a Toluca Lake location near downtown LA.[29] A large-scale duplicate of the Statue of Liberty was built on a sound stage but the mock up was purposefully made 30% bigger in order to make the actors more visible. The head was mounted on gimbals to provide a rocking motion to simulate the statue walking. These scenes were intercut with miniatures and an actor dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume. One of the last scenes filmed was the Manhattan Museum of Art covered in a wall of Mood slime. Principal photography was completed after a total of 13 weeks of filming.[30] The official wrap of main unit principal photography was moved from March 3 to March 7, 1989 with the filming of the The World of the Psychic scene.[Note 1]

However, more scenes were being added in order to clarify story points or expand certain portions of the movie. Early preview audiences proved the ghosts, slime, and Vigo needed to be tied together better. The concept of good slime and bad slime had to be expanded on, too.[31] The Impaled Heads and Ghost Train were among these added scenes. The crew returned to New York for additional location shooting with only three months before the film was set to release in theaters.[32] At one point, the crew was aiming for a July 4th release date but Ivan Reitman decide on June 23rd. In the middle of production, the crew learned "Batman" was slated to release on the 23rd. Reitman asked the studio for the 16th much to the rest of the crew's dismay. Michael Gross recalls editor Sheldon Kahn fainted. On paper, the 16th date looked impossible because it meant pushing back the already exhausting editing schedule and ILM's dates. When it was coming out in July, ILM had 110 effects shots. Then it became 130. Finally, it numbered 180 around the time the date moved up to June 16th. It became very important for ILM to stay on top of things. They had nine units shooting every day for three-four weeks to get the original shots done. Eventually, ILM had to say they couldn't do anymore.[33][34][35] John Van Vliet at Available Light, Peter Kuran at Visual Concept Engineering, and Apogee were sent some of the effects work. Due to a damaged printer sent to ILM, Pacific Title took on some of the optical compositing work.[36][37]

Second unit work continued in New York from March 29 to 31, 1989 and in Los Angeles on April 4 and 5. Apogee went to New York for 10 days of plate photography. On March 30, 1989, there was location work done at The Tunnel, a nightclub that featured several 100 feet of abandoned subway track.[38] A call was put out for 300 extras. At the Washington Square shoot at 5 am, about 750 people had shown up in anticipation of being on Ghostbusters II. For the second take, the extras increased to 1200. By the third take, there were 2000 to 3000 people. Crew set up a Vistavision camera in the middle of scene and had the extras come out from three different streets and the Washington Square Arch screaming. Some started climbing over cabs and running into the crew. Crew had to block extras from running right into the camera. On March 31, the scene of Peter and Dana getting a cab was filmed. On April 4, Hardemeyer's office scene, some runaway carriage inserts, and Ray and Egon learning about the bath tub attack was filmed on Stage 15 at Burbank Studios. On April 5, the Firehouse dark room fire and more carriage inserts were filmed.[39][40][Note 2]

Four weeks before Ghostbusters II was released in theaters, ILM was unable to complete a scene involving ghosts pouring out of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House. As a replacement for this scene, a new scene was shot on April 27, 1989 - Mayor Lenny tells his staff about a discussion he had with the ghost of Fiorella La Guardia.[41][42] Additional photography went from April 27 to May 3, 1989 adding the Pier 34 scene with the Dock Supervisor, the conference room scene at City Hall, and additions to the Vigo battle.[Note 3]

Jack Hardemeyer[]

Kurt Fuller was working as a real estate agent in Los Angeles selling in the Pacific Palisades nine years in and doing theater around the time of casting for Ghostbusters II. He was part of a successful play that Harold Ramis' first wife saw eight times. She recommended it to her husband and he saw it. He later approached Fuller and arranged for him to read for a part with Ivan Reitman. It was a scene where a desk catches on fire. The role went to Gilbert Gottfried.[43][44] A deal couldn't be made to bring back William Atherton to reprise Walter Peck. Reitman remembered Fuller and he was offered a part, no negotiation. Fuller took a flight to New York for the first time, during winter, and was overwhelmed as it was one of his first jobs as an actor. He was taken to the set of the Manhattan Museum of Art exterior where he learned he was filming his first scene with Bill Murray. Just before the scene started, Fuller was told if Murray didn't like him - he would be fired.[45] Fuller overacted and Murray tried to be nice about it, noting he brought a 'lot of energy' to it. Reitman told Fuller to 'do less than you ever thought it was possible to do.' Murray and Reitman liked the next take and Fuller kept the job.[46] Fuller filmed for about two months but he was paid a whole month for nothing. They wanted to try and film a scene over his left shoulder but the camera man didn't think it would work so the scene was scrapped. Fuller was still paid for the month.[47][48]

Scoleri Brothers[]

The Scoleri Brothers are played (uncredited) by Tim Lawrence and Jim Fyfe in latex suits with animatronic masks. Ostensibly, Tony and Nunzio are based on the real-life Scoleri Brothers, who once robbed Harold Ramis's 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."[49] 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. In a first draft script, the Scoleri Brothers were simply described as 'Big in life, even bigger in death, the Scoleri Brothers sweep into the courtroom.'[50][51] Tim Lawrence was inspired by the Blues Brothers and designed the Scoleris based on them. Visual Development Artist Henry Mayo helped refine the designs with extensive input from producer Michael C. Gross. Lawrence's original concept played more into the electricity motif. As they took steps, the floor would explode and their feet would become less distinct in the air without an electrical ground. The Scoleris were also to have spoken in Italian epithets.[52] The Scoleri Brothers were the first ghost designs to be green-lit for the movie.[53] Reitman became concerned the designs might have been over the top but Gross believed it would lighten the moment. Storyboard artist Thom Enriquez was tasked with boarding the scene while Reitman was finishing his work on another movie "Twins" and the courtroom set was still being built.[54][55][56]

Camilla Henneman was tasked with creating a fat suit for Nunzio Scoleri, who was scripted to weigh in excess of 800 pounds. Henneman took cues from Weird Al Yankovic's "Fat" video parody. Spandex pouches filled with gelatinous materials were used to simulate the undulating quality of Nunzio's flesh. The suits were then outfitted with singed prison garments. As the suits were being made, the concept of the Scoleris had changed to that they were all flying. Flying harnesses were incorporated into the suits.[57] Nunzio's gaping mouth was created by dividing the head into two separate units. The lower jaw was attached to Lawrence's shoulders and the upper on the skullcap. Both units would be joined by a single foam latex skin so that each part could move in opposite directions.[58]

Tony Scoleri went through three stages of development. The first stage involved using a full-sized puppet with an articulated head. Mark Wilson built the prototype and video tests were promising but Dennis Muren believed the rotoscope load required would hamper the production schedule. Tony was redesigned to be portrayed by Jim Fye. Tony's head was attached to a skullcap positioned in front of and on top of Fye's head. The collarbone was lowered to elongate the neck and add to the emaciated torso design. Oversized shoes, extra lengths of cloth strips, droopy pants, and finger extensions were added to complete the skeletal look.[59]

Puppeteers controlled the Scoleris' heads with servo mechanisms and pneumatic cylinders while a computerized Synthetic Neuro-Animation Repeating Kinetics (SNARK) system helped control facial expressions in order to achiever full lip-sync on the characters.[60][61][62] Lawrence brought in Bob Cooper to make Tony's torso, Mike Smithson to make the heads, Bill Foertsch to make Nunzio's arms, and Buzz Neidig to work on additional details such as teeth and tongues.[63] Fye and Lawrence wore the completed full body suits for hours at a time while hanging in front of a bluescreen. The Nunzio suit wore close to 80 pounds. When the Scoleri Brothers first manifest, they are seated in electrical chairs. For filming, Fye and Lawrence had to pretend to be sitting in midair. Others in the crew stayed underneath and pushed their feet up so their legs bent properly. Despite the scene of them bursting from the chairs being difficult in theory, it was filmed rather quickly. One brother was filmed in the morning and the other in the afternoon. About 5-6 shots of each were achieved each day of shooting. By the time they finished filming, the Scoleri Brothers concept had changed to much that third-scale marionettes on wires could have been used.[64][65]

Peter Daulton, an effects cameraman, created the movements of the Scoleri Brothers through the composite frame on a track camera. He incorporated mirror trickery, employed overall to make the ghosts of Ghostbusters II look different from the first movie. With mylar, they could squish and squash the shapes like how a funhouse mirror would distort an image. The images of the Scoleris were rephotographed on a rear projection screen then reflected onto mylar that was manipulated with motion controlled rods. This allowed for the Scoleris to move around curves, stretch at certain points, and bulge in the final version.[66][67]

Ghost Jogger[]

Jim Fye filmed his Jogger Ghost scene in front of blue screen in January 1989.[68] Initially, the Ghost Jogger was photographed to look very white and extremely bright. But it was decided he would be toned down and more contrast would be added. The jogger became a study in how to use contrast mattes and how to extract contrast from the negative when it wasn't there. The crew had to figure out by themselves how to balance the background plate and the action in the scene just right.[69][70] Jim Fye also portrayed the Ghost Jogger in Central Park. He was covered in white makeup and photographed against a bluescreen for subsequent compositing into a live action plate.[71]

Slimer[]

Slimer wasn't always a definite part of the movie script. It was a matter of considerable debate if he should appear at all. Slimer's appeal, luckily, was very universal among children thanks in part to the first movie and The Real Ghostbusters. Slimer was given a subplot and written into movie - Slimer would eat various foods in the Firehouse while Louis Tully would try to trap him then they would become friends. Michael Gross requested elements of the animated version of Slimer to be incorporated into the movie. Tim Lawrence and Thom Enriquez worked on a new design. Meanwhile, Bobby Porter was called into portray Slimer. Some of the technology and techniques used for Nunzio Scoleri were used for Slimer - the divided head construct, pneumatic jaws, SNARK and a fat suit - a departure from the first movie where he was hand puppeteered. During review of dailies in Los Angeles, Bill Murray commented the title of the movie was "Ghostbusters" and not "Slimer." Slimer was removed from the script. Porter was released.[72][73][74][75]

Two weeks later, Slimer was back in the script and had a bigger role. However, Porter was no longer available. Effects coordinator Ned Gorman remembered working with Robin Navlyt on "Willow" and she was brought in. Surprisingly, she was the same height as Porter and fit into the suit very well. Chris Goehe and his mold shop crew made a full lifecast on her and Al Coulter worked on a new skullcap. The Slimer shoot was finished close to the first day of shooting. Michael Gross was onhand to push the crew to keep Slimer subtle and reduce any complicated approaches to moving him. Murray again objected to Slimer and his role was reduced.[76][77] Slimer's segments were deemed intrusive by preview audiences. [78] During editing, Ivan Reitman decided to limit Slimer's role even though all scripted scenes were filmed and completed.[79][80] Ultimately, Slimer's scenes were trimmed to two brief shots plus one during the end titles.

Vigo[]

Vigo was inspired by the Carpathian mythology, the Dracu, and Vlad the Impaler.[81] A concept painting was done of him as a red hooded specter manifesting in Central Park and tearing trees and light poles out of the ground.[82] As of September 23, 1988, during storyboards, Henry Mayo and Tim Lawrence illustrated concept in which Vigo's spectral essence was strong enough to animate the exhibits he walked by in the art museum.[83] Thom Enriquez also did numerous concept designs.[84]

The Vigo tapestry turned out to be the biggest design problem. Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) did concept versions for months and Ivan Reitman felt one was too 'Conan the Barbarian' so artists in New York were brought in. The new designs didn't work out either. Glen Eytchison and Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach were approached.[85] Each year, they brought 60 classic paintings to life with people standing in costume before settings based on the original painting. Gross worked with them on a new design. With a deadline looming, the design was sent to ILM with just two days left to a scheduled shoot. The design was worked on down to the last minute. How the tapestry would animate was another issue.[86] Originally, it would just be Vigo talking from the painting. Clay animation and an animated cartoon were considered. Eventually, as the script changed, it was decided Vigo would be brought out as much as possible and the painting would be replaced with a floating head hovering in a columned corridor coated with slime. Wilhelm von Homburg was filmed in front of a bluescreen and then matted over a miniature version of the slimed corridor built by the ILM model shop. After each take, the slime had to be cleaned up and reset.[87][88]

The demonic floating head seen after Vigo returns the painting was inspired by preproduction sketches done by Thom Enriquez. Lifecasts were done on Wilhelm von Homburg. Tim Lawrence and Makeup artist Mike Smithson did a variety of altercations in clay like strengthening the jaw line, straightening out the nose, making a more sinister brow, elongating earlobes, and sharpening cheeks. 10-11 versions were done and sent to Ivan Reitman for approval. Once the final was chosen, Lawrence had three weeks. Then it was cut down to one week. Howie Weed from the creature shop wore the makeup for scenes when Vigo was transformed within the painting and when Ray was possessed.[89] Due to a scheduling conflict, Aykroyd couldn't play the scenes where Ray was possessed by Vigo. Howie Weed volunteered because he was about the same size and he was there, saving time from bringing in another actor for fittings.[90][91]

Slime[]

The origins and colors of the river of slime were not set in stone. At ILM, Dennis Muren and effects art director Harley Jessup created a color animatic on 35mm film. It was unknown if the river should be green like Slimer or blue or something else. In New York, Chuck Gaspar came up with color ideas for Reitman to choose from. Tim Lawrence was additionally assigned to helping come up with a formula for the slime used in the miniature sets. Bill George designed a plexiglass trough to use for releasing slime downward from its holding talk.[92] Ralph Miller came up with a variety of mixtures that involved methylcellulose, syrups, oils, and colors. Muren and Jessup continued to refine. Alan Peterson had to calculate flow and volume for the slime's delivery system so an even bigger mess wouldn't result. Eventually, the slime formula was narrowed down to a mixture of methocel combined with mica dust and topped with a layer of mineral oil. The river was rigged with injectors, air bladders, and plexiglass baffles to bring life it. In the end, a large holding tank was kept about 15 feet in the air. The track led to the tilted river bed. The river was one foot wide and ten feet long. The released slime would flow into another holding talk where it would be pumped back into the overhead tank. A four man team led by Miller used four rented portable cement mixers for several days to create enough slime.[93][94]

Colossal Pictures did a shot involving the Psychomagnotheric Slime rising through 40 feet of New York sediment-through layers of broken pipes, antiques, and the like then bubble through the cracks of a sidewalk. A set was built upside down and the slime was poured down then the crew flipped the shot. It ran for 20 seconds.[95][96]

For the scene where Winston, Egon, and Ray plunge into the river of slime, a partial set of the Van Horne station was used. Ernie Hudson would fall to be followed by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd. Off screen, the actors would land on airbags. During optical compositing, ILM merged the live action with their miniature river. The part when the river sweeps them away required more finesse roto work and alignment. Pat Myers had to pinblock a bluescreen element of Ernie Hudson against the background and trace his movement in the river with the subtle movement of the slime taken into account. Sean Turner then animated the rippling edge around Hudson. Soft edge work and composure shifting was done to make it look like the river was enveloping the actors. Smoke was put into the plate, some articulate work was done by animation, and matte paintings of the archway were then added.[97]

A sculpture was made of the slime shell scripted to envelop the museum. The sculpture was made of clay, then a plaster mold was done and it was vacuformed in clear plastic. A piece of plexiglass was placed on the back of the vacuform shape. It was mounted in a large metal frame and crew placed tubes, injectors, and bubble makers inside. The crew filled it with water and injected diamond dust, a fine metal powder. The slime shell was shot at high speed with bubbles going in to create water currents. During each take, cameraman Marty Rosenberg would cue people to inject different colors into the tank. Two complete takes were done before the colors mixed together and the tank had to be drained and refilled.[98] When the shell exploded, the crew made a sculpture of the full slime shell and made a black urethane casting. They painted a brittle pinkish polymer over the black shell. The shell was hung upside down in front of a black backdrop. The black casting served as a plug inside the polymer. For the breakaway of the slime shell, the crew hit the inside of the plug and inflated an innertube with air to make the plug expand. The polymer shattered. The black plug would blend in with the black background and was invisible to the camera. The inverted footage of the shattered shell was then added over a model of the museum then both were combined with a matte painting of the surrounding area.[99][100]

P.K.E. Storm[]

The psychokinetic energy storm at Orrefors was devised by Chuck Gaspar. Initially, Gaspar wanted to drill holes but the process cracked the crystal. Instead, he glued pieces of piano wire to the backs of 16 crystal objects. Joe Day and other crew pulled the crystal off-screen with a pulley system. In order to test the system, pieces were set up a week prior to scheduled shoots and left hanging. The biggest issue was the pulleys squeaking. Gaspar went up to the scaffolding and sprayed them with lubricant.[101][102]

Dancing Toaster[]

For the Dancing Toaster, Chuck Gaspar and his crew mounted tiny air cylinders inside the toaster at various spots. The power cord was used as the air supply line. Microswitches were hooked in ad on cue they fired off the cylinders and the toaster bounced around the billiard table.[103]

Slime in Bathtub Attack[]

The Slime in the Bathtub went through several concepts. While trying to figure out what would kidnap Oscar from Peter's apartment, the concept of the tub came up.[104] Initially, the tub was going to turn into a porcelain version of Audrey II from "Little Shop of Horrors." Then it would turn into the beginning of an endless road then a bubble bath monster. Dana Barrett would put bubble bath in the tub and turn her back. The bubble bath would rise up to tower over Dana and the eyes of a dark shape within it open up. The lensing effect used would make all the bubbles look like eyes, too. Dana would panic and throw a hairdryer into the tub. The electricity would disperse the bubbles then the two eyes would crumble into cinders and disappear down the drain. Ultimately, it became just slime that fills the tub and the slime rises up, prompting Dana to run. Ivan Reitman decided the slime should turn into a creature inside the tub.[105]

A tub was made out of white silicone to look like it was porcelain and so it could bend. The tub creature was made out of dielectric gel - a Dow Corning breast implant material - reinforced with china silk and spandex. The slime creature would be operated like a hand puppet. Tom Floutz put his arm up through the bottom of the tub and operate the creature. The slime was dumped on the creature. Floutz had to endure and let the slime pour down on him, too. A maw-shaped piece of fiberglass was placed inside the puppet and attached to a vacuum tub in order to simulate a mouth. The tub and slime creature were filmed against a bluescreen. There wasn't enough of a pay off so John Van Vliet of Available Light did a cel animation of an animated tongue for the last shot for about 25 frames.[106][107][108][109]

Ghost Train[]

The Ghost Train evolved from concepts that led to the Titanic. Before it was settled, there was an idea for a ghostly subway train with rotting commuters.[110] The Ghost Train was added to the movie after principal photography had wrapped. The train was meant to add more tension, humor, and special effects to that part of the movie.[111][112] ILM was too busy to take on additional work. Apogee - under effects supervisor Sam Nicholson - was hired to create the Ghost Train. Ernie Hudson, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd did filming with interactive lightning at The Tunnel, a New York nightclub featuring a subway motif - several hundred feet of abandoned subway track. A 10K light was placed behind the actors and three to four air cannons were placed on them to blow their hair around. When the cannons blew Hudson's helmet off, the crew blasted the actors with a bright light in place of the train.[113][114]

There was no time to build a modern-day subway so an existing antique train was chosen. John Swallow, production supervisor, found the train. It was an eight-scale version and measured 25 feet long. The train was shot on a black stage at Apogee using a snorkel lens about an eight of an inch away in clearance all the way down the train. The train was stationary and rigged with steam and reactive lights by Grant McCune. The crew rheostated the lights so they could dial them up as the camera got closer. The resulting imagery of the train was rendered transparent then composited into the live-action plate.[115][116]

Impaled Heads[]

The crew made a call all over New York for 'dead heads' and took whatever they could find. Pam Easley, visual effects coordinator, made the calls. Rick Lazzarini made a few. The better detailed heads were placed in the foreground and the lesser detailed ones in the background.[117] One head in the left foreground in close ups was sculpted by Adam Jones, who later became a guitarist for Tool.[118]

Titanic[]

Harold Ramis and co. began thinking of big manifestations to add to the movie. The idea was that because of all the psychic activity under the city, all the dead would start returning to New York City. Several ideas were considered - the Hindenberg arriving with flaming passengers getting off carrying flaming luggage, a ghostly subway station with rotting commuters, and a cemetery scene where gravestones start taking off like rockets. Eventually, the idea of the Titanic came to Ramis.[119]

John Goodson and Jeff Olson of the ILM model shop used photographs and videotape of the Titanic to build a replica of the ship in plywood and urethane. The rusted hull was created by coating the outer surface with glue and sprinkled with iron powder then spraying it with an oxidizing acid. The crew had to make two changes to the design. The smokestacks were added to the wreck since they were recognizable but given a skeletal appearance. Ivan Reitman wanted the hole in the bow to be much bigger than it was and the name to be moved so it was legible. The model was actually broken in half to represent the real life wreck but Reitman wanted the ship in just one shot rather than add any leading shots of it rising from the ocean. At one point, there was concept art done for the ghosts. One male ghost would walk up the camera wondering where he was while behind him there would be distorted ghosts and two walking through each other. The concepts were not used.[120][121][122][123][124] Extras dressed in period clothing and were photographed against black then inserted optically into the miniature plate material.[125][126]

Mink Coat[]

The Mink coat animation was filmed at night outside the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Tim Lawrence and his crew developed four different coats that actuated by radio controlled servos, hand puppeteering and cable-pull mechanisms. A white fur was envisioned and was the basis for the coat, heads, and legs. After everything was scuplted and cast in foam latex, mechanics finished, actor fitted, and harness was finished, a film test was sent to Ivan Reitman 10 days before the shoot. Reitman was fine with the test but asked why the coat was white. The crew scrambled and redid the coat with darker fur in time for the shoot.[127][128][129] The master coat was the version where all the heads could react. Close-up heads were shot as inserts.[130]

Washington Square Ghost[]

Phil Tippett, a master stop-motion animator, was sought out to create the Washington Square Ghost. Luckily, Tippett was friends with ILM and knew Pam Easley on the crew from "The Golden Child." Tippett agreed it as long as the ghost was only 160 frames long, it could be built based on an existing armature, and it would be done in one take. Tippett built the ghost with Randy Dutra, shot it, and delivered it a day early despite being injured in a car accident with his wife who was hospitalized. Tippett didn't want to be credited on account he was just doing one shot. The puppet was animated by Harry Walton, who also shared the camera work with Peter Kozachik.[131][132][133][134][135]

Theatre Ghost[]

The Theatre Ghost was created by Rick Lazzarini of The Creature Shop in Van Nuys based on a drawing by Henry Mayo. The head was human-size and sculpted by John Blake and the body was made by Dan Frye. Since the ghost was added late into production, the crew had three weeks to make the puppet. Lazzarini employed the 'Facial Waldo' interactive device, a cap and vest system worn by an external operator. When the operator moved his brow, cheek, lips and jaw, sensors would send signals to the servos inside the puppet and mimic the movement done. If the operator moved his brow, all six on the ghost would move. The operator was free to puppeteer the wings. Three additional puppeteers operated the tail and four arms. The puppet was shot against black so the puppeteers all wore black beekeeper-like suits and mesh face screens. The real difficulty was operating the puppet at 48 frames a second in order to portray smooth movements.[136][137][138][139][140]

Janosz Poha[]

Around September 23 to November 1, 1988, the character went by the name "Justin."[141][142] When Peter MacNicol first read a draft, his character was a nondescript art curator named Jason. MacNicol didn't see himself in the role and instructed his agent to turn it down. After a night of contemplation, he took another look at the script. He started to envision Jason as European and even Carpathian then thought of Euro malapropisms and a thick accent. MacNicol met with Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. He asked if he could take some liberties with his character and demonstrated. Reitman changed the character's name to Janosz Poha.[143] Peter MacNicol visited a Romanian tourist agency and pretended he was planning on a trip to Bucharest so he could study the agent's voice but his accent turned out to be too refined.[144]

During breaks in his trailer, MacNicol made up the national flag of Carpathia, a snake stepping on a man, invented a national motto with all consonants because the nation was too poor to afford vowels, and based the economy on firewood.[145] For the scene when Janosz kidnaps Oscar, Peter MacNicol was dressed in drag and photographed in front of a bluescreen. The arm stretch was achieved through a piece of tubing covered with costume fabric and rigged to slide down a pole. For the wider shots, a miniature rod puppet and buggy were photographed in front of a bluescreen and manipulated by character performers Bob Cooper and David Allen.[146]

Statue of Liberty[]

Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis originally conceived the idea of the Statue of Liberty as a force of evil used by Vigo. Out of respect to the Statue, it was decided she would be a positive influence. Bringing the Statue of life took some doing. Miniatures, a larger head sculpture for close up shots, a costume worn by Jim Fye for full length views, and large scale full scale set pieces such as water tanks were used. The scene of the Statue's torch exploding in a fireball was a rare case of serendipity. On the first take, a piece of the rig, flew up into frame. It was a mistake but Ivan Reitman liked it and he cut it in.[147] The earliest shots done were in a larger-than-life-full-size-replica of the crown constructed on a sound stage at Burbank Studios. If the crown were built to scale, the actors faces would be obscured and there would be little room to move around with the Proton Packs on. The replica was 30% larger than the original and the glass was left out of the windows since they got in Reitman's way.[148][149][150] The crown was placed on a gimbal mechanism in order to simulate movement of the Statue. The gimbal used dated back to the 1940s and broke down during the first day of shooting. A second was brought in from CBS but it too was old. New cylinders were flown in overnight and the gimbal was restored to working order. During shooting, Ivan Reitman had the actors tilt down even further than usual in order to capture real fear on camera. Bill Murray recalled it was "quite a ride - nausea, sea legs, the whole thing."[151][152][153]

It was very difficult rotowork combining live action plates from New York because it included crowds of people.[154] The Fifth Avenue scenes were done with matte painting out of practicality. It was virtually impossible to shoot at night and get good exposure above street level. Mark Sullivan and Caroleen Green worked on the matte painting. Green had to rework the left side because Ivan Reitman wanted to see the city go on for miles to create a sense of openness and grandeur.[155] The exploding torch was done on a separate stage then matted into shots with Fye in costume.[156] A real-sized foot and standard eight-inch car was used for the scene when the Statue steps on a police car. Charlie Bailey placed a small tube filled with margarita salt into the car. When the foot stepped on the car, the salt would shoot out the window and simulate broken glass. In New York, crews shot a plate with real police car and one without the car but still with people standing behind where the car was. At ILM, the real car was rotoscoped out and inserted into the other plate. The Statue's sandal crushing the car was filmed in against bluescreen. The sandal was matted into the plate and the model was dissolved in for the real car.[157][158][159]

Proton Streams[]

At first, the team at ILM attempted to duplicate the Proton Streams from the first movie. Dennis Muren and Mark Vargo encouraged animation supervisor Tom Bertino and the crew to go in a new direction in order to surprise the audience. John Armstrong and Peter Crossman came up with designs that evolved the Proton Streams to act like cowboy lassos and fishing lines. Muren and Vargo approved then the designs were brought to Reitman. Reitman loved them and gave the go-ahead to continue. The lasso idea turned out to work very well with the mylar squash and stretch effect used on the Scoleri Brothers. When the streams were supposed to wrangle them, the mylar would be utilized to constrict the ghost.[160][161]

Traps[]

The ILM animation department also expanded on the Trap and its interaction with ghosts. Instead of just having the ghosts disappear into the Trap, the team animated the ghosts coming apart and added comets and lightning to the inside of the trap cone field. Mike Lessa devised a staggered effect where Nunzio was sucked into the Trap head first and his shoes would be left behind for a few seconds. Dennis Muren suggest Tony Scoleri's eyes to be left behind for an instant.[162]

Slime Blowers[]

Stephen Dane was inspired by military flamethrower backpacks when designing the Slime Blower.[163] The Slime Blowers were 3-4 times as bulky as the Proton Pack props. It took 3-4 people to help get them on Ernie Hudson and Dan Aykroyd. The only practical part was the gun. It was a device with a spinner that sent out slime driven by compressed air. The tanks were empty. In reality, the blowers were attached to external tanks, 4-5 feet in height, that supplied the slime.[164]

Scripts[]

See Scripts - for more information on scripts for Ghostbusters II

Scenes[]

Scene names taken from the 1999 DVD release and the 2005 DVD release.
These articles are image intensive.

