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Dogs Drag Dana is the sixteenth chapter on the DVDs of Ghostbusters. This chapter Dana is attacked and possessed by Zuul.

Cast[]

Location[]

Plot[]

In the evening, lightning struck the Shandor Building. A horse drawn carriage pranced through Central Park. The Terror Dog statue on the right began to crumble. The left front claws were revealed. The red eyes of the real creature inside began to show.

Dana Barrett looked up in the elevator as the doors opened on her floor. She popped something in her mouth from a paper bag and tried to sneak past Louis Tully's door. He popped out to greet her. He held a Perrier. A snippet from "Hot Night" played. They greeted each other. Louis invited her in and called it a classic party. Dana admitted she had a date. Louis was shocked. He walked up to her. His door closed. Dana apologized and told him she forgot about the party. She walked away looking guilty. There was a pause. Louis told her it was okay and she could bring him along. Dana's guilt vanished and she grinned. She promised they might stop by. She went into her apartment. Louis replied that was great and he was going to tell everyone the good news. He revealed he had Twister and break dancing planned. Louis realized he was locked out yet again. He called for someone to let him back in.

Dana ate, placed her purse down, took off her scarf and outer wear. She turned on a lamp and took a shoe off. The phone rang. It was Dana's mother. Dana told her she was busy as she took off her other shoe. She assured her everything was fine. She slid her outer pants off. She confirmed it was just that one time something went wrong. Dana made some promises to her mother. Dana revealed she had a date to get ready for. She told her it wasn't anyone she knew. Dana revealed he was a Ghostbuster. She confirmed it was one of "those guys on TV." She promised to let her know. Dana told her to give her love to Dad and told her mother goodbye. She hung up and exhaled. She sat back. A Terror Dog's head pressed against the kitchen door from the inside. A growl caught her attention. She stared and swore. Suddenly, a hairy dog-like arm shot out of her armchair and grabbed her. She screamed. Another shot out of the sofa and covered her mouth. Another held her leg down. The armchair swiveled around to face the kitchen. The door opened. Zuul, the Terror Dog, growled. The chair sped off and