Deleted Scenes[]

Trivia[]

  • At the start of the movie, Dana and Oscar are returning home from shopping at a D'Agostino store as evidenced by the D'ag paper bag she is carrying.
    • Based on the direction Dana came from, her apartment's address, and Oscar being taken to First Avenue, they likely shopped at the D'Agostino on 76th Street at 1074 Lexington Avenue.
  • In Ray's Occult, Egon is looking at a copy of "The Great Book of Magical Art, Hindu Magic and East Indian Occultism".
  • At the 29:55 mark, when Mr. Fianella is testifying on the stand, Winston is seating on Fianella's seat in the spectator's gallery. At any point before and after this mark, Winston is not in the courtroom.
  • The Ghostbusters' phone number has changed to (212) 555-2020.
  • Elements of commercial originated in the commercial in pages 17-18 in the October 7, 1983 draft of the first movie. It featured a frighted family. One of the mother's lines, "It's that darn ghost again," is spoken by Janine. One of the father's lines, "I guess we'll just have to move," is spoken by Louis. Read excerpt here.
  • In the commercial, Janine is reading the Cosmopolitan magazine November 1988 issue
  • At one point, Janosz Poha was not the one to kidnap Oscar. A two headed dragon, creatures from a hellish world, a phantom taxicab, a giant pigeon, a face on the Moon, a vapor rising from the street, billboard figures, gargoyles come to life, and a horrible Santa Claus were pitched.[165][166]
  • The Mink Coat originates in the August 5, 1983 draft of the first movie. It manifested during a fashion show after the Containment Unit was shut down.[167]
  • After the Ghostbusters fail to make a dent in the slime shell around the museum, they huddle near Ecto-1a. In the background is the Mayor's car. Its license plate is a vanity plate "Hizzoner" in reference to New York slang for the Mayor of New York City.
  • At the end of the theater version, Slimer comes out from behind the Statue of Liberty and flies right into the camera just like how he did at the end of the first movie. The video version omits this and just ends with a pan up to the statue's head then a fade to black.
  • The first montage and ending credits feature scenes that were deleted from the movie.

Firehouse[]

  • A copy of the 1985 "Nostradamus Into the Millennium" by Erika Cheetham and Glamour magazine March 1989 issue are on Louis' desk when he first meets Slimer.
  • On the wall in Peter's office are frames of magazine and newspaper features:
    • Row 1, Left: A LIFE magazine issue whose cover photograph is a still from the first montage of Ghostbusters II when the four Ghostbusters run down the street.
    • Row 1, Right: New York Post spotlighting Peter, Ray, and Egon's "We're back!" declaration after capturing the Scoleri Brothers.
    • Row 2, Left: The TIME magazine issue from the first movie
    • Row 2, Center: The USA Today edition from the first movie
    • Row 2, Right: A TIME magazine issue of the Ghostbusters in dark jumpsuits and Santa hats from a montage in this movie
    • Row 3, Left: The Omni magazine issue from first movie
    • Row 3, Center: A Motor Trend magazine issue with Ecto-1a
    • Row 3, Right: The Atlantic issue from the first movie
  • In the second floor kitchen, there is a Dustbuster on the top of the refrigerator. Next to it is a box of Scoopy's Cups ice cream cones on top of the fridge.
  • A five packs of Cheese-N-Crackers are on top of the microwave. The periodic table of the elements is posted on the wall behind the microwave.
  • One of the arcades is Jump Bug by Rock-Ola released in 1981.
  • A poster of the Hotel Lincoln on the wall by the billiard table
  • The Hook & Ladder 8 sign was left up during shooting of this movie. It was removed during production of the first movie.
  • At the 55:10 mark, Ivan Reitman, wearing a blue jacket, is walking away from the Firehouse.

Manhattan Museum of Art[]

  • The exterior banners advertise an exhibit of art by Edgar Degas. Degas was a 19th century French artist credited with having a part in founding Impressionism but preferred to be called a Realist.
  • Rudy is reading a Star magazine featuring "Ghostbusters Save Mayor" and "Team of Venkman Stantz & Spengler in heroic deed." The photo of the trio is from production of the first movie.
  • The lobby scene and deleted Egon scene was filmed at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House at 1 Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan but the restoration room scenes were filmed in California.
  • The montage scene where the Ghostbusters exit a home entertainment store in Santa Claus hats was filmed across the street from the Custom House. [168]
  • The Gauguin Dana was cleaning was the Still Life with onions, beet root and Japanese print.
  • For the scene were Egon, Ray, and Winston emerge from the river of slime outside the Manhattan Museum of Art, it was shot in New York out on the street at 2 am in freezing weather, around 10 degrees. The actors were dumped with buckets and buckets of slime then filed for hours on end with no heaters. The actors had to emerge from a manhole where smoke was pushed up. It was a tight squeeze due to the proximity of phone conduit. None of the actors complained out loud. Ernie Hudson did at one point ask Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis what they were thinking when they wrote the scene.[169]
  • 11 takes were done of Egon, Ray, and Winston climbing from the sewers. Due to a camera motor running off speed, the scene had to filmed again. At first, the actors thought it was a joke. The scene was re-filmed the next night.[170]
  • A full scale replica of part of the museum was constructed inside a sound stage in Burbank Studios. In order to have the slime ooze from the mortar joints, above the doors, and all over the exterior, Chuck Gaspar and crew cut slits in the walls, over the doors, and so on then attached hoses connected to tanks that held 8000 gallons of slime. 40 people were needed to operate the tank, hoses, and valves. Another tank caught the run off and it was pumped back into the other tank. A week and a half was spent to rig this set.[171]
  • The wall of slime that enveloped the museum was filmed twice.[172] In the first take, the slime was too thin and not wide enough. A thicker slime mixture was employed for the successful second take but five cameras were struck with slime during filming.[173]
  • Floating Oscar in the museum took some doing. Chuck Gaspar's crew made a piece of sheet metal hidden in the baby's suit and suspended on four wires attached to an overhead rig. To prevent the baby from moving, the metal pan was attached to the suit with velcro.[174]
    • When Oscar was floating across the room, Gaspar pulled the rig by rope.
    • When Oscar was lined up to the altar, a radio-controlled servo controlled by Jay Halsey while Gaspar pulled the rope on a straight path.

Peter's Apartment[]

  • On the wall by the front door is the 1978 "Yankee Fever - Catch It" poster. Behind it on the right is an issue of the July 18, 1988 People Weekly.
  • Near the desk on the wall are frames with the magazine and newspaper covers from the first film's montage - New York Post, USA Today, and Time.
  • Below the frames is a Yankees pennant and leaned against the wall is a Ouija board
  • On the desk are some Statue of Liberty collectibles such as a lamp based on the hand holding the torch.
  • Near the doorway to the bathroom is the lamp that was on Peter's desk in the Firehouse in the first movie
  • In his kitchen are bags of Utz The Crab Chip and Salt' n Vinegar flavors
  • When Louis talks about Rita Hayworth, there is an orange box of Hi-C next to the popcorn
  • Peter's apartment was filmed at residential lofts at 644 Broadway but the rooftop of the building was a matte painting.[175] Department supervisor Mark Sullivan incorporated live action footage into the matte painting.[176]
  • Thom Enriquez storyboarded an early version of the scene. It involved Slimer trying to warn Louis that Oscar was on the ledge but he was trying to make out with Janine. Louis looks over her shoulder and sees Slimer making a bunch of gestures. Peter and Dana return home and see the baby was missing. They look out the window and see the baby on the ledge with a monster. Peter goes onto the ledge and grabs the baby. Dana hands him a baseball bat and he swings at the monster.[177]
  • The scene were Oscar is taken by Janosz was filmed at a studio set representing the exterior of the building.
    • Bo Welch built the set - two exterior walls and a 10 foot tall ledge.[178]
    • Chuck Gaspar built a special harness rig for the Deutschendorf twins portraying Oscar. It was a big leather diaper attached to a metal pole bolted down to the ledge. The diaper was hidden in the Deutschendorf's jumpsuit and the pole was hidden if their legs were kept in position. Just in case, several large airbags were placed below. The twins cooperated very well during filming.
    • The twins' father Ron Deutschendorf stood on a ladder off-camera and made noises to make it look like the baby was looking out into the distance in the scene.[179]
  • In order of the ledge shot in the kidnapping to be incorporated with the matte painting, Mark Vargo and his plate crew positioned a camera about 40 feet up along one side of the soundstage. The crew had to climb up a wooden ladder and walk along a very narrow catwalk. The Vistavision camera was too heavy to carry so it was pulled up on pulleys.
  • The scene of Oscar's kidnapping evolved from Harold Ramis' initial idea about the baby walking like an adult.[180]

World of the Psychic[]

  • At 10:51 mark, when Peter walks into the WKRR studio office, there are lobby cards for Nakia, Top Cat, and The World of the Psychic.
  • The interior of Ray's Occult Books was on Stage 15 next to the World of the Psychic set at Burbank Studios.[181]

Ray's Occult Books[]

  • The interior of the book store was on Stage 15 next to the World of the Psychic set at Burbank Studios. Set decorator Cheryl Carasik populated the set with old used books.[182][183]

Dana's Apartment[]

  • When Ray, Egon and Peter first visit, the '89 calendar is on November.
  • There is a frame of Johannes Brahms near the book shelf when Peter picks up the snow globe
  • The baby carriage chase at the start of the movie is geographically accurate. It starts at Dana's apartment building at 325 East 77th Street and heads south to the intersection of East 77th Street and First Avenue where it stopped. After the carriage is nearly hit by the bus, the green awning of Cho-Sen Food Shoppe Ltd. is visible, further proving the intersection is E. 77th and First. [184]
    • Two blocks from this intersection, Louis' bus stop scene was filmed.
  • The digging scenes on First Avenue were filmed on a similar street in Los Angeles.
  • Chuck Gaspar, physical effects supervisor, built five radio-controlled carriages for the baby carriage chase. DC motors were placed in the buggy baskets, drive shafts, a steering system, and two braking systems to stop the wheels and slow the carriage were utilized. Gaspar brought in two-time national champion driver of miniature cars Jay Halsey, both having worked on Dirty Harry movies, to steer the carriage.[185][186]
  • The blackout scene was shot on a set. First, Peter MacNicol was filmed walking down a dimly lit walkway. As he walked, MacNicol moved his head side to side. To create the look of real light being illuminated, another pass was filmed. In it, Michael Chapman held a 2K at MacNicol's height then walked down the hall, panning the light from side to side. After a few takes done fast and slow, the scenes were edited together and both Chapman and the light were matted out. Pat Meyers helped defined the light beams by placing shards and particulate matter so it looked like real beams. Meyers lined up the beams so they tracked from MacNicol's eyebrows to the puddles of light on the walls.[187]

The Brownstone[]

  • The exteriors were filmed at 420 East 78th Street New York, NY 10075.[188]
  • The interiors of the Brownstone were filmed in the captain's quarters on the third floor of Fire Station No. 23 in Los Angeles.[189][190]

Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse[]

  • The courtroom set was modified from one used in "Legal Eagles" (1986) which Ivan Reitman directed. It was pulled out of stock and materials were added like a glass partition. The set was put atop a platform so the crew could drill holes for chairs. An expensive heavy cornice ceiling was added. There were complaints about how much was spent on the set.[191][192]
  • Only 14 chairs would be thrown around because the rest were rented, only four pillars could be blown up, and only one wall of glass could be broken.[193]
  • Whatever was slated to be blown up was made of balsa wood: the railing, the walk through hinged doors, the judge's box and defense table.[194]
  • The defense table was on a flying track and pulled on a compound cable when the Scoleri Brothers slammed it on a wall.[195]
  • In order to reset the scene easily, parts were made for three takes of everything.[196]
  • Jim Fye and Tim Lawrence filmed separately as the Scoleri Brothers in wire rigged suits in front of blue screen. The footage would later be projected onto flexible mirrorplex then rephotographed. Meanwhile, in place of the actors, full-scale cutouts were used to aid the cast and crew during filming.[197]
  • The stuntwoman who was in place of the Prosecutor when she is carried off by the Scoleri Brothers wore a pair of flying pants and vest with a cable running up her leg to the ceiling track above. Reitman wanted one leg dangling, something very easy if she weren't upside down. As the stuntwoman went along the track, her head barely missed the chairs still standing in the room.[198]

Central Park[]

  • The Jogger Ghost was captured on the jogging path that goes around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis Reservoir in the northern part of the park.

Institute for Advanced Theoretical Research[]

  • The Institute stood in where Avery Hall is located on the Columbia University campus. Avery Hall is where the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation is located.

Parkview Psychiatric Hospital[]

  • The interiors were filmed at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Brentwood, California. The scene of the Ghostbusters and Louis leaving were shot at a side door service entrance at the Biltmore Hotel.[199]

Gracie Mansion[]

  • The location was filmed at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Bill Murray and Harold Ramis previously filmed there during production of "Stripes" in 1981.[200]

Liberty Island[]

  • The only scene actually filmed on Liberty Island was the special ceremony seen in the end credits.[201]

Movieland Theater[]

  • The theater closed in March 1989
  • The theater marquee advertises "Cannibal Girls" starring Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin. This early 1973 film, was also directed by Ivan Reitman
  • In entrance area, the movie posters for the 1975 film "They Came from Within" and 1977 film "Rabid" are posted. Both are two David Cronenberg horror movies produced by Ivan Reitman early in his career.[202]

Armand's[]

  • The interiors were filmed at Val's on Riverside Drive.[203][204]
  • The man eating dinner with the woman who gets slimed by Ray is Peter Mosen, a famous Ghostbusters fan.

Miscellaneous Locations[]

  • The scene with Ray being lowered into the Van Horne station was a combination of a partial set and matte paintings. Bo Welch built a small section (the curved background wall, steps leading down into the station, and a partial platform). The set was then combined with matte paintings by Yusei Uesugi.[205]
  • For the first montage a night shot of Ecto-1a was filmed at the corner of East 76th Street and First Avenue, evidenced by 3-Star Diner, located at1463 First Avenue.[206]
  • For the first montage, Egon and Ray collect Psychomagnotheric Slime from the steps of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle at 8-10 Columbus Avenue.[207]
  • For the first montage, Egon and Ray collect Psychomagnotheric Slime from a pay phone on West 59th Street across from the 910 9th Avenue side of Coliseum Park Apartments a block over from the Church of St. Paul.[208]
  • For the first montage, Ecto-1a was filmed driving on FDR Drive between East 36th & East 37th Streets.[209]
  • In at least the concept phase, Egon and Ray would have entered a car full of the ghosts of subway passengers during their underground exploration.[210]
  • The Oscar on the ledge and Van Horne River of Slime scenes were filmed on Stage 16 at Burbank Studios.[211]
  • The Mink coat scene was filmed outside Biltmore Hotel.[212]
  • While on the way to Manhattan Museum of Art at the end of the movie, Ecto-1a turns west on East 14th Street to the Lincoln Tunnel.[213]
  • Mayor Lenny was in a scene that involved ghosts "bleeding" through walls. David Margulies filmed outside the U.S. Customs House in New York with 400 to 500 extras and the ILM crew on set.[214]
  • When the Statue of Liberty comes off of West 54th Street onto Fifth Avenue, she steps out from between the The Canada Building at 680 Fifth Avenue then her massive foot steps on the street in front of Trump Tower at 725 Fifth Avenue then steps on a police car in front of Fred's at 703 Fifth Avenue), which comes before Trump Tower in the direction she was walking.[215]
  • The crew shot three takes of the scene of the Statue of Liberty stepping on the police car.[216]

Props[]

  • The lightweight model Proton Pack weighed about 28 pounds and did not light up as much as the operational model.[217]

Trivia by Chapter[]

Alternatively and more comprehensively are trivia organized by chapter

References in Ghostbusters III: Hellbent[]

  • In the June 23, 2006 limited revision draft, it is revealed Peter died in 1998 from slipping during an industrial accident involving an attempt to perfect a love potion.[218][219][220]

References in Ghostbusters: The Video Game[]

  • In the February 11, 2008 draft revision of Ghostbusters: The Video Game:
    • Between the initial battle with the Bellhop Ghosts and the bust in the Alhambra Ballroom, the Manager is aghast at an 18th century Queen Anne replica and a Gainsborough being damaged.[221]
    • Egon references the discovery of the River of Slime while he explains what the Plasm Distribution System is.[222][223]
    • It is revealed during the Thanksgiving Day Parade level that Ray kept the "Fettuccine" painting from the end of Ghostbusters II at Ray's Occult.[224]
    • The only working pump in the Slime Lab contains an overabundance of Psychomagnotheric Slime.[225]
    • Peter remembers the slime shell around the Manhattan Museum of Art and animated the Statue of Liberty.[226]

References in IDW Comics[]

  • In Ghostbusters: The Other Side #1:
    • On Page 12 and 21, Vigo is referenced by Fred.
  • In Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression #2:
    • On Page 9, Peter mentions Rachel's connection to Egon from a course at Columbia University, where Peter, Ray, and Egon were formerly employed. Ray mentions Egon never taught at Columbia since the Ghostbusters battled Vigo years ago.
  • Ghostbusters: Tainted Love:
    • On Page 10, Ray mentions he used the Occult Reference Net to research the ghost and Tiyah's apartment.
  • In Ghostbusters: What in Samhain Just Happened?!:
    • On Page 6, making appearances at children's parties is referenced.
    • On Page 9, the painting of Vigo can be seen.
    • On Page 16, Egon has a coffee cup with the periodic symbol for Cobalt emblazoned on it.
  • In Ghostbusters: Infestation #1:
    • On Page 14, the team strips off their uniforms in response to the Necrotic Slime, just like with the Mood Slime.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #1:
    • On Page 10, Ecto-1a makes its first appearance.
    • On Page 11, Alan mentions his Uncle Janosz. Winston references Vigo as "dead Moldavian dictator."
    • On Page 12, Winston mentions parts of events from Ghostbusters II: New Years, the Statue of Liberty, and the Manhattan Museum of Art. Janine imitates Janosz' "Upper Vest Side" line.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #2:
    • On Page 4, on Egon's clipboard is an excerpt from Leon Zundinger's "Magicians, Martyrs And Madmen".
    • On Page 5, part of the Vigo painting appears to the side of Jim Silver.
    • On Page 7, Winston mentions not going back to birthday party appearances, Louis Tully, and Louis' time in law school.
    • On Page 8, Janine's invoice references Wilhelm von Homburg who played Vigo.
    • On Page 16, Ray uses a Globuscope.
    • On Page 19, Zac mentions the Statue of Liberty. The 'Baby Egon' holds a Giga meter.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #3:
    • On Page 1, actress Robin Shelby makes a cameo on the news report. Peter's apartment appears in the background of the news report.
    • On Page 5, Peter refers to the Jets. He gave a Joe Namath jersey to Oscar in the movie.
    • On Page 9, the dancing Toaster is on the shelf. Laying flat on a shelf is the NES Advantage Controller Egon used to 'control' the animated Statue of Liberty.
    • On Page 11, Armand's Restaurant is referenced on a sign.
    • On Page 17, Idulnas refers to Vigo.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #4:
    • On Page 6, the framed articles on Peck's wall and speed dial references Jack Hardemeyer and the Parkview Psychiatric Hospital.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #5:
    • On Page 9, Bobby Brown makes a cameo.
    • On Page 12, Ray's Occult Books debuts in the comic. "Magicians, Martyrs and Madmen" is for sale outside Ray's Occult. "Magical Paths to Fortune and Power" can be seen by Kylie Griffin.
    • On Page 13, "The End of the World" by Milton Anglund is on Peter's desk.
    • On Page 23, the 212-555-6311 number is from the Ghostbusters II invoice prop can be seen.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #6:
    • On Page 1, to the left of Ray is the Mink Coat from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 5, Peter pulls Ray's ear to get the truth.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #7:
    • On Page 7, the Mink Coat from Ghostbusters II appears again as Winston leads the hostages out.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #8:
    • On Page 8, Peter's mug references the "The World of the Psychic".
    • On Page 12, the Vigo painting makes another appearance, this time in full view.
    • On Page 22, the "sorcerer from the west" is none other than Vigo.
    • On Page 23, Leon Zundinger is mentioned.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #9:
    • On Cover B, one of the stamps references Ghostbusters II. Psychomagnotheric Slime drips behind Ecto-1.
    • On Page 1, in panel two, obscured by the Mayor's word balloons on the left side, is the painting "Gainsborough's Blue Boy," in reference to when Janosz Poha contrasted Vigo to it.
    • On Page 6, the Prosecutor appears as one of the Mayor's aides.
    • On Page 10, when Ray approaches Fort Wayne, he first talks to two ghosts posted as guards. The ghosts are based on Eugene Levy and Ben Stein who both had minor roles in Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #10:
    • On Page 3, next to the bag is the unnamed device Peter held in part of the montage from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 4, Peter uses the Mark I Slime Blower and pink slime, from Ghostbusters II, on the protestors.
    • On Page 5, Winston has the KUD Meter.
    • On Page 13, Ray mentions his store, Ray's Occult Books.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #11:
    • On Page 11, Vigo's entry in "Magicians, Martyrs And Madmen" is on the computer screen.
    • On Page 11, "1989" appears on a shelf sign behind Ray.
    • On Page 22, Peter exclaims he was a TV guy. He used to host "The World of the Psychic".
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #12:
    • On the Cover B, in the upper left corner, is Kylie's Ray's Occult Books employee badge.
    • On Page 9, Peter switches to the charcoal jumpsuit, from Ghostbusters II, in the comic.
    • On Page 9, there is a poster of Jackie Wilson, who did "Higher and Higher".
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 3 TPB:
    • The back cover is a homage to the painting of the Ghostbusters and Oscar at the end of the movie.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #13:
    • On the Con Cover, Winston in a scene when the guys try to shoot their way into the Manhattan Museum of Art.
    • On Page 1, Peter's "You got him! You got him!" parallels the scene from Ghostbusters II when Peter confines Nunzio Scoleri and Ray exclaims the same line.
    • On Page 6, Janine is wearing one of her outfits from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 9, Janosz Poha and the Psychiatric Doctor from Ghostbusters II make their debuts in the ongoing.
    • On Page 10, Janosz recounts several events from Ghostbusters II: when Vigo possessed Ray, when Janosz checked on Dana Barrett during the blackout, when Ray embraced Janosz at the end, and when Peter tried to paint kittens on Vigo.
    • On Page 13, the T-shirt on display references the Bass Masters show mentioned by the security guard at the Manhattan Museum of Art in Ghostbusters II when Peter first visits.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #14:
    • On Page 4, part of the Vigo painting is to Janine's left. It appears Peter finally dealt with the Carpathian Kitten Loss and drew a cat on one of Vigo's arms.
    • On Page 7, like in Issue #4, the framed Pacific Monthly makes reference to the B.U.F.O. and Jack Hardemeyer.
    • On Page 19, near the board appears to be a bucket of Psychomagnotheric Slime.
  • In Ghostbusters: Times Scare!:
    • On Page 2, Peter uses the "We're the best..we're the beautiful...we're the only...Ghostbusters!" quote.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #15:
    • On Page 4, Ron refers to the Ghostbusters' defacing of national landmarks such as when the Statue of Liberty was animated. Jenny Moran refers to Ray's Occult Books.
    • On Page 13, Peter dons his shades from the montage in Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 1 #16:
    • On Cover A, Winston is surrounded by the Impaled heads and the Ghost Train is approaching Winston and the heads.
    • On Cover RI, the Ghostbusters are hauling the portrait of Vigo and of themselves from the end of Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 3, on the table near the Christmas Tree is some Psychomagnotheric Slime as stored by the Ghostbusters in the second movie. Janosz painted a recreation of Gainsborough's Blue Boy, something he mentioned in the second movie. Idulnas briefly assumes the form of Vigo in the painting.
    • On Page 5, visible is the North Moore Street sign, part of the Firehouse's address from the Ghostbusters II invoice prop.
    • On Page 10, Ecto-1a's screen board advertises "Dancing Toaster, only $9.99!"
    • On Page 20, the poster on the right advertises the dancing toaster and quotes Peter's line, "You're my number one Christmas boutique gift item!"
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 4 TPB:
    • The back cover is a homage to a Ghostbusters II promo photo.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #1:
    • On Page 2, also witness to the kidnapping is the arguing married couple Egon ran tests on in Ghostbusters II
    • On Page 5, behind Egon are the Nintendo Ghostbusters II and New Ghostbusters II game arcades.
    • On Page 6, Ecto-1a is parked outside 325. Based on the address and designs, the Ghostbusters are investigating at Dana Barrett's apartment building from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 7, Kylie is wearing Ray's charcoal jumpsuit from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 10, one of the cops from the First Avenue is present.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #2:
    • Cover A is visually based on the first page in the article in Rolling Stone #553 - June 1, 1989 about Ghostbusters II "Return of the Money-Making Slime" with Sigourney Weaver, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and Dan Aykroyd forming the human pyramid.
    • On Page 1, the jogger is visually based on the Jogger Ghost from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 4, one photo pays homage to a Ghostbusters II group pose while another pays homage to Rolling Stone #553 like the Regular Cover.
    • On Page 8, the New Ghostbusters end up by the reservoir like in Ghostbusters II. Based on landmarks, the Ghostbusters are searching for the ghost in Central Park near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The South Gate House at the edge of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir is visible in the foreground and the Belevedere Castle is visible in the far-right background.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #3:
    • On Page 21, Janosz' assorted gear are in the room.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #4:
    • On Page 9, there is a sketch of Vigo on the wall.
    • On Page 17, Janosz refers to his former servitude to Vigo.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #5:
    • On Page 1, near Ron are the Slimed Restaurant Patron and her date in Armand's Restaurant.
    • On Page 3, Ray is wearing the head gear hooked up to the Mood Slime. The Slime Scoop from Ghostbusters II is behind Ray on the shelf. On the top shelf of the shelving unit are three Slime Blower gun nozzles.
    • On Page 14, Jack Hardemeyer gets fired for getting carried away once again.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #6:
    • On Cover A, to the left of the TV is a Ghostbusters Mug and Balloon set from Ghostbusters II. Between the geranium and Egon are Janine's circular glasses from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 13, Roger and Egon end up in Peter's apartment during Ghostbusters II when Louis Tully and Janine Melnitz hook up.
    • On Page 14, a copy of "The End of the World" from Ghostbusters II is on the stand. Egon grabs a "The World of the Psychic" pen.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #7:
    • On Page 23, the Ecto-15 is based on unused concept art of a stretch checkered cab from Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #8:
    • On Page 23, the Brownstone Boy from the party in Ghostbusters II heckles Ron with a spin on the line he used on Ray.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #9:
    • On Page 1, the Ghostbusters commercial uses the free hot beverage thermal Ghostbusters Mug and Balloon from the commercial in Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #10:
    • On Page 9, on the pole by Winston is a No Bozo sticker.
    • On Page 19, the officer is based on Ralph Monaco who played a police sergeant in Ghostbusters II. The surname on his badge is even Monaco.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #11:
    • On Page 4, Krampus' target is the Brownstone Boy from the birthday party in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 5, Ray is wearing the civies he wore in Ray's Occult in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 5, to the left of Ray is a pink canister marked Love Potion, in reference to Peter's request when he enters Ray's Occult in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 6, to the far left is the painting that depicted the Ghostbusters and Oscar at the end of Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 6, Kylie alludes to the events of Ghostbusters II, which took place five years later.
    • On Page 6, the second red Post-It Note, to the right of the Kahlil art, references Vigo and his birth year of 1505 to year of death in 1610.
    • On Page 15, Janine is wearing an outfit from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 16, Kylie refers to Vigo.
  • In The X-Files: Conspiracy: Ghostbusters:
    • On the Cover RI, the newspaper refers to Egon and the Psychomagnotheric Slime sample's implied relationship.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #12:
    • On the Cover A, among the litter are Janosz' New Years party hats.
    • On Page 2, the Polarity Rectification Tripods from Ghostbusters II debut on the ongoing series.
    • On Page 5, on the file cabinet are some of the Ghostbusters II trading cards.
    • On Page 7, on the bottom right of Egon's board, some writing suggests Louis Tully is living in Florida.
    • On Page 8, Peter refers to his show "The World of the Psychic" from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 9, in the right side of the Times Tower, there is an ad for Armand's Restaurant and a Special New Years Midnite Showing, a nod to the Movieland Theater when the Theatre Ghost scares patrons outside. Between Ray and Peter, among the crowd, is the bald man from the crowd outside the Manhattan Museum of Art with Louis Tully at the end of Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 11, Ray's fear is of the Vigo possession from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 15, Peter suggest Auld Lang Syne, a classic folk song sang at the start of the New Year.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #13:
    • On Page 3, at Egon's mention of a toaster, Peter makes a joke, referring to the awkward scene in Ghostbusters II. Behind Egon, Ray and Peter is Bobby Brown who portrayed the Gracie Mansion doorman and provided a single for the movie soundtrack.
    • On Page 14, the frame of Johannes Brahms from Dana's apartment.
    • On Page 14, as evidenced on the refrigerator, Oscar takes Karate, a nod to the Deutschendorf twins, who are now martial arts instructors for West Coast Martial Arts Academy.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #14:
    • On the Dramatis Personae, Dana's bio refers to Oscar and Vigo.
    • On Page 5, Dana mentions Oscar is with his father.
    • On Page 5, Janine is wearing a blouse and has the fur jacket from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 6, Janine asks Dana if she's back with the New York Philharmonic, a minor plot bit from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 9, Kylie has the Slime Scoop and KUD Meter from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 9, Dana concedes Oscar was the target in her second supernatural encounter.
    • On Page 10, the Brahm and cello art from Dana's Ghostbusters II-era apartment are present.
    • On Page 11, Kylie mentions the Psychomagnotheric Slime and the Dana-Peter relationship.
    • On Page 20, the red lamp to the right of Dana is from her bedroom in the first movie. On the nightstand is a baby picture of Oscar in clothes from Ghostbusters II. The note by the phone refers to Dana's Maid, Maria from Ghostbusters II. Maria's last name 'Cruise' is taken from the name of the actress who portrayed her, Yvette Cruise.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #15:
    • On the Regular Cover, on the planner, the 1:00 notes toaster stock - likely nod to the Animated Toaster and "Stay Fit, Keep Sharp, Make Good Decisions" is a mantra Louis repeated to himself after he left the Firehouse suited up in Ghostbusters II. Louis' letterhead reiterates he is also a lawyer. The Post-It Note has a 15 easter egg and note to call his mom. Southfork may be reinforcing Louis' line in Ghostbusters II revealing his mom was in Florida. Southfork has a retirement community in Florida.
    • On Page 1, Louis is picked up by his cousin Sherman, a character introduced in Ghostbusters II but was cut.
    • On Page 2, two of Louis' memories is of Peter on the stand during the trial in Ghostbusters II and he was suited up as a Ghostbuster and shooting at the slime mold around the Manhattan Museum of Art.
    • On Page 4, Dana sees pink Psychomagnotheric Slime on the brick wall obstruction.
    • On Page 8, Outside Ray's Occult is a Psychic flier with I.L.M. on it, a nod to Industrial Light and Magic, the company that primarily did effects for Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 9, the portrait of the Ghostbusters and Oscar from the end of Ghostbusters II is seen.
    • On Page 12, Peter's copy of "The End of the World" mentioned in Ghostbusters II is still on his desk.
    • On Page 19, Peter appears to allude to the first time the guys tried to hide the fact they were investigating something for Dana in Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #17:
    • On Page 4, Louis is wearing the skull cap Ray wore in Chapter 14, when Peter told Ray about the Bathtub full of slime that tried to grab Oscar.
    • On Page 6, behind the rings is the 'The Brain' chart from Egon's laboratory, nearest the two way mirror, in the Institute for Advanced Theoretical Research.
    • On Page 6, near the Dimensionometer is the Ghostbusters II version the Ghost in a Can drink.
    • On Page 10, on the shelf again are some Slime Blower guns.
    • On Page 11, under the sign are two Ghostbusters II video tapes and by Egon is a Mood Slime canister.
    • On Page 11, near Hart Island is the Titanic, seen in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 12, Peter alludes to Judge Wexler.
    • On Page 12, the Scoleri Brothers officially debut in the ongoing comic.
    • On Page 13, the close up of Vigo's demonic face is reminiscent of a scene from Ghostbusters II right before Vigo possesses Ray.
    • On Page 13, Vigo uses one of his nicknames, the Sorrow of Moldavia.
    • On Page 20, Egon's foot locker has a picture of the Ghostbusters II logo, a Slinkie, and a Mood Slime jar.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #18:
    • On Page 6, Ray references the Ghostbusters' battle against Vigo.
    • On Page 7, as mentioned in the previous issue, the Vigo painting is shown having been drawn all over. It includes a cat - a nod to Peter's 'Carpathian Kitten Loss' line in the second movie, the word 'Bonehead' refers to a line Peter uses while he's mouthing off at Vigo during the final battle, and the word 'Butch' refers to Peter's "Vigo the Butch?" line when the Ghostbusters first investigated the Manhattan Museum of Art.
    • On Page 9, Egon's footlocker has a Slinkie, the Ghostbusters II logo, and a Mood Slime jar.
    • On Page 11, the Dock Supervisor and his co-worker from the second movie walk outside the cafe
    • On Page 12, the Dock Supervisor is wearing a Pier 34 hat, a nod to where they were in the second movie when they saw the Titanic and Statue of Liberty arrive.
    • On Page 14, Ray mentions the Scoleri Brothers, who briefly appeared last issue. Also like in the previous issue, one panel bears an homage to when the camera zooms in on Vigo's red eyes like in the second movie when Ray is possessed.
    • On Page 15, on the chalkboard is a He-Man themed party flier called "Parties of the Universe," a nod to who the children were expecting at the birthday party near the start of the second movie. The top note is "Does kid parties?" - a further nod to the scene and Winston's disdain for them. The bottom note refers to Ray's line after the party about those "ungrateful yuppie larvae".
    • On Page 15, Peter holds up a snow globe like in the second movie when he enters Dana's apartment.
    • On Page 16, Peter alludes to Oscar and his Joe Namath jersey.
    • On Page 16, a 15 easter egg can be seen on the Periodic Table.
    • On Page 17, on the chalkboard behind Dana is, in the top left is a section on Hart Island with Vigo's full name and Scoleri Bros. written down.
    • On Page 18, the computer is on the Occult Reference Net's results on Vigo seen in the second movie.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #19:
    • On Page 6, atop the shelving are Slime Blower guns and Psychomagnotheric Slime is tossed out of the jar on is the table the guys crash into.
    • On Page 6, below the can are two Ghostbusters II VHS tapes.
    • On Page 7, behind Ecto-1b on a shelving is the Ghostbusters II signage.
  • In Ghostbusters Volume 2 #20:
    • On Page 8, the top frame among the group of three by Ivo Shandor's Mother is the "Still Life with onions, beet root and Japanese print" by Paul Gauguin in 1889. In Ghostbusters II, Dana Barrett was cleaning this Gauguin in the Manhattan Museum of Art when Peter visited her.
  • In Ghostbusters: Mass Hysteria:
    • On Page 2, the coffee mug references Egon's Cobalt line.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters #1:
    • On Page 13, Kylie uses a KUD Meter.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters #2:
    • On Page 7, Peter alludes to Dana Barrett and her former job restoring art.
    • On Page 15, Ray refers to his late mother and her Swiss heritage. In drafts of Ghostbusters II, for example page 109 of the 2/27/89 draft, Ray mentioned his great-grandparents were Swiss.
    • On Page 20, there is a Ghostbusters Mug and Balloon from Ghostbusters II on Janine's desk.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters #3:
    • On Page 8, on the tack board is the New York Post front page article from Ghostbusters II hailing the Ghostbusters' return and just left of Peter's head is a grab of the Scoleri Brothers boss battle in Level 1 of the New Ghostbusters II Video Game.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters #4:
    • On Page 3, in the last panel, left of Winston, is a bag of Wise Popcorn.
    • On Page 4, still on Janine's desk is a Ghostbusters Mug and Balloon from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 6, in panel 5, on the board is one of the McDonald's Canada Ghostbusters II tray liners.
  • In Ghostbusters: Get Real #1:
    • On the Convention Cover, under the crew's names are the Scoleri Brothers and left of (RGB) Ray's Particle Thrower is Vigo.
    • On Page 10, on the table is a container of Psychomagnotheric Slime and a Scoopy's Cups box. Both appeared in Ghostbusters II, Chapter 13 "Mood Slime" when Egon and Ray demonstrate the ability of the slime. The Scoopy's Cup box was on top of the refrigerator.
    • On Page 12, on the bottom shelf behind Peter is the New Ghostbusters II Video Game (NES) reproduction from Timewalk Games.
    • On Page 18, Ray is wearing the outfit he wore at Ray's Occult Books in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 18, one of the arcades is Jump Bug from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 18, on the white board, under Chi-You's photo is group art from the Ghostbusters II Coloring Book (1989).
  • In Ghostbusters: Get Real #2:
    • On the Regular Cover is Ray is holding a jar of Psychomagnotheric Slime.
    • On Page 7, on the chalkboard, above Kylie's head is a reference to the Ivan Reitman film, "Cannibal Girls," featuring Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin which was during the second montage, at the movie theater.
    • On Page 7, left of Kylie is a drawing depicting the Ghostbusters II Game Boy video game.
    • On Page 8, left of Egon on the shelf is a Hardees Ghostbusters II lunchbox.
    • On Page 8, on the brown tack board is a reference to the New Ghostbusters II Video Game and on the bottom right corner of the Universal ad is a Ray's Occult Books business card.
    • On Page 15, under the Sega game characters are the Ghostbusters and Slimer from the New Ghostbusters 2 video game for Japan's Nintendo (NES) console.
    • On Page 17, in panel 3, the box left of Ray, from The Real Ghostbusters, is the Toastmaster Toaster Model B700 from McGraw-Edison - a nod to the Animated Toaster in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 19, in panel 2, the Walkman from Ghostbusters II is on the table left of Ray, from The Real Ghostbusters.
    • On Page 19, in panel 5, on the chalkboard written down is 'Christmas Boutique Item' -- a nod to the animated toaster in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 21, now visible on the brown tack board seen in panel 2 are:
      • On the left, the small purple sticker is the Hardees Ghostbusters II promotional "Goo E Ghost, Purple Ghost" sticker.
    • On the left is the grab of an episode of "Top Cats" seen in Ghostbusters II framed on an office wall when Peter talks to Norman in Chapter 2 "World of the Psychic"
  • In Ghostbusters: Get Real #3:
    • On Page 2, Ray Stantz, from The Real Ghostbusters, appears to be holding the Animated Toaster.
    • On Page 7, when Ray returns home slimed, Peter quotes Janosz Poha's line about dripping with goo at the end of Ghostbusters II when he regains consciousness from being hosed by Ray and Winston.
    • On Page 7, Egon alludes to Ray's Occult Books.
    • On Page 11, Ray is back in his attire from the Ray's Occult Books scene in Ghostbusters II
    • On Page 11, the arcade Peter is playing is the Jump Bug one seen in Ghostbusters II when Ray and Egon demonstrate the Psychomagnotheric Slime.
    • On Page 11, on the board, under Chi-You's photo is group art from the Ghostbusters II Coloring Book (1989).
    • On Page 13, in panel 2 to 4, the blue Post-it note references Gracie Mansion and its address.
    • On Page 14, in panel 3, Peter has his The World of the Psychic, from Ghostbusters II, mug.
    • On Page 15, still on the brown tack board from Get Real Issue #2 are, on the left, the small purple sticker from the Hardees Ghostbusters II promotion, "Goo E Ghost, Purple Ghost" sticker.
    • On Page 15, on the brown tack board, on the left, below it, is the grab of an episode of "Top Cats" seen in Ghostbusters II framed on an office wall when Peter talks to Norman in Chapter 2 "World of the Psychic"
    • On Page 15, on the bottom right, a Ray's Occult Business Card.
    • On Page 18, in panel 1, part of the Vigo painting is seen.
    • On Page 19, in panel 3, part of the Vigo painting is seen.
  • In Ghostbusters: Get Real #4:
    • On Page 5, in panel 2, once again, on the right is the Jump Bug arcade.
    • On Page 13, the Nintendo Advantage Controller used for the Statue of Liberty appears on the console.
  • In Ghostbusters Annual 2015:
    • On the Regular Cover, Peter is wearing the outfit from Chapter 2 "World of the Psychic" and he is doing the telepathic sign off salute he did at the end of the episode of The World of the Psychic.
    • On Page 3, the construction gear exactly worn by the Ghostbusters is part of what Peter, Ray, and Egon wore in Ghostbusters II when they dug up First Avenue. Peter had an orange vest with two white vertical lines and helmet with the No Bozo sticker on the side. Ray had an orange vest and helmet with a mounted search light. Egon had an orange vest with two vertical lines and helmet with a black label on the front.
    • On Page 8, in the Ecto-Goggle POV, one of the readings is "1989 MHz" - a possible nod to Ghostbusters II, which released in 1989.
    • On Page 10, in panel 2, the long strip of white paper is the art on the New Ghostbusters 2 video game cartridge.
    • On Page 11, in panel 1 is the periodic table first seen in Ghostbusters II
    • On Page 11, in panel 3, on the brown tack board is a Ghostbusters II theater ad and the back of the box of the Ghostbusters II Activision video game.
    • On Page 19, in panel 2, to the upper left of Egon is his "Epidiymus" line in the second movie.
    • On Page 19, in panel 2, left of Egon's boots is "Thai Mexican," two ideas Egon proposed to Ray for take out as they analyzed the photographs of Vigo in the second movie.
    • On Page 19, in panel 2, in the lower right is a nod to Egon admitting to straightening part of a slinky to Ray in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 41, the episode seen in Ghostbusters II is revealed to be the 32nd and penultimate one.
    • On Page 41, panel 3 is a recreation of the scene in Ghostbusters II Chapter 2 "World of the Psychic" when Peter comments on Elaine's Valentine's Day 2016 prediction.
    • On Page 42, Ira is the reason Peter quit The World of the Psychic. In Ghostbusters II, Peter showed Ira off before he signed off.
  • In Ghostbusters International #1:
    • On Page 8, in panel 2, the country placard by Winston is for Moldovia, a country that comes up in regard to Vigo.
    • On Page 13, in panel 2, on the coat rack is Janine's white leopard coat from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 13, in panel 4, the note on the computer references Louis Tully.
    • On Page 15, in panel 1, under the traffic signal is a two way ad, on the left is the Hardee's Ghostbusters II Slimer Sundae.
    • On Page 15, Peter is wearing his blue sweatshirt and Ray is wearing his red shirt, tan vest combo from Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters International #2:
    • On Page 4, in panel 1, the frames are the Nakia and Top Cat lobby cards seen on the wall in Chapter 2 "World of the Psychic" when Peter comes out of the doorway talking to Norman near the 10:51 mark.
    • On Page 5, in panel 2, the frames on the wall have scenes from the movies such as Louis Tully as Ghostbuster in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 11, Ray's Occult Books' neighbors St. Mark's Deli and Manic appear in panel 1.
    • On Page 11, left of Kylie's elbow is a Ghostbusters II pin
    • On Page 11, Milton Angland appears right of the Wolf Van Shandor sign and Elaine appears on the far right below the lion statue.
    • On Page 11, in panel 4, to Kylie's left is the Vigo tapestry after it shows the Ghostbusters and Oscar at the end of Ghostbusters II. Only Egon is visible.
    • On Page 22, in Ray's locker is his reading glasses from Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters International #3:
    • On Page 19, in panel 3, on far left corner, there is a yellow crumpled Ray's Occult Books paper bag by the console.
  • In Ghostbusters International #4:
    • On Page 16, in panel 4, the poster on the right is 'No Bozos' from Peter's construction helmet.
    • On Page 20, the scene is reminiscent of the Manhattan Museum of Art being covered in Psychomagnotheric Slime.
  • In Ghostbusters International #5:
    • On Page 12, Peter alludes to Dana Barrett who worked as an art restorer.
  • In Ghostbusters International #7:
    • On Page 17, Loftur mentions Ray's Occult Books.
    • On Page 17, in panel 6, on the TV is a still from the Ghostbusters II Game Boy video game.
    • On Page 23, Vigo is mentioned and it is revealed there is a River of Mood Slime under Las Vegas like with Manhattan.
  • In Ghostbusters International #8:
    • On the Regular Cover, in the lower right corner is a reference to former New York City Mayor La Guardia.
    • On Page 1, in panel 3, Peter has a black The World of the Psychic coffee mug.
    • On Page 17, in panel 2, the Vigo portrait appears.
    • On Page 17, in panel 2, a Polarity Rectification Tripod from Ghostbusters II, as seen recently up for auction in June 2016, on top of the wooden closet.
  • In Ghostbusters International #9:
    • On Page 1, in panel 1, Peck's framed article "BUFO Hires Peck and Hardemeyer" is still up on the wall.
    • On Page 2, Janine mentions she and Jenny came from a bust at Gracie Mansion.
    • On Page 4, Winston mentions his encounter with the Ghost Train in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 5, when Peter is assaulted, he responds with his "Dah!" line from the investigation of the library stacks in Ghostbusters.
    • On Page 20, on panel 2, on the far right on the computer screen is a still from the Ghostbusters II Activision video game's Broadway level.
  • In Ghostbusters International #10:
    • On Page 14, in panel 2, on the top screen is Vigo.
    • On Page 16, the arcade on the left is Jump Bug from Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters International #11:
    • On Page 1, in panel 2, Mike appears to be Restaurant Cop No.1 from Armand's Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 2, like in Ghostbusters II, Ray and Winston are wearing the Slime Blowers.
    • On Page 20, in panel 3, Peter plays with a Slinkie - a nod to a line about Egon's childhood in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 20, in panel 4, on the board is the McDonald's Canada tray liner advertising the second movie in 1989 of Ecto-1a by the Firehouse
    • On Page 20, behind Egon as he takes off the analyzer colander is the Latent Image Sensor, a piece of equipment seen briefly in the first montage of Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 21, Winston alludes to the Ghostbusters Mug from Ghostbusters II
  • In Ghostbusters Annual 2017:
    • On the Story So Far Page, the court case in Ghostbusters II is mentioned.
    • On Page 8, in panel 2, Winston alludes to First Avenue and its appearance in Ghostbusters II
    • On Page 8, in panel 3, Erik notes the fans have asked - a nod to a long standing mystery of where Winston went after he appeared at the beginning of the court case in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 9, in panel 1, a scene from the start of Ghostbusters II Chapter 10 is recreated from when Egon mentions the judge's nickname "The Hammer," including a cameo from Judge Wexler, the man who walks past the plaintiff's table, the officer who hands Wexler a sheet, and part of the Stenographer.
    • On Page 9, in panel 2, Winston alludes to Louis Tully.
    • On Page 9, in panel 3, Winston mentions Ray's discovery of the River of Slime.
    • On Page 9, in panel 3, the officer on the right is the first cop who questioned the digging of First Avenue in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 12, Winston mentions the doors to the courtroom being jammed. This was likely the point when the Ghostbusters and Louis convinced Judge Wexler to drop the charges against them.
    • On Page 23, Ron's coffee mug has the Ghostbusters II No Ghost logo.
    • On Page 31, in panel 3, the animated toaster is chained down.
    • On Page 44, in panel 2, the painting of the Ghostbusters and Oscar from the end of Ghostbusters II is hung by Kylie's door.
  • In Ghostbusters 101 Issue #1:
    • On the Subscription Cover A, the cover is a homage to "Back to the Future" and in place of the DeLorean is the Ecto-1a. An original and alternate version of the cover initially appeared with March solicitations that had Ecto-1a's front shown originally or the ATC Ecto-1 respectively. The original version was shown in solicits and Diamond's Previews January issue.
      • The phone number on Ecto-1a sports an extra "0" after "JL"
    • On Page 7, in panel 2, on the table are a Slinkie and toaster - nods to Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 7, Ray has on his pair of glasses from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 8, in panel 1, in the box on the armchair, is the Ghostbusters II Soundtrack CD longbox back cover.
    • On Page 9, in panel 2, behind Egon, is part of the Vigo portrait can be seen.
    • On Page 9, in panel 3, the Ghostbusters II Poster Book is on the shelf above Peter's head.
    • On Page 24, mentioned are Vigo, the Psychomagnotheric Slime, and Vigo's bond to the slime in Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters 101 Issue #2:
    • On Page 6, in panel 2, the prop ghost from the commercial in Ghostbusters II appears.
    • On Page 6, in panel 3, Ray's "Throw 'em" line is used like in the Ghostbusters II 2/27/89 draft when he directs everyone to shoot the slime shell around the Manhattan Museum of Art.
    • On Page 7, in panel 2, Ray's Occult Books is featured. Ray has on his civies he wore while at the store in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 8, in panel 2, Kevin is holding a Ghostbusters Mug from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 9, in panel 5, the bottom half of the Vigo painting appears.
    • On Page 12, in panel 1, on the bottom left monitor screen is a still of the Park Productions 2007 remake of the Ghostbusters II Video Game's level 2 of the Statue of Liberty walking with several Slimers in its path.
  • In Ghostbusters: Funko Universe:
    • On Page 2, Peter wears his blue sweater from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 3, Ray wears his civies from Ray's Occult and Janine has her black overall skirt and hair-do from Ghostbusters II. In panel 3, Ray has a Ghostbusters Mug from Ghostbusters II. In panel 6, there is some Psychomagnotheric Slime in a beaker.
  • In Ghostbusters 101 Issue #3:
    • On Page 12, in panel 3, Holtzmann is looking at a Giga Meter. In panel 3, on the left, on the middle shelf is a Ghostbusters II promotional theater cup from Australia.
    • On Page 16, in panel 1, on the right on the screen is a grab from the opening cutscene in the Ghostbusters II Atari video game of Dana holding Oscar in a panic.
    • On Page 20, panel 1, Kevin Beckman is playing with a Slinkie - a nod to Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 24, in the Psychomagnotheric ectoplasm section, Vigo is mentioned. The animating bullet point lists statues and toasters - a nod to when a toaster and the Statue of Liberty were animated in Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters 101 Issue #4:
    • On the Regular Cover, on the right side of the map is the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, where the Ghost Jogger was trapped.
    • On the Subscription Cover, Ray is wearing a charcoal flightsuit and Janine is wearing an outfit from Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 6, in panel 1, Kylie alludes to Ray's Occult Books. In panel 2, on the top shelf are the items from Ghostbusters II as they appear when Peter talks to Ray about the bathtub attack. In panel 2, on the right are jars of Psychomagnotheric Slime like in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 23, Egon's lines about the Proton Packs' power cells having a half life of 5000 years and the packs not being a toy are quoted in the bullet points.
  • In Ghostbusters 101 Issue #5:
    • On the Subscription Cover, near the vehicles are Psychomagnotheric Slime and the Animated Toaster.
    • On Page 3, in panel 4, Garrett has on the blue cap from Lobby Card No. 7. Evan has on the cap Ray wore in Chapter 14. In panel 4, the white diode panel by Evan can also be seen in Lobby Card No. 7. In panel 5, Kylie is using the KUD Meter. In panel 5, on top of the shelving are the Slime Blower guns as they appeared in Chapter 14.
    • On Page 4, on the upper right corner of cork board is a contest to win a family trip to Hollywood offered in Australia in 1989 through Ghost in a Can by Coca Cola and BP.
    • On Page 7, Patty mentions Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.
    • On Page 12, Erin alludes to Ray's Occult Books.
    • On Page 23, Ray's Occult is mentioned again.
  • In Ghostbusters 101 Issue #6:
    • On Page 1, the issue opens at Washington Square Arch, a location briefly seen during the second montage.
    • On Page 2, one of the cadets has the standard Slime Blower on.
    • On Page 11, the Coming Soon advertisement references Will and Hank Deutschendorff, who portrayed Oscar and went into a career in martial arts. On the right, under Pequod's is the Movieland Theater, seen in the second montage.
    • On Page 18, the fifth image is from Chapter 8 "Down the Shaft" when Ray is first lowered above the River of Slime. Patty appears in place of Ray. The eighth image is from Chapter 24 "A Harbor Chick" when the team looks out from the head of the Statue of Liberty. Holtzmann, Patty, and Abby appear in place of Peter, Winston, and Ray. The tenth image is from Ghostbusters II Chapter 28 "World is Safe Again" of the 'cleaned' Vigo portrait. The ATC team and Kevin, with his saxophone, appear in place of the other team and Oscar.
    • On Page 19, Peter alludes to when he, Egon, and Winston blasted the Vigo portrait.
  • In Ghostbusters: Answer The Call Issue #1:
    • On Page 7, in panel 2, the toaster atop the shelf appears to be a nod to the Dancing Toaster.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #1:
    • The Cover RE Heroes & Fantasies is a nod to the end of Ghostbusters II. The Ninja Turtles are in the painting instead of the guys. Peter is in his charcoal flightsuit from the second movie and quotes his Fettucini line.
    • On Page 2, Ray fires the Slime Blower on a woman being attacked by a ghost to prevent possession.
    • On Page 3, on panel 4, the Ghostbusters II logo sticker appears to be based on the one offered by Red Bubble.
    • On Page 11, in panel 1, on the left side of the cork board is the New York News newspaper from the end of New Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 18, in panel 2, Donatello is holding the Globuscope.
    • On Page 20, in panel 3, the sprites of Peter, Winston, and Ray are from New Ghostbusters II.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #2:
    • On Page 5, in panel 2, on the four screens are stills from Ghostbusters II Game Boy.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #3:
    • On Page 1, Bronson's warning about intensely negative vibes could be in reference to psychomagnotheric energy, the subject of Ghostbusters II.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #5:
    • On Page 17, Ray wears Ray Bans sunglasses and Egon wears flip down shades on his glasses like in the first montage of Ghostbusters II during the Orrefors case.
  • In Ghostbusters: Answer The Call Issue #3:
    • On Cover A, a book references Janosz Poha's line "He's Vigo!" from Chapter 25, "NYC Slime" alludes to Psychomagnotheric Slime, and "Carpathian Legends" alludes to Vigo.
  • In Ghostbusters Annual 2018:
    • On Cover B, between Kylie and Peter are Ray, Melanie, and Winston in the charcoal flight suits and each has a Slime Blower.
    • On Page 3, Peter, Ray, and Egon are in their construction outfits.
    • On Page 25, on the table are the 2 jars of Psychomagnotheric Slime.
    • On Page 28, Winston alludes to when they animated the Statue of Liberty.
  • In Ghostbusters Crossing Over #1:
    • On Cover A, Ecto-1a appears.
    • On Page 8, Winston gets the Chinatown Client out of Peter's way sort of like with Janosz.
    • On Page 18, in panel 2, on Janine's desk are Ghostbusters II business cards.
  • In Ghostbusters Crossing Over #2:
    • On Page 3, in panel 6, on the two green screens are from stage 1 of the Ghostbusters II Game Boy.
    • On Page 4, in panel 2, in the top right part of the drink case is a 1989 Ghost in a Can England Ghostbusters II promotion with the Slimer side facing outwards.
    • On Page 20, the Ghostbusters of Dimension 35-N are a version of the Ghostbusters and Slimer based on the sprites from New Ghostbusters II appears.
    • On Page 21, the version of Vigo from the Real Ghostbusters' dimension 68-R is mentioned.
  • In Ghostbusters: Answer The Call Issue #5:
    • On Cover A, one of Peter's line "Hairless pets. Weird." in the episode of The World of the Psychic is quoted. Ira, who appeared at the end, makes a cameo.
  • In Ghostbusters Crossing Over #4:
    • On Cover B, Vigo and the Psychomagnotheric Slime appears.
  • In Ghostbusters Crossing Over #5:
    • On Cover B, the Ghostbusters II patch is on Abby's flight suit.
    • On Page 2, in panel 3, the 80-C Slimer has on a hat like Slimer wore at the end of Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters Crossing Over #6:
    • On Page 21, it's mentioned Janosz is a former thrall of Vigo.
  • In Ghostbusters Crossing Over #8:
    • On Cover B, Ray, Egon, and Peter are in the charcoal flightsuits and Ray has the Giga Meter.
  • In Ghostbusters IDW 20/20:
    • On the Dramatis Personae, Janosz, Vigo and the events of Vigo taking control of Janosz is mentioned.
    • On Page 10, Egon scans Alan's flightsuit with a Giga Meter.
    • On Page 20, the SOS Ghostbusters trigger a city-wide blackout, like the original team did in Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 24, Vigo alludes to Janosz and the events of Ghostbusters II.
    • On Page 25, Alan mentions Janosz.
  • In Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Ghostbusters:
    • On Cover RE are Vigo and the Scoleri Brothers.
    • On Page 3, the Psychomagnotheric Slime is stored in a jar. In front of Ray on the table is a Ghostbusters II mug from Colorolls. On the top shelf behind Egon are the spare Slime Blower nozzles. Above Ray's head, on the computer screen is a screen grab from Ghostbusters II Game Boy level 1.
    • On Page 5, panel 2, the No Bozo sticker from Peter's construction helmet is on the black device right of the slime jar.
    • On Page 7, Ivan Reitman and two men from Chapter 16 "Vigo 101" once again appear outside the Firehouse almost like their cameo.
    • On Page 8, at the entrance of Penn Station is a Libby's Coffee Shop, seen when the hole in First Avenue is made.
    • On Page 10, in panel 4, the left most frame on the wall is the Ghostbusters II ad that portrayed the Ghostbusters atop the Statue of Liberty.
    • On Page 15, in panel 1 is a Ghostbusters balloon. Janine stands in front of the Vigo portrait. In panel 4, in the background is Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty.
  • In Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron Issue #1:
    • On the Con Cover, Ectotron holds up a behinds the scene photo from Ghostbusters II with Ivan Reitman, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and Dan Aykroyd posing in front of Ecto-1a.
  • In Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron Issue #3:
    • On Page 4: Peter has his mug from The World of the Psychic
    • On Page 8, in panel 3, Janine presents a Ghostbusters II memo.
  • In Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron Issue #4:
    • On Page 15, Peter alludes to the power outage Ray caused.
  • In Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron Issue #5:
    • On Page 11, Ray mentions the Statue of Liberty and the team animating it in Ghostbusters II.
  • In Ghostbusters Year One Issue #2:
    • On Page 1, Bob's precognitive dream is of the events of Ghostbusters II and he alludes to Vigo and Oscar.
    • On Page 19, the main source of the books in Ray's Occult is revealed to be from the New York Public Library's occult collection. Rebecca suggests he open a bookstore, foreshadowing the founding of Ray's Occult.
  • In Ghostbusters Year One Issue #3:
    • On Page 20, Peter mentions he's got a meeting to talk to his agent about TV, a nod to and foreshadowing The World of the Psychic.
  • In Ghostbusters Year One Issue #4:
    • On Cover B is a Slinkie, a nod to Egon's anecdote in Ghostbusters II Chapter 5: Investigating Oscar.
    • On Cover RI is Janine is in her dress from Chapter 16: Vigo 101, Egon is in his vest and tie from Chapter 1: Start, on the wall is the Vigo portrait, and Egon is holding the Ghostbusters Mug. The dress and mug only appear in the solicit version of the cover.

References in Ghostbusters: Afterlife[]

  • The Animated Toaster and its product box was going to make a cameo in the kitchen of the Farmhouse but the scene was cut out.[227][228][229]
  • A Ghostbusters Mug was also going to appear but the cameo was deleted.
  • The Ecto-1a that Sony had in a storage container was one of the cars used to build Ecto-1 in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.[230]
    • There was an Ecto-1a license plate atop a cubby-hole inside the barn but the cameo wasn't shown in the movie.[231]
  • The Napier Theatre advertises a screening of Cannibal Girls.
  • There is a straightened Slinky on Phoebe Spengler's night stand in her apartment bedroom in Chicago, a callback to Egon's line in about straightening part of one in his childhood.[232]
  • To Phoebe's left, when she opens the locker and sees the Uniforms, there is a Slinky. It disappears in one shot, then reappears in the next.
  • The Giga Meter has a brief cameo when Egon's ghost shows Phoebe his wall for framed diplomas.
  • The ominous scene of Trevor Spengler, Phoebe, and Podcast looking at the Shandor Mining Company's mountain after trapping Muncher and realizing there's a connection mirrors when Egon, Ray, and Winston came up from the sewers in Ghostbusters II and realize the River of Slime was flowing to the Manhattan Museum of Art.
  • Ray's Occult Books appears in the movie. Ray still owns and operates it as of June 2021. It is revealed Winston covers the rent.
  • Callie Spengler downplays her date with Gary Grooberson, saying "it's just dinner" like when Dana Barrett downplayed her date with Peter in Ghostbusters II.
  • The ribbon cable on the Proton Packs used by Peter, Ray, and Winston indicate they are from the Ghostbusters II era.
  • Peter stalls Gozer by heckling and rambling.

References in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed[]

  • In Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed:
    • Ray is dressed based on his appearance in Ray's Occult Books in Ghostbusters II.
    • In Act 1 Scene 1, Ray alludes to thee psychomagnotheric event from Ghostbusters II.
    • In the Firehouse:
      • On the book cart near Ecto-1 in the garage bay is a yellow safety helmet like the ones used in Ghostbusters II.
      • Dana Barrett's snow globe from Ghostbusters II is in the back office area near the printer. Dana is mentioned in the item description, "A charming little trinket that used to belong to Dana. She probably doesn't even know it's gone, let alone at the firehouse."
      • In the basement, on the floor is a box of Happy New Year party hats like the ones worn by Janosz Poha and Dana Barrett at the end of Ghostbusters II, first seen in Chapter 24: A Harbor Chick.
      • On the second floor pool table is the Animated Toaster.
      • One of the arcades on the second floor is Jump Ghost based on Jump Bug seen in in Chapter 13: Mood Slime.
      • By the dartboard is a box of kids birthday party hats like the ones at the start of Ghostbusters II in Chapter 1: Start.
    • After the Act 1 Scene 3 cutscene, Eddy Chan mentions the Giga meter is too expensive to build more of.
    • If you talk to Winston when he is standing in front of Ecto-1 in the Firehouse, he will mention he hasn't been able to step foot on a subway since 1989 and alludes to the Ghost Train encounter from the second movie.[233]
    • The Disruptor Pylons are based on the Polarity Rectification Tripods.[234]
    • Added on April 20, 2023, the Sewer Explorer Suit and Hard Headed helmet are a nod to the outfit worn by Egon, Ray, and Winston in Chapter 17-18 when they go underground. The summary for the suit even references the "somebody's gotta go down there" line from when Ray is elected to go down the First Avenue hole earlier in the movie in Chapter 6.
    • The S.C.Y. County Courthouse was the development team's attempt to bring in something iconic and recreate the feel of Ghostbusters II.[235]
    • In the Firehouse sub-basement, there is a Slime Blower. The description mentions the Psychomagnotheric slime references the Ghostbusters animating the Statue of Liberty. The Giga Meter is on a work bench, too.
    • The second Tobin page involves an incident where Tobin rode a carriage animated by Psychomagnotheric slime.

References in Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord[]

  • In the story trailer, released on June 1, 2023, the March 1, 2022 edition of Strange Times Radio alludes to Vigo. A line asks if you are concerned about paintings of Carpathian sorcerers.
  • One of the female character outfits includes a Ray's Occult Books shirt.
  • One of the female character outfits is based on the outfit Janine wears in the Firehouse in Chapter 16: Vigo 101.
  • One of Ronald Petnick's lines in the San Francisco Wastewater Treatment Facility has mention of when Egon, Peter, and Ray dug up First Avenue.[236]
  • During the Sewers' Exorcism mission, the sight of the sewer chamber loosely resembles the river of Psychomagnotheric Slime in Ghostbusters II.
  • In the Ghost Lord Battle mission, the voice of Gustav Hookfaber mentions how negativity harnessed in San Francisco is an unstoppable force just like in New York.[237]
  • The dark flightsuit was added in the Slimer Hunt DLC update on January 31, 2024.
  • In the Slimer Hunt mission, there is a secret room on the second floor of Hookfaber Mansion where the Vigo portrait is located.

Errors[]

  • The Ecto-2 license plate is on Ecto-1a when Peter is waiting outside his apartment for a taxi cab.
  • In the overhead shot of the apartment When Dana is trying to rescue Oscar, a taxi cab on the street passes a white truck. When Janosz gets closer to the apartment, the taxi does the same thing, meaning that stock footage was reuse and edited.

Theatrical Releases[]

Statistics are from The Numbers,[238] which was found first on Proton Charging (Fan Site).[239]


Date Rank Gross Theaters Per Theater Total Gross Days
June 16, 1989 1 $29,472,894 2,410 $12,229 $29,472,894 3
June 23, 1989 3 $13,854,623 2,410 $5,749 $58,765,089 10
June 30, 1989 4 $8,808,778 2,410 $3,655 $73,646,467 17
July 7, 1989 4 $5,265,962 2,315 $2,275 $85,520,592 24
July 14, 1989 7 $4,335,272 1,978 $2,192 $93,170,796 31
July 21, 1989 9 $2,883,671 1,758 $1,640 $98,489,868 38
September 1, 1989 20 $656,346 518 $1,267 $110,000,794 80

At the end of the domestic theatrical run, the film grossed over $112 million.[240]

Criticism[]

The film received flack when released for not being as funny as Ghostbusters and having a plot that seemed to be mainly a rehash of the original's. It was also said to not be very child friendly due to the scary ghosts in it. Also, there were complaints that Janine Melnitz having a love affair with Louis Tully was not good for children to see and that it destroyed the relationship developed in the first movie between Egon Spengler and Janine and as it ran through the animated series. Because of this it forced a split in the timeline of the franchise into two canons, one based on the films, and one based on the first film and the animated series. Ivan Reitman disagrees with Bill Murray being quoted saying the story suffered at the expense of too much special effects and cites not getting the last act, with the Statue of Liberty, right. He felt they couldn't top the ending of the first movie but none the less made a worthy sequel.[241][242]

Influence on The Real Ghostbusters[]

The Real Ghostbusters kept the Ghostbusters franchise in the public sphere and thus, in part influenced the making of Ghostbusters II. The inclusion of Slimer was also influenced by The Real Ghostbusters. The only influence The Real Ghostbusters had on Ghostbusters II was bringing Slimer back.[243]

There were some nods to the movie in later episodes of The Real Ghostbusters. While not all details are known, it is certain a version of Ghostbusters II did happen in the animated continuity.

  • "Something's Going Around"
    • This episode featured another new look for Janine. This time, her hairstyle matched that of her look in Ghostbusters II.
    • This episode marks Louis Tully's first appearance in the series, and he is already working for the Ghostbusters.
    • However, as noted by Egon[244] and Janine[245] in the episode, it isn't suggested the Ghostbusters ever went out of business and they have been in business for years. This could contradict the beginning of Ghostbusters II and suggests things happen slightly differently in the animated continuity.
  • "Partners in Slime"
    • The Mood Slime from the Ghostbusters II is what the Ghostbusters cover Peter in. In this episode, it's yellow, not pink like in the movie. Egon said he collected it last year right after he and the other Ghostbusters defeated Vigo the Carpathian.[246]
    • The traits of the slime are different in animation. It is used to grant Peter the abilities of a ghost. When Peter gets angry, it turns red and grows tentacles.
  • "Mean Green Teen Machine"
    • The Mean Green Teen Machine slime the Statue of Liberty temporarily bringing her to life, very similar to a major part of Ghostbusters II which came out the year before.
    • Winston and Egon talk about the aftermath of the events in Ghostbusters II. Winston says, "Remember what happened the last time we dug up the street?"[247]
    • Although Winston was not involved in that incident in the movie. This also could imply Winston was part of the incident in the animated canon.
    • Egon implies the River of Slime was pumped out in a few days time.[248]
  • "The Treasure of Sierra Tamale"
    • While explaining the way to defeat Quetzalcoatl, Egon uses the "Psychomagnotheric" term first coined in Ghostbusters II.[249][250]
  • "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters"
    • The term "Psychomagnotheric" is used for the second time on The Real Ghostbusters in this episode.[251]

Versions and Releases of Ghostbusters II[]

Home Movie Releases[]

Usually over the years, Ghostbusters II was released with Ghostbusters in the DVD box sets. Unlike Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II never included deleted scenes or production images or even interviews based on the movie.

Sony had announced at Comic-Con 2008 that the Blu-ray version of the film along with Ghostbusters was to be released on October 21, 2008, which got delayed to June 18, 2009. For whatever reason, plans for a Blu-ray version of Ghostbusters II didn't happen. On March 21, 2012, Dan Aykroyd announced via Twitter that "GB2 on Blu-ray - it's definitely coming out (with some extras/commentary)." [252] It has yet to be officially announced and released.

To read more on Home movie releases of the film go to Ghostbusters Home Video Releases

Edited-For-Television Version[]

GB2 ABC Promo 2-16-1992

In the United States, Ghostbusters II premiered on the ABC television network on Sunday February 16, 1992 at 9:00 PM Eastern as part of "The ABC Sunday Night Movie" series. The movie ran, with commercials, until 11:15 PM. In the "edited for television" version, Peter's line "There seem to be three million completely miserable assholes living in the tri-state area." was replaced with the alternate take, "There are about three million completely miserable wretched walking worms in this town."


Foreign Markets[]

Press Kit[]

See Ghostbusters II Electronic Press Kit

Notes[]

  1. According to a private email exchange with Troy Benjamin on May 17, 2023 based on known call sheets, "Tuesday March 7th, 1989 was officially the wrap of main unit principal photography. They were supposed to be done on March 3rd but had to add days the week following. March 7th was a rushed day shooting nearly three pages of script where they filmed basically the entirety of the Chloe Webb/Kevin Dunn World of the Psychic scene."
  2. According a private email exchange with Troy Benjamin on May 17, 2023 based on known call sheets, "Then, yes - technically second unit was still running past that point and had both NYC and LA shooting scheduled for the end of March and beginning of April. They were out in NYC March 29 through the 31st. The last thing scheduled for the 31st being the reshoot of Dana and Peter waiting for a cab to go to dinner when the Ecto pulls up. March 30th according to the one line schedule they were shooting Van Horne/subway elements, but knowing how rushed and guerilla things were, it's possible they also picked off the Washington Square stuff that night with a splinter unit too. April 4th they were shooting on Stage 15. Hardemeyer's office, some buggy inserts, and a pick-up for the bathtub sequence. Then on April 5th, also at Burbank for the darkroom fire and some more "NYC" exteriors on the Burbank lot (more runaway buggy inserts and a shot of a storefront window playing the commercial that never made it into the film). April 5th's call sheet lists the advance schedule as "At a Theater Near You - June 16th" with a thank you. Usually a good sign of a wrap. So that's the end for second unit."
  3. According a private email exchange with Troy Benjamin on May 17, 2023 based on known call sheets, "There were two days of "Additional Scenes" scheduled for April 27th and May 1st. April 27th was the new scene in the mayor's conference room in the article and the pier office with Cheech. May 1st was in the Restoration Room filming a couple adds including Dana being wrapped up by the vacuum hose, some stunt work, and a few other elements to the Vigo battle. Then funny enough, there's day 3 of 2 filmed on May 2nd. Completing things they didn't accomplish on the 1st. Funnier still, most of the main cast was wrapped out and they shot day 4 of 2 on Wednesday May 3rd. More Vigo battle shots they had to clean up."

References[]

  1. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 118. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Dan Aykroyd says: "[The studio] wanted to do it immediately, but everybody had other things going on in their lives."
  2. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 118. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Ivan Reitman says: "Really, it was that we didn't want to do it. For the longest period we just found no reason. We felt very happy with the first film, and we all had other things we wanted to do."
  3. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 75. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "December 1984 gossip columns suggested the sequel might revolve around the "franchise outlets" briefly mentioned in the first movie. In response, the filmmakers would only confirm that a sequel was being discussed."
  4. Goldstein, Patrick (June 1, 1989). "Return of the Money Making Slime" Rolling Stone #553, page 54. Wenner Media LLC, New York City, New York, USA. Line reads: "When David Puttnam became head of Columbia Studios in 1986, he showed a noted lack of enthusiasm for Ghostbusters II, to the point of considering making the film with a new, and lower-salaried, cast. Specifically, he was not eager to employ Murray."
  5. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 96. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "In fact, there was a point during Puttnam's tenure when Columbia executives in New York circumnavigated their chairman and tried to establish a secret deal for Ghostbusters II. They suggested Reitman tie the film to an independent corporate entity created specifically for the sequel, thereby shielding it entirely from Puttnam. This plan never came to fruition because Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and the other figureheads couldn't line up their schedules."
  6. Lowry, Brian (1986). "Return of The Real Ghostbusters" Starlog #111 (October 1986), page 11 and 69. Starlog Group, Inc, USA. Line reads: "Producers of the animated series are also undaunted by "word on the street" that Aykroyd, between his other projects, is working on a script for "Ghostbusters II". "If there is a sequel, we have no problem with it", Straczynski maintains."
  7. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 101. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Dan Aykroyd completed the first Ghostbusters II script by himself in September 1986."
  8. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 118. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Other factors that led to a lack of focus included British film producer David Puttnam, who took control of Columbia Pictures in 1986. Puttnam had no interest in green-lighting a sequel to Ghostbusters...When Dawn Steel, former vice president of production at Paramount, replaced Puttnam as head of Columbia in 1987, she made Ghostbusters II a priority."
  9. Goldstein, Patrick (June 1, 1989). "Return of the Money Making Slime" Rolling Stone #553, page 54. Wenner Media LLC, New York City, New York, USA. Dawn Steel says: "When I was being interviewed for this job, one of the first things we talked about was the Ghostbusters sequel and getting it off the ground."
  10. Goldstein, Patrick (June 1, 1989). "Return of the Money Making Slime" Rolling Stone #553, page 55. Wenner Media LLC, New York City, New York, USA. Line reads: "The lunch was in a back room at Jimmy's, a Beverly Hills showbiz restaurant. In attendance were Murray; Ramis and Aykroyd (who would write the sequel); Reitman (who'd again direct); Ovitz; and Ray Kurtzman, CAA's head of business affairs."
  11. Goldstein, Patrick (June 1, 1989). "Return of the Money Making Slime" Rolling Stone #553, page 56. Wenner Media LLC, New York City, New York, USA. Bill Murray says: "But in the course of lunch we had so many laughs and so much fun that it became clear we'd really enjoy working together again."
  12. Bernard, Jami (July 1989). "Prime Slime with Ghostbusters" Fangoria #84, page 30. Fangoria Publishing, Atlanta, USA. Michael Gross says: "About $25 to $30 million. The stars are deferring their salaries in the interests of keeping the film reasonable."
  13. Goldstein, Patrick (June 1, 1989). "Return of the Money Making Slime" Rolling Stone #553, page 54. Wenner Media LLC, New York City, New York, USA. Line reads: "Seeing the spirit here, it's easy to forget that this is the set of a $30 million movie whose success this summer could give Columbia Pictures a much-needed dose of box-office credibility - and whose failure could deliver a knockout blow to the ice-cold studio."
  14. Goldstein, Patrick (June 1, 1989). "Return of the Money Making Slime" Rolling Stone #553, page 54. Wenner Media LLC, New York City, New York, USA. Line reads: "By keeping salaries to a minimum, Columbia has been able to make the film for close to $30 million. Studio sources say if the stars had taken their customary salaries up front, the film could have cost close to $50 million."
  15. Spelling, Ian (1989). "Bill Murray Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!" Starlog #140, page 32. Starlog Group, Inc, USA. Bill Murray says: "It's not going to be called Ghostbusters II. We'll burn in hell if we call it Ghostbusters II. I've suggested The Last of the Ghostbusters, to make sure there won't be anything like a Ghostbusters III."
  16. Spelling, Ian (1989). "Bill Murray Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!" Starlog #140, page 32. Starlog Group, Inc, USA. Bill Murray says: "Finally, Dan and Harold said, 'We've got some ideas here. What do you think?' We spent a couple of days talking, and they did have some amazing ideas for this story."
  17. Spelling, Ian (1989). "Bill Murray Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!" Starlog #140, page 32. Starlog Group, Inc, USA. Bill Murray says: "She's not even in the cartoon, so I don't know if she's going to be in the film. The original idea was that she would be in it. The ideas they sold me on to say, 'OK, let's do it,' are no longer in the script. Sigourney was one of those ideas."
  18. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 5. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "We started out with the moral notion that negative human emotions have consequences, and that in big cities like New York and Los Angeles bad vibes can build up. What we were working toward--and it took awhile for it to develop--was that it would get to the point where everybody in New York would have to be nice or else the city would be destroyed. We did not know by what at first, but eventually we created a tyrant motivating all of this--Vigo the Carpathian."
  19. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 5-6. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The second, was an effect I once thought about of an infant not yet able to walk who suddenly wakes up one day with adult agility and focus. I had originally thought o it as a horror story, but then I decided it was just too horrible for a movie. The baby idea did tie into something we were playing around with--that Bill and Sigourney had gotten married after the first movie and had a child and that it was going to be their child that got possessed. Having them married, however, proved to be a real dead end for us character-wise, so we dropped that notion. But we stayed with the baby and gave it a different father whom Dana had married and then divorced. Gradually, our story evolved. We came pretty far from our original ideas except for what we perceived to be the core of the film thematically--which was that negative and positive emotions affect the way we live."
  20. Alex Newborn YouTube recording of "Later with Bob Costas" June 15, 1989 Episode 6:29-6:53 mark Harold Ramis says: "We had a draft where we were very successful. We had a high-rise building, Ghostbusters Incorporated, a worldwide franchise. We had one where --a draft-- that picked up literally at the end of the first movie as we were driving away and we thought, 'Well let's give us something to fight against.' A goal. Getting back in business."
  21. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 102. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "Ramis spent some time scripting this iteration of Ghostbusters II by himself in early 1987 while Aykroyd filmed his version of Ken Kolb's satirical 1970 novel The Couch Trip. Then the pair hunkered down in Aykroyd's bungalow on the Universal Studios lot for rewrites. Initially they believed the infant targeted by Vigo should be the son of Dana Barrett and Bill Murray's Peter Venkman. Murray liked this angle; the opportunity to work again with Sigourney Weaver made Ghostbusters II especially attractive to him."
  22. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 106. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "At the behest of Murray, the writers booked time with innovative comedy scribe Elaine May. May did uncredited work on 1982's Tootsie that included creating the oddball character Murray plays; more recently, Murray had been impressed when May took just one night to entirely rescript and improve Scrooged."
  23. Greene, James, Jr., (2022). A Convenient Parallel Dimension: How Ghostbusters Slimed Us Forever, p. 106. Lyons Press, Essex, CT USA, ISBN 9781493048243. Line reads: "May read what Aykroyd and Ramis had for Ghostbusters II and spent six hours picking their brains."
  24. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 6. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "I explained that he was really too busy finishing Twins and that he was not as interested in other directors might be in the technical side of how effects are created. As it turned out, Ivan did in fact go up to shoot bluescreen for three days, but that was it. The schedule just wouldn't allow for anything more. But the communication between Ivan and Dennis was so good that it didn't matter."
  25. Spelling, Ian (1989). "Bill Murray Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!" Starlog #140, page 32. Starlog Group, Inc, USA. Line reads: "Filming, in fact, began at presstime, November 28."
  26. Bernard, Jami (July 1989). "Prime Slime with Ghostbusters" Fangoria #84, page 28. Fangoria Publishing, Atlanta, USA. Michael Gross says: "This story picks up after the last story," offers Gross at the Lady Liberty location, the last one before moving the tight 67-day shoot to Los Angeles for interiors."
  27. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 6. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The buggy ride was filmed at the beginning of the production during two weeks of location shooting in New York."
  28. Bernard, Jami (July 1989). "Prime Slime with Ghostbusters" Fangoria #84, page 28. Fangoria Publishing, Atlanta, USA. Line reads: "Lady Liberty is stalking up Fifth Avenue, and boy, is she big. As big as, say, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. "Bigger than Stay-Puft!" hisses a publicist protectively. It's a frigid night near Manhattan's Grand Army Plaza, and the same folks who brought you the megahit ectoplasmic comedy Ghostbusters are filming the piece de resistance FX scene of their sequel. Hundreds of bemittened extras search the skyline expectantly for Lady Liberty to appear looming over Trump Tower, ready to save the Free World from the River of Slime biding its time in the maze of New York's sewer system. Of course, you can't really see Lady Liberty. Two cameras from Industrial Light & Magic film an empty Fifth avenue at 2:00 a.m. while the extras sing their lungs out to the vacant air. Later, when they finish rotoscoping, animation, matte work and other trickery, it will look as if these 460 extras really saw something that night."
  29. Goldstein, Patrick (June 1, 1989). "Return of the Money Making Slime" Rolling Stone #553, page 54. Wenner Media LLC, New York City, New York, USA. Line reads: "For the past eight hours, Reitman, Murray and Sigourney Weaver have been sweating under the hot lights in this Toluca Lake location, near downtown L.A., trying to polish off a key scene for the movie Ghostbusters II, the summer's most anticipated comedy sequel. Darting from table to table in a white dress shirt and black slacks, Reitman looks more like a harried waiter than one of Hollywood's highest-priced comedy filmmakers, the director of Twins, Legal Eagles, Ghostbusters, Stripes, and Meatballs and the producer of Animal House. He ducks behind his video monitor and focuses on Murray and Weaver. Even with boom mikes lurking in the background, it's a cozy moment."
  30. Ghostbusters II (1999) DVD Production Notes Line reads: Principal photography was completed after 13 weeks of filming."
  31. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 25. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "We had the slime and Vigo and the ghosts that appear in New York, but we needed to tie them together better--at least that's what our early preview audience told us after our first cut. In fact, many people did not even understand the concept of good slime and bad slime originally, so we decided to reshoot part of that as well."
  32. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 23. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "En route they encounter some supernatural scares--first from a number of severed heads that suddenly appear around them, and then moments later from a mysterious ghost train. Both scenes were among several added to the film after principle photography had officially wrapped--a situation necessitating a return to New York for additional location shooting only three months before the film was set for release."
  33. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 25. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "At one point, we were going to try and come out July 4th weekend, but then Ivan decided June 23rd was the weekend that would really do it for us. It was going to be tough, but we said, 'Okay, let's go.' When we learned in the middle of production that Batman was also going to come out on the 23rd, Ivan said to the studio, 'It would make a huge difference if we could come out on the 16th, right?' And the studio said: 'We'd love you if you could come out on the 16th. Can you make it? 'Ivan said, 'Sure, we can make it.' Then he looked around the room, and [co-executive producer] Joe Medjuck and I were turning pale. Our editor, Shelley Kahn, I think fainted. We just looked at each other and said, 'Yeah, well, if you say we'll be out on the 16th, we'll be out on the 16th.' But on paper it did not look possible. On paper, it could not happen. It was a really killer. It meant the editing schedule had to be pushed back--and they were already dying. But we had to do it."
  34. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 25. Cinefex, USA. Dennis Muren says: "Originally, the film was going to come out at the beginning of July and it was going to entail one hundred and ten effects shots. Then it became a hundred and thirty shots and then it became a hundred and eighty. When the release date got moved up the the 16th, that was it. We peaked out at a hundred and eighty shots and we could not take any more without jeopardizing the whole film. Every time we would get involved in new shots, it would take my time away--others' time away--from following through on the shots that were already in progress. And the schedule was just so tight that we had to be on top of those shots all the time. The question we had to ask ourselves then was, 'Can we handle any extra shots and not have the quality suffer?' We already had nine units shooting every single day for three or four weeks just to get the original shots done, and there was no way we could take on any more and not have the quality suffer. Fortunately, Michael understood this. He kept saying: 'You've got to tell us when you've reached your limit. We're going to have to keep giving you shots, and at some point you've got to say, 'That's it.' So we did."
  35. Vas, M. & Duignan, P. (1996). Industrial Light & Magic: Into the Digital Realm, page 304. Industrial Light & Magic, USA. Dennis Muren says: "[With] two hundred effects shots in six months, it was very hard to organize and to maintain the ILM quality people expect from us. At one time we had nine crews shooting rubber ghosts, a river of slime, smoke clouds, the Slimer ghost character, and a walking Statue of Liberty."
  36. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 26. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "While Available Light and Visual Concept Engineering helped out with animation effects, Apogee was drafted to create the new sequences that had been added to the film after production had wrapped--including the ghost train encounter. For Apogee, this meant going to New York for ten days of plate photography and location work at the Tunnel--a nightclub that features several hundred feet of abandoned subway track."
  37. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 26. Cinefex, USA. Sam Nicholson says: "To help sell the scene, we used interactive lighting when we filmed the actors for the plate. We put a 10k light right up behind them and then we put three or four air cannons on the to make their hair blow. There was enough wind to blow Ernie's hat off. Then we blasted them with a bright live that was supposed to be coming from the train."
  38. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 26. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "For Apogee, this meant going to New York for ten days of plate photography and location work at the Tunnel--a nightclub that features several hundred feet of abandoned subway track."
  39. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Both the theater ghost and the Washington Square ghost featured background material shot by Apogee while they were in New York to film the ghost train plates. Like the ILM crew that had shot plates earlier in production, the Apogee team encountered the incredible street-level popularity of the Ghostbusters."
  40. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Peter Donen says: "We shot late at night, and while the call had gone our for about three hundred extras, somehow word got out that Ghostbusters was shooting and tow to three thousand people showed up. It was five in the morning in Washington Square and it was just pandemonium. The first take had about seven hundred and fifty people, the second had twelve hundred, and by the time we got to the third take there were thousands! Our Vistavision camera was set up in the middle of the scene and we had people flooding in from three different streets and underneath the arch. On cue, they all started screaming. Some climbed over cabs and others ran through traffic--and all of them ran right at us! At one point we had to jump in front of the camera to block them. It was like a riot. It was exactly as if King Kong were running rampant through New York and thousands of people were fleeing in terror."
  41. Cross the Streams Episode 40, 30:24 to 33:20, 5/20/14 David Margulies says: "And then once the filming started, there was a big shot when they started filming, of what is now the Museum of the American Indian. It was the old Custom House. It's just below Bowling Green in Manhattan. It's a fantastic building and all of the George Lucas people were around, whatever they were called. Industrial... Light & Magic. Right. All of them looked like painters. They were all college graduates who were art students. So they looked like Paris in the 20s. They were planning that people were going to go--ghosts were going to come through the building. Which was one of those massive stone buildings built in the 19th century, I mean amazing, you couldn't bring it down, you know, and I arrived there in this wonderful, cozy limo and, you know, they had maybe a thousand extras. It was an amazing scene. But then four weeks before it was released, it was being released to the summer, uh, it was a summer blockbuster, um, they found that Industrial Light & Magic could not make the ghosts convincingly go through the walls of the building. They were a month away so I got a call and we went out and shot a scene that was a substitute where I had a-I was talking to Fiorello La Guardia or something but it was by that time on Ghostbusters II, it was clear the atmosphere had soured."
  42. Ghostbusters HQ "Unsung Heroes: Ghostbusters II's Pastrami Sandwich Guy" 5/16/2023
  43. Yes Have Some Podcast Ep. 84 41:52-42:57 1/25/18 Kurt Fuller says: "I approached every audition with abject terror at the time. I will say this -- I'll tell you I was selling real estate at the time in Los Angeles, doing theater, and I did a play that was very successful and Harold Ramis' first wife came to see it eight times, okay. And she said, 'Harold, you gotta see this!' so he saw the play. And he came back and talked to me and, uh, said and arranged -- really, I owe this to Harold Ramis, may he rest in peace, uh, he arranged for me to read for a part, um, with Ivan Reitman. And I believe I don't know if it made it into the movie, it might of, I think it might have ended up played by Gilbert Gottfried. A desk catches on fire. Or it was a scene. I don't know, I can't remember."
  44. Yes Have Some Podcast Ep. 84 1:01:03-1:03:17 1/25/18 Kurt Fuller says: "When I was selling real estate in, uh, the Pacific Palisades and I had sold real estate for nine years. And did theater. Some of the greatest time of my life was working for nothing really."
  45. Yes Have Some Podcast Ep. 84 43:02-45:09 1/25/18 Kurt Fuller says: "But I think they shot it. I saw it on some other secret cut tape nobody seen or something. So you think you know everything. Uh, yeah, I know. I know. But then apparently, uh, I'm talking out of school but he won't mind. William Atherton wanted, I guess a whole bunch of money to do Ghostbusters II or they -- couldn't make a deal with him. Let's put it that way. A nice way is they couldn't make a deal with him, um, and so they -- Ivan Reitman thought of me from the previous audition so I didn't have to read for this part but I was -- was offered the part, you know. There was no negotiation for me. William Atherton, uh, was a , I mean, he had done some great stuff. This was one of my first jobs, except for the Hulk Hogan movie "No Holds Barred", you know, this was a big step up. Um, and I flied to New York. I don't think I'd been to New York. Uh, I'm staying at a big hotel. I'm completely overwhelmed. Completely overwhelmed. I-I-I think I've gone to Heaven. And then the next day I'm taken to the set. It's snowing -- and, uh, the first scene was uh, what finally what gets slimed -- I don't know what building they called it. The library? History -- uh, yeah, the museum, and I was supposed to go up there and it was with Bill Murray, ok, who I knew from Ghostbusters and Saturday Night Live, and I was -- I mean, he was a god to me and I was told just before the scene started - already, I'm shaking, I'm really shaking - 'Oh by the way if Bill Murray doesn't like you, uh, it's not gonna happen' "
  46. Yes Have Some Podcast Ep. 84 45:17-46:10 1/25/18 Kurt Fuller says: "So I went there and I, um, I overacted very, very badly and Bill went 'Uh, my goodness you're bringing a lot of energy to this.' He was trying to be nice. He was trying to be nice. Uh and Ivan came up to me and said 'Do less than you ever thought it was possible to do.' I said 'Oh, man. I'm so close to losing this job. So close to losing this job.' So I did less than I th--I thought I was almost somnolent. I thought I was sleepwalking. And they both went 'Great! Perfect!' So I kept the job and when I see it today, I was still overacting. That's how little I knew about, uh, film acting."
  47. Yes Have Some Podcast Ep. 84 47:35-47:56 1/25/18 Kurt Fuller says: "I was -- they did not get it done quickly. I was there, um, for like two months and then they -- this is the great thing about show business which I didn't understand. I didn't work for a month but they paid me the whole month. They had to pay me. Oh my God!"
  48. Yes Have Some Podcast Ep. 84 48:04-48:30 1/25/18 Kurt Fuller says: "Because there was one scene they wanted me to shoot over my shoulder, okay? They wouldn't do this anymore but they had so much money and it was Ghostbusters so they just wanted my shoulder and they paid me for a month and I came back and the camera was over my left shoulder and they guy at the camera goes, 'Nah, this doesn't work.' and they said 'Okay, we don't need you!' And I wasn't even in the shot but I got paid for a month."
  49. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 11. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The Scoleri brothers sequence was one of those nice discoveries. At one point we committed ourselves to having the Ghostbusters fight their way back to being Ghostbusters rather than starting out with them as successes. With this in mind, we were working toward a courtroom scene, but we did not know exactly what should happen there. Meanwhile, 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. The whole point of our trial was that the legal system of New York was completely skeptical of the supernatural. At some point, the idea of the courtroom and the Scoleri brothers came together. We thought, what better way to reinstate the Ghostbusters than at the moment of their sentencing to have two ghosts appear in the courtroom? It was one of those nice discoveries that brings ideas together and says what you want to say. It also connected with the notion that negative human emotions have an impact. The judge is angry--a tyrant in his own courtroom--and he pays the price."
  50. Aykroyd, Dan & Ramis, Harold (1988). Ghostbusters II (August 5, 1988 Draft) (Script p. 37). Line reads: "Big in life, even bigger in death, the ghostly Scoleri brothers seem ten feet tall."
  51. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 14. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "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."
  52. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 14. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "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. I began by generating some rough drawings in my very cartoony style, and then I involved a longtime friend and collaborator, Henry Mayo, to help me firm the concepts into something that was more realistic, yet still broad in intent. It seemed to me that the original draft of the script was 'monster shy' and the ghostly apparitions that did appear were very much of the see-through person variety. There was no marshmallow man, no terror dogs--just a variety of vaporous people.. I could not imagine a Ghostbusters movie without any creature-type ghosts, so I very consciously began pushing the concepts for the Scoleris into a broad caricature direction. I took my cues from the script and extrapolated my own interpretation along lines that I felt would represent the brothers' internal evilness rather than merely suggest what they looked like in life--hence the very exaggerated ghosts that appear in the movie. Both Ivan and Michael were enthusiastic about this approach, and so I hoped to generate further characters of this type of work progressed."
  53. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 14. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "Ultimately, the Scoleri brothers would be the first ghost designs in the show to be green-lighted."
  54. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 13. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To bring the Scoleris to life, Reitman and Gross turned to storyboard artist Thom Enriquez--another Ghostbusters veteran--to first lay out the basic action in the scene."
  55. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 13. Cinefex, USA. Thom Enriquez says: "On the first film I boarded the capture scene in the banquet room, and that was the toughest scene I had to do. I had the same problem with this--how do you make the action interesting in a room that has four walls and a ceiling? Also, Ivan was really busy finishing Twins, so he was not around a lot when I was boarding the scene. It became even more difficult when I was told that, because of time, the courtroom set was being built at the same time I was boarding the action and they needed the boards to match what the expense account could afford for special effects. For instance, there were only a certain number of chairs that could be thrown about in the scene because the rest were rented and they did not want to touch those. So I had to board the scene keeping in mind that I could use only fourteen chairs. I could also only blow up four pillars and break one wall of glass ."
  56. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 11 and 13. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "The Scoleri brothers we deliberately made slightly cartoonish in their design and actions. At one point Ivan got a little worried about this and asked me, 'Do you think we've gone over the top!' I said: 'We need it in the picture at this point. Given how scary some of the other sequences are, it would be good to go over the top with these characters.' I thought it would lighten the moment. It was the first time we saw full-scale ghosts in the film, and I thought we really needed them to be as wild as they were."
  57. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 14. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "As designed, Nunzio appeared to weigh in excess of eight hundred pounds. To achieve this bulk--as well as other specialty costume requirements for the film--Camilla Henneman was engaged to develop a fat-suit that Tim Lawrence himself would wear during the effects shoot. Using techniques akin to those she had employed to put similar poundage on Weird Al Yankovic for his 'Fat' video parody, Henneman constructed an assemblage of spandex pouches filled with a variety of gelatinous materials to simulate the undulating quality of fleshy masses. The finished suit was then sheathed in an appropriately singed prison garment. While the suit construction was in progress, the concept for the overall sequence continued to evolve as the brothers went from walking through the courtroom to walking and sometimes flying to finally being totally airborne. By the time their all-flying status was settled upon, the costumes were too far along to abandon altogether and so flying harnesses were incorporated into the configuration."
  58. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 17. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "For the Nunzio character, I wanted a great gaping mouth. I also had an idea to divide the head into two separate units--the lower jaw to be attached to my shoulders and the upper head to rest on a skullcap, with the two joined together by a single foam latex skin. With this approach, the lower jaw could be sent mechanically in one direction while I turned my head in th opposite direction, thus creating a ghastly twisted cavern in the center of Nunzio's face. Al figured out how to do it using a series of proportionally controlled pneumatic cylinders to move the mass of the lower jaw with speed and precision."
  59. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 14. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Tony Scoleri underwent three successive stages of development. Where Lawrence and crew had gone for the impossibly fat Nunzio, they wanted Tony to be impossibly thin. "Our first approach was a full-sized puppet with an articulated head directly and analogously attached to a puppeteer. To develop this version, I secured the services of another longtime associate, Mark Wilson, and a prototype was quickly assembled and video tested against black. We achieved a very eerie look--a skeletal locomotion unseen outside of stop-motion, yet with more of a sense of gravity." Though Dennis Muren was impressed with the results, he determined that the rotoscope load for such an approach would seriously compromise the production schedule and so the character was redesigned to fit actor Jim Fye. "We attached the head to a skullcap that positioned it in front of and on top of Jim's own head. Then we lowered the collarbone in the emaciated torso sculpture--which elongated the neck--and styled the hair in such a way that it concealed Jim's head. We dressed him in oversized shoes so that when he was suspended he could direct the toes down or behind, adding a sharper pointed look to the legs. We tattered his prison suit and added extra lengths of cloth strips which were blown about with a fan. We also added small details like finger extensions and droopy pants. All of these measures helped put over the illusion of a much more skeletal being than was actually there." A third-scale marionette was also made in prototype form , but abandoned when the costume approach proved fully workable."
  60. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 14. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Both character heads were actuated via servo mechanisms and pneumatic cylinders. A computerized SNARK system – akin to a motion control model mover – allowed precise and repeatable recording of specific facial articulations for subsequent playback at normal or altered speeds. By employing the system, puppeteers were able to achieve full and convincing lip-sync on the characters."
  61. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 17. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To facilitate the lip-sync aspects of the sequence, Lawrence drew upon his prior experience in audio-animation to assemble a memory playback system for the mechanics. Though crude in many respects, the Synthetic, Neuro-Animation Repeating Kinetics module--dubbed the "SNARK" system--performed a number of functions and allowed for considerable flexibility of the characters. From parameters outlined by Lawrence, Coulter supervised the efforts of Tim Gillett in the construction of the electronics necessary to link the characters' servos and pneumatics to a computer."
  62. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 17. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "The technology for this kind of control has been around for decades. I worked with animation control systems more than ten years ago, and many of the people I count as valuable coworkers were first met in this Hollywood satellite industry. Only within the past few years, however, has the hardware and software approached an off-the-shelf availability, and we incorporated some of this available technology into an original contour with considerable custom interfacing to arrive at the system we used in Ghostbusters II. With the SNARK system, we could either perform the character totally live--as the information outputs were typical joystick conformation--or we could record the initial performance, keep the parts we liked, and then go back in and electronically edit the other functions a channel at a time until a complete and satisfying performance was in the memory. This could then be played back as stored, or speeded up and slowed down at the touch of a keystroke. There is also an override switch for each function allowing partial playback and partial live performance, as in an instance where an eyeline might be critical yet you would want to keep the animated lip-sync. It is all very similar to photographic motion control. The potential of this concept for creature work is immense."
  63. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 17. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To sculpt the body parts not directly fabricated by Henneman and her staff, Lawrence brought in Mike Smithson to fashion the heads, Bob Cooper to provide Tony's torso and Bill Foertsch to supply Nunzio's arms. Additional details such as tongues and teeth were handled by Buzz Neidig. To provide the broad articulation required of the Scoleri brothers, mechanical animator Al Coulter and his crew employed some nontraditional technology."
  64. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 17. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Bringing Nunzio and Tony to cinematic life meant that Lawrence and Fye had to wear the full body suits for hours at a time while hanging from wires in front of a bluescreen. Given the bulk of the suits themselves--Nunzio weighed close to eighty pounds--a great deal of acting and patience was required. "I've done a lot of these types of characters," Lawrence explained, "and I've learned that the trick to performing in suites such as these is to have in your mind a perfect mental image of what you look like in the suit. It takes a while to get that knack, especially since you cannot see yourself and often you cannot see a monitor when you're doing a shot. It's actually a lot like acting through appliances where you have to really move your face around behind them to get them to register. With a big foam suit, you have to move a lot and be exaggerated to have something come through. You also have to know how to temper your moves--otherwise it looks like just a bunch of waving around. Actually, with the Scoleri brothers that was kind of what the producers wanted--a lot of extreme motions." When the brothers first appear, they are sitting in the electric chairs that ended their lives. In reality, the chairs were miniatures that were shot separately from the ghosts. To make the two elements merge, Lawrence and Fye had to hang in midair and pretend to be sitting. "In the Nunzio suit," Lawrence admitted, "it was very hard to pretend like I was sitting in midair. Fortunately, one of the crew members was underneath and helped me push my feet up so my legs were bent properly at the knees. Then on a certain count, he would duck away and I would pretend like I was bursting out of the chair and falling forward in a dive. To get the best negative, we needed the biggest image we could get--so we had to stay in the center of the frame. Therefore, if Nunzio was sitting and he had to burst out of his chair in an upward arch and then dive back down, I had to move my arms and feet accordingly, but I could actually swing through the frame. Sometimes if it was a particularly difficult shot, we would do a black-and-white test and make a quick composite to check our moves. Despite the complications, we actually shot the sequence really fast. We filmed on one brother in the morning and one in the afternoon, and we could usually get five or six shots a day of both." Though the results were impressive, the essential concept for the Scoleri brothers sequence was ultimately altered and simplified to such an extent that the characters could have been achieved much more simply in other ways."
  65. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 17. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "By the time much of the work had been done, the concept had changed to the point that the brothers were now always in flight, never really spoke, were very transparent and also heavily augmented with roto effects. The facial animation--while excellent--was now all but superfluous. The characters could easily have been done with third-scale marionettes on wires. You just never know how the stuff is going to be used until it is. With the script changing daily, all you can do is adapt and hope you are prepared for anything."
  66. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 17-18. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The movements of the Scoleri brothers through the composite frame were created later on a track camera by effects cameraman Peter Daulton. At the same time he was adding moves to the ghost elements, Daulton was also incorporating an additional effect using mirror trickery."
  67. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 18. Cinefex, USA. Dennis Muren says: "In our efforts to make the ghosts look really different in Ghostbusters II, we decided we wanted to try and alter their shapes in unusual ways. Using mylar--or mirrorplex material--we could squish and squash the shapes like something in a funhouse mirror. To do this, we used very thin mirrorplex that was about a thirty-second -of-an-inch thick and very flexible. If you poke this material on the back with your finger, you get a bump, the image is distorted. By controlling how you move and shape the mirrorplex, you can get different types of distortion. And if you put two pieces next to each other and push one and pull the other and line it up to a reflected image, you can make things twist."
  68. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 166. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Jim Fye says: "The jogger was the first thing I shot, in January of 1989."
  69. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 21. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Among the entities they encounter in a rapid-fire montage is a ghostly jogger checking his pulse as he runs around a track in Central Park. In reality, the jogger was another incarnation of actor Jim Fye, who was covered in white makeup and then photographed against a bluescreen and matted into the live-action plates ."
  70. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 20-21. Cinefex, USA. Tom Rosseter says: "Developing the look of the ghost jogger was difficult, take him down a little and add more contrast. The ghost jogger became an interesting study in how to use contrast mattes and how to extract contrast from the negative when it is not really there. We fooled around with it quite a bit until we got a look that balanced just right with the background plate and the action in the scene."
  71. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 17 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Playing the ghost, Jim Fye was covered with white makeup and photographed against a bluescreen for subsequent compositing into a live-action plate."
  72. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 21. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "With Slimer's appeal apparently universal, the filmmakers ultimately decided to squeeze him into the second film. In the subplot written for him, Slimer would first be seen eating various types of food while Louis tried in vain to catch him. Then later, when Louis straps on a backpack and tries to help the Ghostbusters, he finds Slimer driving a bus. Louis hitches a ride on the bus and the two eventually become friends. During editing, Reitman would decide to limit Slimer's role, but all the scenes were scripted and completed."
  73. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 21. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "Unlike the character from the first film which was primarily a monster, Michael wanted elements from the cartoon version incorporated as well, and to this end had had Thom do the new series of drawings--which were fabulous. Slimer was not in the first script that I saw, but once we knew that he was going to be in the show, I called in Bobby Porter to play the role. I had worked with Bobby before and liked his facility in suits as well as his easygoing personality."
  74. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 21. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "The character was going together quite quickly, but then we were notified that it had once again been removed from the show, and I asked them to wait--to be very sure that Slimer was in fact gone before letting the guy go upon which everything had been custom fit. But release him they did."
  75. The Good, The Bad, and The Sequel Stitcher "Special Effects Master Tim Lawrence" 40:27-40:59 4/17/2019 Tim Lawrence says: "The story I got was one day in dailies down in Los Angeles when they are checking the first unit dailies, they would often at the end run ILM's silent special effects dailies. And there was a lot of Slimer stuff. And after viewing some of that in the dark, Mike says you can hear Bill Murray's voice, "It's called Ghostbusters, not Slimer." And Slimer started getting cut out of the movie and then he was just gone."
  76. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 21. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "Two weeks later, Slimer was not only back in, but he had a role of increased importance to the story. We contacted Bobby to check his availability and found that even though he had signed to another show for stunt work, it looked as though the two schedules would fit and allow him to still perform Slimer. As the time approached, however, weather changed his primary commitment and we found ourselves two weeks from shooting without anyone to wear the suit. Our effects coordinator, Ned Gorman, recalled a person he had worked with on Willow named Robin Navlyt. I was convinced no one else would wear the suit, but I had her come in for a fitting and audition. Incredibly enough, she was exactly the same height as Bobby--four-foot-ten-inches--and she fit into both the body pod and the already molded and cast gloves very well. The same day, Chris Goehe and his mold shop crew did a full lifecast on her and Al Coulter jammed on getting the mechanics fit to the new skull cap. It was really close, but we made the first day of shooting."
  77. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 21-22. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "We were able to do some really nice things with the face, mainly because Al and his crew gave us a wonderful mechanical head. It was more than just a monster face. We could do subtle stuff and it would read. When we were originally thinking of Slimer, we had thought of him as this wild, broad character. But Michael Gross has a very good eye for performance and also a very good eye for looking at something and knowing what's wrong--what's too complicated, what's too much, what should be cut back and made simple. He was always on the set and kept going for a more subtle approach--which surprised us at first. We thought Slimer's actions should be bigger. But we did a few things his way and realized it was cool. Michael wanted a lovable character--and for him, the lovability of Slimer would come from a subtle, inner humanness that you might not otherwise see because of the way he looks. Once we saw the subtlety of the expression that was possible, Slimer suddenly had an incredible life to him that I had never seen in such a character before. To see his face light up from very sad to very happy was a wonderful thing."
  78. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 18 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The Slimer character – the only spectral carryover from the first film – became popular with children as a consequence of his nonmalevolent featured status in The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series. For this reason, it was decided that he should also be included in the sequel. But when comic segments involving him proved intrusive to preview audiences, Slimer's presence was trimmed back to only two brief shots, plus one under the end titles."
  79. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 22. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "What we found during editing was that Slimer was not working very well. Whenever he was in there, it seemed like he was really an intrusion. At first we thought the answer was to add more of him, so we had an ongoing confrontation between Louis and Slimer in which Louis was constantly trying to catch him. We thought it would be funny and at screenings we expected the audience to cheer and laugh when they saw him again. But nothing. No reaction. The audience was looking at it as a fresh movie. There were a lot of kids who loved to see him, so we knew we could not abandon him completely, but he never really worked with the audience the way we expected. Ultimately, we decided less was better, and in the final film we limited him to two very quick shots."
  80. The Good, The Bad, and The Sequel Stitcher "Special Effects Master Tim Lawrence" 43:10-43:31 4/17/2019 Tim Lawrence says: "We shot so much more than got used because again Bill was getting a little itchy about how much Slimer there was. So we started getting cut out again and by the time I left for Gremlins there were only three shots left in the movie and if we shot-if production had gone on any longer, Slimer would have been completely removed again."
  81. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 121. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Dan Aykroyd says: "Vigo came out of the idea of the Carpathians, the Dracu, Vlad the Impaler-that part of the world where there was a lot of demonology and possession and magic. We drew on Sumerian mythology for the first movie, and we drew on Carpathian mythology for the second movie. Vigo was an invention of Harold and myself, almost like a Dracula figure."
  82. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 122. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Vigo manifests in Central Park as a hooded specter in this concept painting."
  83. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 136. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "A storyboard for an early Ghostbusters II concept by Henry Mayo in which Vigo's spectral essence is sufficient to animate the art museum's exhibits."
  84. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 137. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Multiple Vigo design variants by Thom Enriquez."
  85. Bernard, Jami (1989). "Prime Slime with Ghostbusters" Fangoria #84, page 29. Fangoria Publishing, Atlanta, USA. Line reads: "Gross solved the problem by hiring the actors who stage an annual "Pageant of the Masters" in Laguna Beach, where they do lifesize reenactments of classical paintings."
  86. Bernard, Jami (1989). "Prime Slime with Ghostbusters" Fangoria #84, page 29. Fangoria Publishing, Atlanta, USA. Michael Gross says: "The painting has caused endless problems. The technology is difficult to do. It requires a subtle movement. It can't work as just animation - that's too flat."
  87. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 9. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To make the image work, actor Wilhelm von Homburg was filmed in front of a bluescreen and then matted over a miniature of the corridor built by the ILM model shop."
  88. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 9. Cinefex, USA. Bill George says: "The slime corridor was a forced perspective set that was pretty straightforward. Both columns and bricks along the sides had to be built in forced perspective, and they were all sculpted out of foam. There were arches between the columns and beyond those we had light coming in. The only unusual aspect was that the producers wanted slime oozing out of the columns, which meant that we had a major cleanup after each take. It was really no big deal--just a big mess."
  89. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 44-45. Cinefex, USA.Line reads: "The change was accomplished primarily by makeup applications devised by the ILM creature shop. "It was not the first work we did on the Vigo character," noted Tim Lawrence. "Early during preproduction, we were given a variety of sketches by Thom Enriquez depicted a very overweight-looking character with a wild-eyed look and a facial structure such that it would have been impossible to find anyone who actually looked like that. So at the beginning, we were going to be designing a makeup that would be used on an actor throughout the film. Then when it came time for transformation at the end, Vigo was going to be something much more monstrous--some kind of a huge construction that we never quite worked out completely because the whole concept went off in a different direction once Wilhelm von Homburg was cast for the part. Wilhelm has a very distinctive "bad guy" face and Ivan decided to use it without a whole lot of alteration--but he did still want some appliance makeup. So we did lifecasts on Wilhelm and then Mike Smithson and I did a variety of alterations in clay--fairly subtle things like strengthening his jaw line, straightening out his nose, giving him a more sinister brow, elongating his earlobes and sharpening his cheeks. We did ten or eleven versions of the makeup in clay and then photographed them in black-and-white and made up a little book that we sent down so that Ivan and the producers could see the various directions it could go in. They picked one that they liked and we made a set of appliances for this guy. The problem was that they wanted this very elaborate makeup to be used for the whole film and I had asked for three weeks to do it. They said they could only give us two weeks and then wound up giving us one; but they said, 'Don't worry about it, because it's just going to be used for a photo shoot as a guide for the artist who is doing the painting, but that when he comes to life he should look more realistic and less stylized. So we did the makeup very quickly for the photo shoot and then Wilhelm was used without makeup for the film itself." The final transformation was likewise toned down. "We did a lot of drawings for the Vigo monster--some of them pretty horrendous--and we had other things going on as well. At one point the slime was going to bring to life things from some of the other paintings--so we had little Hieronymous Bosch characters running around and a spirally kind of Escher character. Over time, however, all that got more and more watered down to the point where instead of making a Vigo monster we were asked to come up with a makeup that simply represented Vigo's inner evil essence. We sent about fifty concepts down to Michael Gross--some of which were altered photographs. Early in the show there had been some mylar tests done on Ned Gorman--our effects coordinator--to show how the Scoleri brothers could be distorted and stretched. Some of those bizarre photos were blown up and artwork was done on them--and it was one of those that was selected. The difficulty for us when it came time to do the makeup was that the basic understructure was not a human head. Obviously the makeup had to be something that could be added to a real person--we could not stretch a person's head to do it--so we had to start by roughing in a sculpture and getting a lot of people's interpretations as to what the stretch marks and bizarre washes of color on the photograph actually meant in three-dimensional terms. When we got as close as we could to the accepted design, we molded and cast the makeup in about seven pieces." Howie Weed--one of the creature shop crew members--wore the makeup for scenes of Vigo transformed within the painting and for a subsequent scene when Ray becomes entranced by Vigo and momentarily turns into a demon before his friends restore him with a blast of positive slime."
  90. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 176. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Howie Weed says: "I'm a big guy, so I asked Dennis Muren if I could do it. Because I was already there they didn't have to bring an actor in for fittings, and they could get on it right away."
  91. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 176. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Ivan Reitman OK'ed the look, but Dan Aykroyd's schedule didn't allow him to play the demon-possessed Stantz."
  92. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 9-10. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "Bill George made a plexiglass trough for us and then I assigned Ralph Miller to whip up a variety of mixtures involving methylcellulose, syrups, oils and colors until we had enough different things for Harley and Dennis to look at and narrow the focus for us. Alan Peterson calculated flow and volume for the delivery system we knew would be required and also determined what the weights at various loads would be. That was important in the construction of the scaffolding that would eventually support the dump tank and the model river trough. After we developed the first incarnation of the river in a reduced scale--including multiple densities of slime, contrasting colors, some solids moving along its bed and a few shadow projections from below--Ivan approved it and the model shop went to a larger scale with a very wonderful miniature of the Van Horne station. At this point I went on to other projects, but the river went through two subsequent changes in concept before it finally wound up in the film."
  93. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 10. Cinefex, USA. Harley Jessup says: "What we ended up with was a mixture of methocel combined with mica dust topped with a layer of mineral oil. Inside the river we had injectors and air bladders to bubble slime up and make it swirl around. We also had plexiglass baffles that we puppeteered to create different flows and currents and make it appear like something was alive beneath the surface. The mineral oil was important because it gave the river a greater sense of depth and mystery by creating very strange mercury-like shapes that raced downstream. It looked wonderful, but it was difficult to shoot. We needed a lot of puppeteers working from awkward positions because of all the water pipes, lights and other fixtures on the set. Marty Rosenberg and John Fante headed up the crew and guided the complex physical setup."
  94. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 10. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The river set was designed to work as a gravity flow system. A large holding tank was placed some fifteen feet up in the air. A track fed the slime down into the miniature river bed, which was tilted slightly to keep the flow going. The main river was one foot wide and ten feet long and featured a curve towards one end. At the lowest end of the trough was another holding tank to catch all the slime that flowed down from above. A large pump would then be used to direct the stuff back up to the upper holding tank so it could be recirculated. Several takes were possible before the colors in the slime became so homogenized that the whole set had to be emptied and then refilled with fresh slime. And a lot of fresh slime was needed. To prepare adequate amounts, four portable cement mixers were rented and a team of four under Ralph Miller worked several days just mixing up enough slime to the proper consistency to fill the large overhead holding tank."
  95. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 177. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Ned Gorman says: "In the opening you were going to see slime rising through forty feet of New York sediment-through layers of broken pipes and antiques and stuff-and then bubble through the cracks of the sidewalk. I think it was Colossal Pictures that did this shot, and it ran about twenty seconds. They basically built the set upside down and poured the slime in, and then flipped the shot."
  96. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 177. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Ned Gorman says: "In the opening you were going to see slime rising through forty feet of New York sediment-through layers of broken pipes and antiques and stuff-and then bubble through the cracks of the sidewalk. I think it was Colossal Pictures that did this shot, and it ran about twenty seconds. They basically built the set upside down and poured the slime in, and then flipped the shot."
  97. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 28. Cinefex, USA. Ernie Hudson says: "We shot that scene in New York out on the street at two in the morning. I don't know how cold it was, but it couldn't have been more than ten degrees--and with the wind whipping around, we were all freezing. And we were drenched. They poured buckets and buckets of sticky, watery slime over us--over our heads, over everywhere because Ivan wanted it even in our eyes. He wanted us to look like we had been swimming in slime. Then we had to pull off our jumpsuits--which weren't really warm enough for a New York winter to begin with--and stand there in our underwear. I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life. We shot for hours and we couldn't go into the trailers because they were too far away. So we had to sit outside between takes without the luxury of heaters. Danny was there and Harold was there and they weren't complaining, so I figured I shouldn't either. But things did get a little nuts, and at one point I had to ask them: "Wait a minute. You guys wrote this scene? What the hell were you doing? Didn't you think you were going to have to do this stuff?""
  98. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 34. Cinefex, USA. Bill George says: "To create the slime shell, we first did a sculpture out of clay, made a plaster mold and had it vacuformed in clear plastic. Then we put a piece of plexiglass on the back of the vacuform shape, which effectively made it a clear tank shaped like the slime shell. We mounted this in a large metal frame and placed tubes, injectors and bubble makers inside. Next, we filled the whole thing with water and injected diamond dust--a fine metal powder we first used on Innerspace. The slime shell was shot high-speed with bubbles going in it to create water currents. During each take, cameraman Marty Rosenberg would cue different people to inject different colors into the tank. We could do two complete takes before the colors mixed together so much that we had to drain the tank and refill it again. The tubes with different colored dyes in them were placed all over the inside, so we were able to inject colors selectively. The effect looked pretty neat, and it gave the slime shell the look of life and purpose that was needed."
  99. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 45. Cinefex, USA. Bill George says: "To create the destruction of the slime shell at the end, we first did a sculpture of the full slime shell and then made a black urethane casting. Over this black slime shell we painted on a brittle polymer that was pinkish in color. Once that was done, we hung the shell upside-down in front of a black backdrop. The black shell casting effectively served as a support plug inside the brittle polymer. The plug was flexible, but the polymer was not. So when it was time for the slime to break away, we hit the inside of the plug and simultaneously inflated an innertube with air to make the plug expand. This caused the brittle polymer to shatter and fall away. When the polymer shattered, the black plug underneath blended in with the black background and was therefore invisible to the camera. The shattered shell was added over a model we built of the museum and both were later combined with a matte painting of the surrounding area."
  100. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 45 footnote. Cinefex, USA. For the scenes of the slime shell shattering and flying up into the heavens, a brittle polymer shape was suspended upside down and shattered in front of a black backdrop. The inverted footage was then composited over a miniature of the museum – which itself was incorporated into a matte painting of the surrounding area. Modelmakers Brian Gernand and Bill George dress the museum grounds prior to stage photography."
  101. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 22. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "Originally I wanted to drill a little hole through each piece and tie the wire through that, but we found that the crystal would immediately start to crack if we tried to drill through it. So we put the piano wire down through a little plastic disk and then formed that disk to each individual crystal piece and glued it to the back. That supported the weight. The piano wire ran up to a piece of monofilament which was attached to a cord that ran up a pulley overhead. Off-camera, Joe Day and other members of my crew pulled on the cords to make the crystal float in the air. We taped a bullet effect to the monofilament so that when it exploded, the monofilament would cut and drop the piano wire causing the crystal to fall to the floor. We had sixteen pieces floating in the scene and all of them were triggered together. When we were filming it, I kept my fingers crossed that one would not fall prematurely. In fact, we suspended the pieces a week prior to shooting and just left them hanging on the set to see if they would stay. We did not want the production crew to get ready to roll and then have the pieces fall through the glass cabinet before their cue."
  102. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 22. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The biggest problem Gaspar had to contend with was that the overhead pulleys tended to squeak. To remedy this, he went up into the scaffolding above the set and sprayed the individual offenders with lubricant."
  103. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 22. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "We mounted tiny air cylinders inside the toaster at various spots and used the toaster's power cord as switches to fire off the cylinders and the little toaster went bouncing all over the table."
  104. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 29. Cinefex, USA. Dennis Muren says: "We also thought that maybe it could be something inside Peter's bedroom that would come to life. That notion eventually evolved into the tub creature and the idea of having the tub move around."
  105. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 22-23. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "Many different ideas were discussed for the tub monster. It went from being somewhere where the tub turns into a porcelain version of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors to the tub becoming the beginning of a long road that goes down forever. Perhaps the most cartoonish gag was one involving a bubble bath monster. In that incarnation, Dana put bubble bath into the tub and then turned away. While she has her back turned, the mountain of bubbles get impossibly high behind her and then--when it is up over her shoulder--a dark shape comes up inside it and these eyes open up. With all the bubbles, the lensing effect makes it look like there are hundreds of eyes around this dark shape. When Dana turns back around, the creature opens a big maw and scares her. She drops an electric hair dryer into the tub and there's a big electronic snap. All the bubbles go pop, and what's left is a tiny little creature with two great big eyes that crumbles into cinders and goes down the drain. Ultimately, Ivan decided that the slime itself should turn into a creature inside the tub."
  106. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 21 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Creature crew members Marc Thorpe and Wim Van Thillo prepare for a scene with the tub monster that threatens Dana and her baby as they are about to bathe. The slime creature – fashioned from dielectric gel – was hand-puppeteered from below the half-scale silicone tub and enhanced with cel animation provided by Animation Light."
  107. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 23. Cinefex, USA. Dennis Muren says: "We made a tub out of white silicone which looked pretty much like real porcelain when it was all slimed up. It also bent well. Then we made the creature itself out of dielectric gel--a Dow Corning breast implant material. The gel is transparent and tends to be somewhat flimsy, so we reinforced it with china silk and spandex. Since this was designed to work as a hand puppet, Tom Floutz was able to put his arm up through the bottom of the tub from below and operate the creature. Then we dumped slime down over the puppet, and poor Tom had to stay down below the tub while all this gunk dripped down on him."
  108. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 23. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To give the creature a mouth, a maw-shaped piece of fiberglass was placed inside the puppet and attached to a vacuum tube. At the right moment, the vacuum was triggered to suck the outer material down into the maw shape and thereby form the mouth."
  109. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 23. Cinefex, USA. Dennis Muren says: "Initially, the scene called for the tub to fill with slime, the slime to come to life and lift up, and then Dana would run out of the room. But that was not enough of a payoff, because we had four or five shots in the sequence and the last one was not that much different than the previous ones. Ivan asked what we could do to make a creature come out of this slime. So we went back and had our slime creature come out again and had the tub move around some more, but that still was not quite enough. Then Ivan came up with an idea. 'Why not have it stick out its tongue on the last shot?' That was really what it needed. Each succeeding shot gave you more than the last, and the final one topped them all. Since we were really too busy to handle anything more at the time, John Van Vliet of Available Light did an animated tongue that comes out in the last shot for about twenty-five frames ."
  110. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The idea we were shooting for was that because of all this psychic activity beneath the city, all the dead were returning to New York. We considered several ideas. One had the Hindenberg arriving with flaming passengers getting off carrying luggage that was also on fire. Another featured a ghostly subway station with rotting commuters. That was the precursor to the ghost train that is now in the film. We also had a cemetery scene where the gravestones were taking off like rockets. Then the idea for the Titanic hit me one day and that seemed to offer the most powerful images."
  111. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 23. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Both scenes were among several added to the film after principle photography had officially wrapped--a situation necessitating a return to New York for additional location shooting only three months before the film was set for release."
  112. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 23 and 25. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "We went back to shoot some scenes that we thought would help clarify story points or expand certain portions of the film. More specifically, the ghost train was added because that portion of the film needed more tension, more humor and more effects. It needed to be goosed a bit. The ghost train helped heighten the jeopardy and get across the idea that an evil force was trying to keep the guys away. It also fostered the notion that all these ghostly forces were starting to build up--which, in turn, helped justify the ending more."
  113. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 26. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "While Available Light and Visual Concept Engineering helped out with animation effects, Apogee was drafted to create the new sequences that had been added to the film after production had wrapped--including the ghost train encounter. For Apogee, this meant going to New York for ten days of plate photography and location work at the Tunnel--a nightclub that features several hundred feet of abandoned subway track."
  114. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 26. Cinefex, USA. Sam Nicholson says: "To help sell the scene, we used interactive lighting when we filmed the actors for the plate. We put a 10k light right up behind them and then we put three or four air cannons on the to make their hair blow. There was enough wind to blow Ernie's hat off. Then we blasted them with a bright live that was supposed to be coming from the train."
  115. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 22 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Late in the production schedule, several effects scenes were added to the film – including one in which three members of the Ghostbusters team encounter a ghost train speeding through an abandoned subway tunnel. Since ILM was already swamped with work, Apogee – under effects supervisor Sam Nicholson – was engaged to engineer the illusion. Actor Ernie Hudson was photographed with interactive lighting in a New York nightclub featuring a subway motif. Later an eighth-scale train was shot on a black stage at Apogee – with motion created solely by camera movement – and the resulting imagery was rendered transparent and composited into the live-action plate."
  116. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 26. Cinefex, USA. Sam Nicholson says: "John Swallow--our production supervisor--tracked down the train, it was eighth-scale--about twenty-five feet long--and that made it nice for light because we did not have to get into fiber optic snakes or anything that small. We could use 10ks on it and hide the cables in the train. Since we did not have to sync the shot of the train to any specific mark--other than have it pass through Ernie on the plate--we did not need to film it motion control. The train was stationary, but it had steam and reactive lights that Grant McCune rigged up. We shot it on our effects stage against black--with a snorkel lens about an eight of an inch away in clearance all the way down the train. We put the camera on a dolly and had four guys just whip it down the track. Since in the scene the train lights had to intensify as the train approached the Ghostbusters, we rheostated the lights on the model so we could dial them up as the lights got closer."
  117. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 26. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "We bought the heads all over town. We had put out a 'dead head' call and found them wherever we could. Pam Easley--our visual effects coordinator--was a zombie wrangler for that. Rick Lazzarini made a few. We found a few. A prop house in New York had a few. For the shot, we placed the better ones in the foreground and the less-detailed ones in the background."
  118. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 177. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Rick Lazzarini says: "There's one in the left foreground in close-ups that we created and supplied. It was sculpted by Adam Jones, who ended up being the guitarist for Tool."
  119. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The idea came up while we were thinking about what big manifestations could happen when all hell's breaking loose. The idea we were shooting for was that because of all this psychic activity beneath the city, all the dead were returning to New York. We considered several ideas. One had the Hindenberg arriving with flaming passengers getting off carrying luggage that was also on fire. Another featured a ghostly subway station with rotting commuters. That was the precursor to the ghost train that is now in the film. We also had a cemetery scene where the gravestones were taking off like rockets. Then the idea for the Titanic hit me one day and that seemed to offer the most powerful images."
  120. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 29 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Using photographs and videotape of the sunken luxury liner as reference, members of the ILM model shop created a replica of the ship in plywood and urethane that was accurate in nearly every aspect. Modelmaker John Goodson adds on-set detail to the rusted hull – accomplished authentically by coating the outer surface with iron powder and then spraying it with an oxidizing acid."
  121. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To create the shot, modelmakers John Goodson and Jeff Olson constructed a Titanic out of plywood and urethane, and also constructed several model buildings for the background."
  122. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Bill George says: "We tried to be as accurate as we could using books, magazine articles and videotape of the wreck but we still had to make changes in two areas. One had to do with the fact that the smokestacks were torn off when the ship went down--but the ship without the smokestacks is less recognizable. So we built the smokestacks, making them very skeletal to kind of split the difference. The second change was because the director wanted the hole in the bow to be much larger than it actually was, and he also wanted the name on the ship moved so you could read it." Despite these alterations, the model was essentially accurate--right down to its fractured hull. "Although it's very difficult to tell in the angle it was filmed at, our model was broken in half because the real ship split into two sections when it went down. Early on we were thinking that it would be great to have the bow section come up and then have the aft section follow. There were also thoughts of seeing the ship floating above the water or rising up out of the water. But the director wanted the audience to be able to see once shot and get the whole joke. He did not want a sequence or any lead-in shots."
  123. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Since the real Titanic had been at the bottom of the ocean for more than seventy years, the model had to be aged accordingly. Normally, such aging would be stimulated with applications of paint, but George decided to try something different."
  124. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Bill George says: "We had reference photographs of this stuff that has been growing on the Titanic's hull for years. The real ship looks like it's dripping with moss, but the 'drips' are actually rust deposits. So rather than paint the model, we sprayed glue on the boat and sprinkled iron powder onto it. Then we sprayed the iron with an acid so it would oxidize. When it oxidized, it also kind of bonded together. As a result, we did not have to paint or mix colors--it just got genuinely rusty."
  125. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Extras dressed appropriately to the period were photographed against black and inserted optically into the miniature plate material."
  126. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "In addition to the Titanic herself, the scene also featured a parade of ghost passengers walking away from the docked vessel. To create these ghosts, extras dressed appropriately to the period were photographed against black and then added to the model ship footage in optical."
  127. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Filmed at night on a street location in Los Angeles, the illusion was accomplished using four different coats actuated variously by radio-controlled servos, hand puppeteering and cable-pull mechanisms. Tim Lawrence and his creature crew developed the specialty garments."
  128. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30. Cinefex, USA. Tim Lawrence says: "When this gag first surfaced, many concepts were discussed and drawn. Some included using live animals--but for obvious reasons, those were discarded early on. What was finally chosen was the approach seen in the film--with one exception. From the very beginning we conceived of the coat as being made from a nonspecific white fur. All of the prototyping and patterns had been generated with a white coat in mind and synthetic fur had been ordered in bulk. The heads and legs--which were sculpted and cast in foam latex--had been hand-laid in a white crepe fur and all that remained was to finish the mechanics, fit the actress with the support harness and complete the assembly. About ten days before we were due to shoot, we sent a film test down to Ivan showing how the coat might photograph in either daytime or nighttime lighting and a test of the 'runway' gag. He thought the look and the gag were fine--but he wanted to know why the coat was white. Michael was as surprised as we were. It had never occurred to us that it might be anything else. Fortunately, we were able to scramble around and redo the coat with darker fur in time for the shoot."
  129. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Four different coats, all outfitted with a variety of practical effects, were used in a late-night location shoot on an LA street outside the Biltmore Hotel, which doubled as the Sedgewick Hotel in the original film."
  130. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 168-169. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Ned Gorman says: "There was a master coat that the lady was wearing, which had all the heads react and do stuff. And there were close-up heads which were shot as inserts, where they were being [manipulated] from behind."
  131. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Like the theater ghost, the Washington Square monster was a late entry designed to add scale to the sequence. With virtually no time to spare, the production sought out master stop-motion animator Phil Tippett to create the creature."
  132. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30, 33. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "The people at ILM were good friends with Phil and Pam Easley in our department knew him from The Golden Child. So all of us approached him and said, 'Phil, you've got to do this shot.' He agreed to do it, but only if we accepted certain limitations. Given the time factor, he said he could do it if the shot was only a hundred and sixty frames long and if he could build the creature based on an existing armature. Also, he would only be able to do one take--in camera--because there would be no time for an optical composite. Since it was a see-through ghost, we figured it would be okay--and that's literally what Phil did. He and his people built the creature, shot it and delivered it to us one day early. Right in the middle of all of this, Phil and his wife were in an automobile accident. Both are fine now, but his wife had to be hospitalized and he too was injured--but he kept working on our shot and he delivered. His name is not on the film because he did not want us to list him for just one shot--but all of us are very grateful to him."
  133. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 32 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Phil Tippett and Randy Dutra work on existing armature for Washington Square ghost, John Reed prepares completed sculpture for molding."
  134. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Both the theater ghost and the Washington Square ghost featured background material shot by Apogee while they were in New York to film the ghost train plates. Like the ILM crew that had shot plates earlier in production, the Apogee team encountered the incredible street-level popularity of the Ghostbusters."
  135. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "For the last-minute addition of a giant ghost monster striding through the arch in Washington Square, stop-motion animator Phil Tippett was persuaded to accept the assignment even though there was time to execute only a single in-camera take. Working over an existing armature, Tippett and Randy Dutra sculpted the limbering creature in clay. Crew member John Reed prepares the completed sculpture for molding. The finished puppet was animated by Harry Walton who also shared the camera work with Peter Kozachik."
  136. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "More elaborate means were used to produce two monsters--one observed coming out of a movie theater and a second terrorizing people in Washington Square. The first--photographed at Apogee--was created by Rick Lazzarini of The Creature Shop in Van Nuys."
  137. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30. Cinefex, USA. Rick Lazzarini says: "The theater ghost was based on a drawing by Henry Mayo. It had six eyes, four arms, two wings and a forked tail. The head was nearly human-size and sculpted by John Blake, while the body was made by Dan Frye. I worked on the mechanics. Since the theater ghost was added late to the film, we had only three weeks to build and shoot the puppet."
  138. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30. Cinefex, USA. Rick Lazzarini says: "The Facial Waldo is a cop and vest system worn by an external operator. Sensors are attached to the operator's face--on the brows, cheeks, lips and jaw--and these sensors link up to Ziff cards in the vest. Ziff cards were invented by Stuart Ziff to enable radio control-type servos to be operated by direct wire--thus eliminating a noisy radio link. In effect, they fool the serco into thinking it is getting a command from a radio receiver. On Ghostbusters II, the Ziff cards received information from the sensors on my face and head and then sent signals to servos inside the creature. When I moved my eyebrow or any part of my face, the theater ghost did the same thing; and if I moved my head left or right, the puppet did likewise. Since the theater ghost had six eyes, it therefore had six eyebrows so that when I moved my brow, all six moved on the creature. This kept my hands free to puppeteer the wings, and it also allows for a much more natural performance."
  139. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Three additional puppeteers wore black beekeeper-style suits with black mesh face screens so they could see without being visible on film. In a single shot, the creature flies out of the theater, leers at the fleeing crowd on the street and then rushes at the camera. Even with the Facial Waldo, puppeteering the creature was still very difficult because of the number of appendages involved and the short length of the shot."
  140. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30. Cinefex, USA. Sam Nicholson says: "The real difficulty came after we had rehearsed everything at half-speed to get the moves down and then realized that forty-eight frames per second was necessary to make the movements look smooth. This meant that the puppeteers had to do the moves two or three times faster--and all within about two-and-a-half seconds. Also, to finish with the creature's mouth just about covering the camera, we had to shoot the whole thing in reverse. That put a real strain on both the camera crew and the puppeteers." To create a glowing effect, the creature's eyes were coated with front-projection material. "We put a ring light on the lens and then dialed up the intensity as we got closer to the creature so it would really look like he was coming at us. Having the eyes lit not only helped increase the illusion of depth, but it also made the creature seem more alive."
  141. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 136. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Vigo discards Justin."
  142. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 153. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Revised FX Breakdown reads: "Figure of Vigo comes to life, turns towards Justin and gestures dramatically at him; he speaks in a commanding voice."
  143. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 125. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Peter MacNicol says: "When I first read the script my character was named Jason, and he amounted to no more than a nondescript mind slave to Vigo. There was nothing the least bit foreign about Jason; he could have been played by most of the Screen Actors Guild. I happened to be in Los Angeles trying to get some film work. I had placed an ultimatum on myself that I couldn't return to New York until I got a job. Happily, I got the Ghostbusters II call within two days. I greedily read the script but couldn't find myself at all. At some point in that second reading it occurred to me that Jason, as an art curator, might be a little fussy. As for Jason's attachment to the painting of Vigo, my imagination began to provide him a missing connection. What if Jason was a middle European, and what if he and Vigo were fellow countrymen? In the space of minutes, I became a fussy Carpathian. I began to supply Jason with Euro malapropisms, and I laid on an accent [that] got thicker as the character took hold. I went in and met Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. They were affable when we shook hands, and only slightly worried when I asked them if they would mind my taking some liberties with the part. I let loose with this character that Ivan would later denominate as Janosz Poha."
  144. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 125. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Peter MacNicol says: "I stopped by the Romanian tourist agency and pretended I was planning to holiday in Bucharest. I carefully studied the agent's voice, but his accent was too good, too refined-too unfunny. Instead I simply let Janosz have his way with me, and the result is all there on camera."
  145. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 125. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Peter MacNicol says: "During my alone time in the trailer I filled in the world of Mr. Poha by designing the national flag of Carpathia. I had a different take on the 'Don't Tread on Me' motif-my Carpathian flag featured a snake stepping on a man. Our national motto was all consonants, since we were too poor a nation to afford vowels. And our economy was entirely based on the sale of firewood."
  146. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 26 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "For identifiably close shots, Peter MacNicol was dressed in drag and photographed in front of a bluescreen. The arm stretch was a simple illusion employing a piece of tubing covered with costume fabric and rigged to slide down a pole. For wider shots, a miniature rod puppet and buggy were similarly photographed against blue. Character performers Bob Cooper and David Allen choreograph one of the miniature shots."
  147. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 173. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Ned Gorman says: "On the first take, a piece of the rig-a circuit, or a ring that was retaining the explosion-flew up into the frame. It was a mistake, but it looked good. We showed it to Ivan and he cut it in."
  148. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 34. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The earliest shots completed involved a larger-than-full-scale replica of the crown constructed on stage at the Burbank Studios."
  149. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 34. Cinefex, USA. Bo Welch says: "When you are up inside the real crown in New York, it's shocking how small it is. If we had kept ours to the exact same scale, you would only be able to see a little of the guys' faces and they would not have had enough room to stand up and move around with their backpacks on. So we made ours a good thirty percent larger than the real one so that we could accommodate the four Ghostbusters and see their faces and shoulders through the windows. We also left the glass out of the windows. That was Ivan's choice simply because the glass got in his way."
  150. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 34, 37. Cinefex, USA. Bo Welch says: "We altered the scale, but everything else is extremely accurate--the colors, the finish, the hair and the underside of the structure. The other license we took was with the base of the statue. The stair that goes up to the head is really a double-helix--it goes up and right underneath it is the stair coming down. We just did a single spiral stair. Basically it's the impression that was important. It felt like the Statue of Liberty."
  151. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 37 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "A larger-than-full-size replica of the Statue of Liberty crown was constructed for closeups of the actors inside. Mounted on a gimbal mechanism in front of giant photo transparencies, the set piece was able to rock back and forth and from side to side in passable simulation of movement down the street."
  152. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 37. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The full-scale crown was built on top of a gimbal so that it could be rocked back and forth to simulate the movement of the statue walking. Unfortunately for production, the gimbal broke down during the first day of shooting on the head set. "In the past," Gaspar explained, "gimbals were used a lot in Hollywood. But there are not many left today, and the ones that still exist are old and have not been well maintained. The first one we used for the statue's head was the Burbank Studios gimbal that was probably built around 1940. It has been sitting on the backlot for years. One of the movements that Ivan wanted was a realy heavy jolt when she looks down at the ground, and the rocking put too much of a load on the old casters. We tried to remedy the problem, but then something started to break in another section of the gimbal and I realized that we needed to get another one. I hated to do that because I knew how much it would cost us, but the old gimbal just was not safe. So we got another one from CBC and remounted the head on that. It too was old and some of the swivel joints had cracks in them, so we had new cylinders flown in overnight and repaired it. From then on, we had no problems--the gimbal was better than it had ever been." Riding inside the crown proved to be a unique experience for the actors."
  153. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 37. Cinefex, USA. Bill Murray says: "Actually, it was a little scary. The rig would do strange things and would pitch and turn in ways that even the effects guys did not expect. At one point, Ivan told them to tilt it down even further than usual because he wanted us to be really surprised. Well, that was real fear you see on the screen. It went down so far we thought it had broken again. It was quite a ride--nausea, sea legs, the whole thing."
  154. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 41-42. Cinefex, USA. Tom Bertino says: "Anything that involved the Statue of Liberty with a crowd meant very difficult rotoscope work. I remember when the plate crew came back from New York. One by one as they met me in the hall, the first thing they would say to me was: 'Hi, Tom. Just remember it wasn't my fault.' I didn't quite know what they meant by that until I saw the dailies in the screening room, and I thought 'Oh, my God!' There were scenes where the statue had to be put behind a crowd and there were all these little waving hands--and everybody was dressed for winter so they had tassles and scarfs and little mittens hanging off their hands. Since this was set to occur on New Year's Eve, there were also balloons and flying confetti. One guy was even waving a crutch in the air. They were all so small in the frame that it looked like the ultimate rotoscope nightmare. But some of our star people just did an incredible job. Barbara Brennan did the first scene where the statue is seen walking in Manhattan--where her foot comes out from behind a building. The foot had to be places behind a small crowd that was in the foreground, and the rotoscoping on that was as close to seamless as anything I've ever seen. There were nearly two hundred frames that had to be rotoscoped just in that one shot, and everything had to match from frame to frame."
  155. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 41-42. Cinefex, USA. Tom Bertino says: "The main reason Fifth Avenue was done as a painting was because it is virtually impossible to shoot in New York at night and get a good exposure above street level. There is just no way to light up all the buildings. Caroleen Green did all the matte painting, and she not only had to work with the buildings that were there in reality, but she also had to rework the left side to open up the view. Ivan did not want the city to appear claustrophobic. He wanted to see it go for miles so the shot would have an openness and grandeur about it."
  156. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 42. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The view of the torch exploding to life--and then subsequent where it is seen burning--involved shooting pyrotechnic elements on a separate stage and then matting those into either shots of a double-sized torch or shots with Fye in his costume."
  157. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 42. Cinefex, USA. Bill George says: "We wanted to build a big foot and a big car thinking, of course, that the larger the scale the more successful the crush would be. But Dennis was concerned about a big foot looking mechanical, so he wanted us to use a real-sized foot and build the car to match the scale. We figured out what scale would be, and it turned out to be the size of a standard eight-inch long model car. We located a car kit that matched reference photos we had of the real police car in the plate. Then we made a mold of it and cast a bunch of them out of wax that were hollow inside and without windows. Charlie Bailey--who built the cars--put a small tube inside each one and filled it with margarita salt. Then, when the foot came down and crushed the car, he blew through the tube and margarita salt would shoot out the window areas and simulate broken glass."
  158. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 42. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The key to the shot was the manner in which the wax car was inserting into the plate. In New York, the crews shot a plate of the real police car on the street. Then they shot the exact same setup without the police car, but with people standing behind where the car had been. At ILM, the real car was rotoscoped out of its plate and inserting into the other so that it looked as though it was now in front of people. The next step was to film the Statue of Liberty sandal against bluescreen as it stepped down and crushed the wax model. Next the foot was matted into the plate. As the foot came down, the real car fell under its shadow. At that instant, the wax car was slowly dissolved in over the real car so that by the time the foot made contact, it appeared to be crushing the real car though it was actually the wax one. Then the foot lifted back up and continued on its way, leaving the crushed wax car in the plate with people reacting behind it. To help add to the realism of the shot, the wax model was built with a light bar on top and an additional flashing element was laid over the completed scene."
  159. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 42. Cinefex, USA. Michael Gross says: "The whole effect was life sleight of hand. The foot did not step on the real car, but it looks like that to your eye in the final shot. Originally they had people running across the front of the scene to help hide the switch of the cars, but Ivan said, 'I can't have guys running in front of it.' We laughed about it. It was like they were trying to pull a magician's trick--a little misdirection to conceal the switch. But if we had shot a real car being crushed, we would never have had people walking in front of the action, so Ivan said the people had to go. Of course, the ILM guys changed it and it worked wonderfully. It was really just one example of the entire Liberty sequence. We never had any doubts that ILM's statue would look like the real thing and be perfect. And in the end, our confidence was justified. The Statue of Liberty sequence is the one I am most proud of. One shot that I doubt anyone will know is an effects shot is the one where they guys are first seen inside the statue. You see them inside and then the camera pulls away until you see the whole head and shoulders. It looks so real you would think it was a helicopter shot pulling away from the real statue, but it was a bluescreen shot of the boys and the model--an amazing composite."
  160. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 18. Cinefex, USA. Tom Bertino says: "The animated nutrona beams in the first film looked really good and initially we tried very literally to duplicate that look. But then Dennis and Mark Vargo encouraged us to have fun with the beams. We all figured that since people have already seen what the beams could do in the first film, the surprise was off. We needed to take them in a new direction. For instance, in the courtroom, the beams act like cowboy lassos or fishing lines, reeling the ghosts in. The beams catch the Scoleri brothers around the ankles, then the ghosts slip through and and beams wrap around their necks. John Armstrong and Peter Crossman did a great job of animating these shots so that the beams almost seem to have a consciousness of their own. When first suggested these ideas to Dennis and Mark, they liked them. Then we sent pencil sketches down to Ivan and sat with our fingers crossed because we really wanted to get these ideas into the movie.."
  161. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 20. Cinefex, USA. Dennis Muren says: "I think the lasso was a pretty neat concept that worked well with the squash and stretch effects we were creating with the mirrorplex. Then we thought that if we could line up the mirrorplex and squeeze the ghosts when the nutrona beams wrapped around them, it would show a more direct effect from the beams. One of our animators came up with the next step on that, which was a very obvious lasso that starts wrapping around one of the brothers and then pulls him tight, squeezing him in the middle. It was just wonderful. Anything that had that kind of character was something we really liked."
  162. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 20. Cinefex, USA. Tom Bertino says: "Instead of just having ghosts get sucked into the traps and disappear, we wanted the audience to get the feeling that everything that happened to the ghosts happened for a specific reason. So when these hunks of unearthly ectoplasm get sucked into the traps in this film, we created animation of them coming apart. We also added comets and lightning inside the trap cone field that appear to have a direct effect on the ghosts. For the scene when Tony and Nunzio finally get sucked into the trap, Mike Lessa devised a great staggered effect where Nunzio went in head first, leaving his shoes behind for just a second before they too dropped in. Then at Dennis' suggestion, we had Tony leave his leave his eyeballs behind for just an instant so that the last thing we saw were these two glowing orbs. We wanted to suggest that the ghost trap was literally pulling these guys apart."
  163. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 153. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Stephen Dane says: "One of my military magazines showed guys with big flamethrower backpacks, so I went with that idea."
  164. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 37. Cinefex, USA. Dan Aykroyd says: "The slimeblowers were three times as heavy and four times as bulky as the original packs. I think it took three or four guys to get us into them every time. These slimeblowers are going to every mother's nightmare if they ever go to the toy market, believe me--they were built to spew slime all over the walls. They were fun, though--and a beautiful practical effect. The only thing that worked on ours were the guns. The tanks were empty. The gun was actually a practical device with a spinner in it that sent the slime out, and it was driven by a lot of compressed air. Off camera were the real tanks that fed our lines. These tanks were huge--four or five feet high--and contained slime and air. So every time we blew slime on screen, we actually attached to these huge external tanks."
  165. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 29. Cinefex, USA. Dennis Muren says: "The ghost nanny sequence is another prime example of how things evolve and got better.The way this process of change would usually happen was that Ivan would send us a script. Three days later we would fly down for a meeting. Maybe Harold and Danny would be there, and the producers would be there and Chuck Gaspar--and we would all sort of hear the script through Ivan for the first time. During one of these meetings, he got to the two-headed flying dragon and he asked, 'Is this any good?' I said: 'I don't think so. We've seen it before and it doesn't really fit into this film. He said: 'Great, I agree. So come up with something else.' From there it was up to us to do just that."
  166. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 29. Cinefex, USA. Harley Jessup says: "We did dozens of concept drawings, working with key elements in the story--baby, ledge, New York, New Year's Eve--we presented a variety of solutions to the problem. It was really a chance to find something that would work ten stories up in Manhattan and to think of how it would get up there. Some of the ideas involved creatures from a hellish world, while others were more down-to-earth. We had a phantom taxicab that would fly up, transform and take the baby away. We had a giant pigeon and a face that would appear in the moon and a vapor that came up out of the street. Other concepts involved billboard figures and building gargoyles coming to life. We even thought of a horrible Santa Claus. In retrospect, some of the ideas seem a little screwy, but we were trying to be one of the scariest moments of the film."
  167. Aykroyd, Dan & Ramis, Harold (1983). Ghostbusters (First Draft August 5, 1983) (Script p. 102). Paragraph reads : "She starts down the runway in a very exotic furcoat. She reaches the end of the runway and pirouettes for the customers. Suddenly a yapping mink head pops out of the shoulder of the coat, then another and another until the whole coat is a mess of writhing, yapping rodents. The model screams and throws the coat off.""
  168. Spook Central "NY Customs"
  169. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 28. Cinefex, USA. Ernie Hudson says: "We shot that scene in New York out on the street at two in the morning. I don't know how cold it was, but it couldn't have been more than ten degrees--and with the wind whipping around, we were all freezing. And we were drenched. They poured buckets and buckets of sticky, watery slime over us--over our heads, over everywhere because Ivan wanted it even in our eyes. He wanted us to look like we had been swimming in slime. Then we had to pull off our jumpsuits--which weren't really warm enough for a New York winter to begin with--and stand there in our underwear. I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life. We shot for hours and we couldn't go into the trailers because they were too far away. So we had to sit outside between takes without the luxury of heaters. Danny was there and Harold was there and they weren't complaining, so I figured I shouldn't either. But things did get a little nuts, and at one point I had to ask them: 'Wait a minute. You guys wrote this scene? What the hell were you doing? Didn't you think you were going to have to do this stuff?"
  170. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 28. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "When we wrote the scene, I thought they would find a manhole and then we would go down a ladder and come up. Well, in front of the customs house that doubled for our museum, there was only a closed box underground for a phone conduit, and it was filled with big phone connectors. We had to wedge ourselves in like contortionists. Before we got into the hole, the effects guys would cover us with slime. Then they would smoke up the hole and put the manhole cover on it. I kept saying it was as close to being trapped in a mine or cave-in or the American earthquake as you could imagine. It was pretty awful and it was just freezing. But that really was not the worst of it. We did eleven takes, and then the next morning Ivan came to us and said the camera motor had run off speed and we had to do the scene again. At first we thought he was kidding. I mean, doing it once was the worst experience of my life. We thought, 'Great joke.' Unfortunately, it was no joke and the next night we did the whole thing all over again."
  171. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "For dramatic closeups, a full-scale replica of part of the museum was constructed inside a soundstage at the Burbank Studios."
  172. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 33. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "Ivan wanted the slime to really ooze out of the mortar joints, from above the doors and all over the building exterior. So we cut slits in the walls over the doors and so on, and then attached hoses to the slits and controlled them with valves. The hoses were connected to eleven dump tanks that held a total of eight thousand gallons of slime. There were so many hoses that we needed forty people to operate them all. In front of the set we had another tank to catch the run-off, which later we pumped back out with a vacuum truck. All together, it took about a week-and-a-half to rig the set."
  173. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, pages 33-34. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The slime wall had to be filmed twice. The first time the slime was too thin and the set was not quite wide enough for the effect Reitman wanted. For the second take, the set was extended and Gaspar ordered a thicker mixture. The retake was much more successful, though some of the hoses squirted out so far that slime actually struck one of the five cameras recording the event."
  174. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 34. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "An invisible force rips Oscar from her hands--then floats him across the room to his former spot in front of the painting. "Floating that little baby was a bit hair-raising," Gaspar admitted. "I don't mind floating a grownup, because it they fall, at least they can protect themselves. But a baby doesn't know how to do that. The gag worried me, but we did it in such a way that the baby could possibly get out of the harness. The unit we made was a piece of sheet metal hidden inside his suit and suspended on four wire attached to an overhead rig. The metal pan was attached to the suit with velcro so there was no way the baby could move. It was so tight, in fact, that at one point the baby started fussing and we had to loosen the velcro a little bit. Even so, he could not roll off the pan because it was inside his suit. During the takes, we had everybody standing around watching pretty closely, and as soon as the baby traveled from point A to point B there were people right there to grab him. Once again, the baby was amazing. He never cried or did anything." The master shot of the action required three moves--a pull-through where the baby floated in a straight line across the room toward the Vigo painting, a turn to line him up with the altar and then a set-down where the baby was lowered slowly onto its surface. "For the straight pull-through across the room, the rig was controlled by a rope that I pulled myself because I was kind of nervous. The turn was so delicate that to make it nice and smooth we did it with a radio-controlled servo. For that move, I once again brought in Jay Halsey. At the beginning of the shot, I just pulled the rope and walked the baby along the straight path. When we got to the point where he had to turn, Jay radio-controlled the move. Then we simply lowered the baby down onto the podium." For additional close-ups where the wires would have been visible, the metal pan was concealed under the baby's suit. Depending on the angle, the pole was either held by hand or placed on a cart underneath the camera."
  175. Spook Central "644 Broadway"
  176. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 29. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To complete Oscar's dramatic adventure, a plate of the ledge set was photographed and then later reduced and placed into a matte painting by Mark Sullivan featuring the rest of the building and the street below. In order to get the correct angle on the ledge, Mark Vargo and his plate crew had to position a camera some forty feet up in the air along one side of the large soundstage. To reach this location, they had to climb a simple wooden ladder and then walk along a very narrow catwalk to the desired position. The Vistavision camera had to be elevated on pulleys since it was too heavy to be carried up the ladder."
  177. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 141, 144. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Thom Enriquez says: "In the version I storyboarded, Slimer was involved a lot more, so I had Slimer warn Louis that the baby was out on the ledge. Louis is trying to make out with Janine and he looks over her shoulder, and you see Slimer using all these gestures. The sequence was longer. When Bill Murray shows up with Dana and they find out the baby is missing, they look out the window and see the baby on the ledge with a monster, and there's a physical struggle. Bill goes out there, Dana hands him a baseball bat, and he's swinging at this creature."
  178. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 29. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Even though Oscar no longer had to walk, he still had to appear standing on the ledge of the building some ten stories above a crowded New York street. To accomplish this feat, Bo Welch built Venkman's corner loft apartment complete with two exterior walls and a ledge that stood ten feet above the stage floor. Then Chuck Gaspar had the task of devising a foolproof rig so that Oscar--interchangeably played by William T. Deutshcendorf and Henry J. Deutschendorf II--could stand up."
  179. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 29. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To help direct the children, Deutschendorf stood on a ladder off-camera and made noises to try and make the performing infant appear to be looking off into the distance."
  180. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 28-29. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The idea of having the baby out on the ledge was to offshoot of my having a baby walk like an adult. At one point, we were really considering doing that--but it would have involved either a stop-motion puppet or an adult in a baby suit. Neither of those approaches would have worked without it being in really dim light. As soon as Ivan thought about making a baby walk, he was not thrilled. It just seemed like too much--it made the baby too important."
  181. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "The interior of Ray's Occult Books came to life on Stage 15, right next to the World of the Psychic set."
  182. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "The interior of Ray's Occult Books came to life on Stage 15, right next to the World of the Psychic set."
  183. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Tom Duffield says: "We filled it up with a lot of old used books that our LA set decorator Cheryl Carasik, put in there."
  184. Spook Central, "Dana's apartment"
  185. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 6. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "To create the wild ride, physical effects supervisor Chuck Gaspar--a veteran of the first film--built five radio-controlled carriages."
  186. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 6. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "We placed DC motors inside the buggy baskets. To drive the wheels we used a drive shaft from a drill attachment that could work at right angles to the motor. We also used some three-inch chrome drive shafts to attach to the wheels themselves. These shafts were tied in with the chrome carriage to conceal what was driving the buggy. They looked nice and they were not too bulky. We then designed a steering system and ran cables through the tubes of the carriage frame and into the basket part where they were operated by another big servo. We also used a servo to operate a braking system we installed. Actually, there were two braking systems--the original brakes which automatically locked the wheels and our own brakes which allowed us to slow the buggy gradually. To steer the buggy, I brought in Jay Halsey who is a two-time national champion driver of miniature cars. I used him on The Dead Pool to drive the little black Corvette that races underneath real cars in San Francisco traffic. For Ghostbusters II, he had to steer the buggy from as far away as seventy-five feet and make it maneuver in and out of traffic without tipping over or slamming into any cars. The sequence ended up being much more elaborate than in the original script. For one shot,, we had to tilt the buggy up on its side on cables and go on two wheels down the street. Jay also had to steer it past huge buses without hitting them. He was great with the controls--so good he could make the buggies do wheelies."
  187. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 10. Cinefex, USA. Mark Vargo says: "First we shot the scene with Peter MacNicol walking down the dimly lit hallway. As he did so, he moved his head from side to side. Then to create the look of real light illuminating patches on the walls, we turned off all the lights on the set and did another pass. Michael Chapman held a 2K at roughly MacNicol's head height and walked down the darkened hallway, panning the light from one side to the other. We did a couple of takes like that--fast and slow--and then we did a couple more where we held the light on the right side of the wall and walked along and then did the same on the left side, just in case we had to pick up little pieces. With the lights turned out, you could not see Michael Chapman, and any evidence of the 2K light itself we just garbage-matted out later. All we were interested in were the puddles of light on the wall. Lining up the patches was achieved by editorially sliding the selected light passes to roughly correspond with Janosz' action. This aspect of the shot was less difficult than one might imagine because interactive light elements were next turned over to the animation department where the actual beams could be created. "Pat Myers on the motion control animation camera did a tremendous job defining the beams. He put in shards and a little bit of particulate matter so that they looked like real beams, and he lined the beams up so they tracked from MacNicol's eyebrows to the puddles of light on the walls."
  188. Spook Central "Birthday Party Exteriors"
  189. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "In a subtle bit of location trickery, the previously unseen third floor of the LA firehouse doubled as the site of the birthday party where Ray and Winston perform for an ungrateful audience of fifth graders."
  190. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Tom Duffield says: "Upstairs was the old captain's quarters, and we knew we could use it as the party scene."
  191. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 146. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Tom Duffield snapped up the courtroom set from 1986's Legal Eagles, a Universal comedy starring Robert Redford, which Ivan Reitman had directed in between the two Ghostbusters films."
  192. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 146. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Tom Duffield says: "We pulled it out of stock and added stuff like the glass partition, because the director wanted glass to blow up. We put the stage on a platform because he had to get under the floor to drill holes for the chairs, which were in air mortars. If you look at the chairs as they're blown up off the ground, you'll notice there's a six-inch extension on one side of each chair leg. That's the part that was loaded into the air mortar tube. We also spent a fortune on the ceiling. We wanted a grand feeling, and we thought we'd see it when we were looking up at all the damage. We put in a really heavy cornice ceiling, and I got notices complaining how much we spent."
  193. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 13. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "We also had to throw fourteen visitor chairs across the room, explode the jury box, shatter a glass partition and rig walls and pillars with explosive charges to simulate strafe marks created by the Ghostbusters' guns. We had parts made for three takes of everything so we could reset easily."
  194. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 13. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "Everything that was blown up inside the courtroom was made of balsa wood. The railing, the walk-through hinge doors, the judge's box and even the defense table were made so they could easily be blown up or moved."
  195. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 13. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "We had to pick the defense table up and fly it across the room for a scene where the brothers uncover the cowards hiding underneath. They pick it up and slam it into the back wall of the room. We had that table on a flying track and just pulled it on a compound cable to slam it into the wall as hard as we as we could."
  196. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 13. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "We had parts made for three takes of everything so we could reset easily."
  197. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 13 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "Photographed in front of an ILM bluescreen, Nunzio reacts as electricity passes through his body. The footage thus recorded would later be altered by projecting it into flexible mirrorplex and then rephotographing the distorted imagery."
  198. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 14. Cinefex, USA. Chuck Gaspar says: "The stuntwoman in the scene wore a pair of flying pants and a vest, and the cable ran up from her leg to the ceiling track above. Ivan wanted her to have one leg free so it could dangle--which made things more difficult. All the weight was on her shoulders when she was upside down, so that was not a problem--but she had to try to hold her leg out and kick and flip it around. There were also all these chairs underneath, and her head was just missing the tops of the ones that we had not already blown out of the way."
  199. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Tom Duffield says: "The interiors were set at the VA Medical Center in Brentwood. When they're coming out of the mental hospital in their ghostbusters uniforms, that was shot at a side door service entrance of the Biltmore Hotel."
  200. Spook Central Shot on Site 7/16/12
  201. Spook Central "Liberty Island"
  202. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 30 footnote. Cinefex, USA. Line reads: "The film being shown -- Cannibal Girls -- was the second feature directed by Ivan Reitman, and the posters in the foyer acknowledge two David Cronenberg horror pictures produced by Reitman early in his career."
  203. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Elsewhere, Val's on Riverside Drive (identified in dialogue as Armand's) served as the site of Peter and Dana's dinner date ."
  204. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Tom Duffield says: "It was two blocks from the studio. It was the closest restaurant that still had an upscale feeling to it."
  205. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 9. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "For shots of Ray being lowered into the station, and later scenes with the Ghostbusters on the set, Welch built only a small section of the setting--a curved background wall, steps leading down into the station and a partial platform. This set piece was subsequently combined with matte paintings of the rest of the station rendered by Ysei Uesugi and with a miniature representing the river of slime."
  206. Spook Central First Avenue
  207. Spook Central Shot on Site 1/30/19
  208. Spook Central Shot on Site 1/30/19
  209. Spook Central Shot on Site 7/30/12
  210. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 4. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "A concept illustration by artist Thom Enriquez for Ghostbusters II, in which the ghostbusters travel to a defunct subway system and encounter a car full of ghostly passengers."
  211. Spook Central "California"
  212. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 151. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "Four different coats, all outfitted with a variety of practical effects, were used in a late-night location shoot on an LA street outside the Biltmore Hotel, which doubled as the Sedgewick Hotel in the original film."
  213. Spook Central Shot on Site 3/9/12
  214. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 169. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. David Margulies says: "Right outside the old Customs House in New York, they had maybe four hundred, five hundred extras. It was a tremendous number, and what was happening was that supposedly ghosts were bleeding through the walls. They had all the industrial Light & Magic people-all of whom looked like young painters out of art school-and everyone was doing specifications. The scene really filmed well, it was a terrific, big scene."
  215. Spook Central "Fifth Avenue"
  216. ebay Tim Lawrence "Ghostbusters 2 (1989) Orig. Prod. Artifact: “Crushed Police Car” - Liberty Scene" retrieved 9/16/16 Tim Lawrence says: "This is the miniature wax car from 'Take 2' of the shot where Liberty's foot crushes a police car with her foot (in closeup). We shot 3 takes. I don't remember which 'Take' wound up in the movie, but it could have been this one."
  217. Eisenberg, Adam (November 1989). Ghostbusters Revisited, Cinefex magazine #40, page 7. Cinefex, USA. Harold Ramis says: "The actual operational backpacks weighed about fifty pounds but they were almost twenty pounds lighter if the batteries were left out. Fortunately, for the second film they made a lightweight model--only about twenty-eight pounds--that did not light up as much but still looked good."
  218. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 25). "Line reads: "A PORTRAIT OF VENKMAN- WITH A GOLD PLAQUE- CLOSE-UP PETER VENKMAN 1948-1998."
  219. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 25). "Egon Spengler says: "Ray you did not kill Venkman. It was an industrial accident. He lost his grip and slipped."
  220. Aykroyd, Dan (2006). Ghostbusters III: Hellbent (June 23, 2006 Draft) (Script p. 25). "Ray Stantz says: "He was obsessed with developing his foolproof love potion and it cost him his life."
  221. Dille, Flint & Platten, John Z. (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Draft Revision February 11, 2008) (Script p. 22). The Manager says: "Oh... Oh..., that table is an 18th century Queen Anne replica! Not the Gainsborough!"
  222. Dille, Flint & Platten, John Z. (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Draft Revision February 11, 2008) (Script p. 109). Line reads: "He gestures at photos on the wall: still from Ghostbusters II."
  223. Dille, Flint & Platten, John Z. (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Draft Revision February 11, 2008) (Script p. 109). Egon Spengler says: "It uses a base culture of ectoplasm developed from materials we discovered under the City a few years ago."
  224. Dille, Flint & Platten, John Z. (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Draft Revision February 11, 2008) (Script p. 156). Line reads: "It is a cluttered dark space and on the wall furthest from the doorway, the Fettuccine painting from the second movie is in full view."
  225. Dille, Flint & Platten, John Z. (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Draft Revision February 11, 2008) (Script p. 210). Line reads: "Of all the tanks of slime, there is an overabundance of pink slime that is attached to the only working pumps that pump it into the pipes. This is where the pink slime from Ghostbusters 2 originates from."
  226. Dille, Flint & Platten, John Z. (2009). Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Draft Revision February 11, 2008) (Script p. 210). Peter Venkman says: "You remember when the museum turned into a giant Jell-o mold and the Statue of Liberty went meandering through downtown?"
  227. Tested YouTube "Adam Savage Tours Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s Farmhouse Set!" 04:16-04:21 9/15/2021 Alex Smith says: "Up above, we have the box from the second movie that they poured the pink ooze into."
  228. Tested YouTube "Adam Savage Tours Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s Farmhouse Set!" 04:29-04:34 9/15/2021 Alex Smith says: "Yes, that's the same brand we found that--and sourced that out and then we'd gone back and we'd even get the actual toaster on the counter."
  229. Uproxx "In Which We Talk To Jason Reitman About Almost Everything Except ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’" 11/19/2021 Jason Reitman says: "The toaster from Ghostbusters II is in the kitchen in the farmhouse."
  230. Go Creative Show YouTube "Ghostbusters Afterlife Production Design (with Francois Audouy) GCS291" 30:20-31:10 12/6/2021 Francois Audouy says: "We ended up using the-an Ecto-1 that Sony had in a storage container from the second film and then purchasing a second Ecto-1-a second 1959 Cadillac and then we took every-the picture vehicle company took the whole-both cars apart and catalog every single piece of both cars like like I don't know like forensically so basically imagine walking into a garage and two cars were completely torn-taken apart and then cataloged and then every singe piece, thousands and thousands of pieces were restored but then the cars now the cars, it wasn't just a restoration job because the cars had to do three things."
  231. Tested YouTube "The Production Design of Ghostbusters: Afterlife!" 4:33-4:27 1/26/2022
  232. The A.V. Club YouTube "Ghostbusters Afterlife interview: Jason and Ivan Reitman on Easter eggs" 00:41-00:48 11/19/2021 Jason Reitman says: "And we had a straightened slinky on Phoebe's night table in Chicago at the beginning of the movie."
  233. Winston Zeddemore; Talk to Winston when he is standing by the Ecto-1 (2022). Ghostbusters: Spirits UnleashedFirehouse (2022) (PS4/PS5/PC/Xbox One/Xbox Series X). Illfonic. Winston Zeddemore says: "Kid, I haven't been able to set a footstep on a subway since '89. Let's just say there was a traumatic incident."
  234. Ghostbusters News YouTube "Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed's development, recent DLC, and future | Interview with Illfonic" 26:02-26:12 2/16/2023 Jared Gerritzen says: "You know the anti-possession device is actually based off of Ghostbusters II when they're in the china ship or the crystal shop and they're using those laser deals and so."
  235. Illfonic Twitch TV "DLC #2 Preview Stream | feat. Design Director Jordan" 7:21-7:36 4/19/2023 Jordan says: "The courthouse we wanted to bring in some obviously--something that was iconic to the franchise, the courthouse is part of the second movie and we wanted to recreate that feeling of being able to go through and bust-- and bust throughout the courthouse."
  236. Ronald Petnick; Sewers mission (2023). Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost LordSan Francisco Wastewater Treatment Facility (2023) (Meta Quest 2/Playstation VR2). nDreams. Ronald Petnick says: "In New York, your 'ghost'...stoppers dug up entire streets to access the sewers. Dangerous, reckless, and against the law!"
  237. Gustav Hookfaber; During second Hookfaber Mansion level (2023). Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost LordHookfaber Mansion (2023) (Meta Quest 2/Playstation VR2). nDreams. Gustav Hookfaber says: "Just as in New York... the negativity, the pain... it's an unstoppable force!"
  238. The Numbers:Ghostbusters II
  239. Proton Charging:Ghostbusters By the numbers
  240. Ghostbusters II (1999) DVD Production Notes
  241. Entertainment Weekly ""Ghostbusters: An Oral History" Ivan Reitman quote 11/7/14 Ivan Reitman says: "Yeah, I think he's unfair. He keeps saying we sold out to the special effects. I just think we never got the last act right, with the Statue of Liberty. We couldn't top the ending of the (first) movie, but I thought it was a worthy sequel."
  242. Labrecque, Jeff (2014). "Ghostbusters: An Oral History". Entertainment Weekly. Ivan Reitman says: "Yeah, I think he's unfair. He keeps saying we sold out to the special effects. I just think we never got the last act right, with the Statue of Liberty. We couldn't top the ending of the (first) movie, but I thought it was a worthy sequel."
  243. Beyond the Marquee Joe Medjuck Interview 9/15/14 Joe Medjuck says: "We were aware of the cartoon show during the making of Ghostbusters II. Only the bringing back of Slimer was an influence."
  244. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters- Something's Going Around (1989) (DVD ts. 13:31-13:37). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "It must be the years of Ectoplasmic residue."
  245. Janine Melnitz (2009).The Real Ghostbusters- Something's Going Around (1989) (DVD ts. 13:52-14:01). Time Life Entertainment. Janine says: "You think about it, for years now you been busting ghosts. Hundreds of ghosts. Thousands of ghosts"
  246. Egon Spengler (2009).The Real Ghostbusters- "Partners in Slime " (1989) (DVD ts. 10:32-10:38). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "I collected it last year after we battled Vigo the Carpathian."
  247. Winston Zeddemore (2009).The Real Ghostbusters- "Mean Green Teen Machine" (1990) (DVD ts. 07:10-07:14). Time Life Entertainment. Winston says: "I don't know about this, Egon. Remember what happened last time we dug up the street?"
  248. Egon Spengler (2009).The Real Ghostbusters- "Mean Green Teen Machine" (1990) (DVD ts. 07:14-07:21). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "It was an honest mistake. They had the subway station pumped out within a few days."
  249. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Treasure of Sierra Tamale" (1991) (DVD ts. 05:59-06:05). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "--is pinned in the Proton Stream, a simple reverse in polarity creates a psychomagnotheric vacuum and--"
  250. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Treasure of Sierra Tamale" (1991) (DVD ts. 20:26-20:35). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "Precisely. By setting up a feedback loop with our packs as I did with the SCEP-TECH, we should be able to create a controlled psychomagnotheric vacuum and lower the ambient temperature to freezing."
  251. Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Attack of the B-Movie Monsters" (1991) (DVD ts. 10:27-10:30). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "That's odd. Now there's no trace of psychomagnotheric residue."
  252. Dan Aykroyd's tweet 3/21/2012)

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Twenty eight images were selected. To see more screen caps go to Scenes section and look at the individual chapters of the movie.

References in IDW Comics[]

References in Spirits Unleashed[]

References in Rise of the Ghost Lord[]

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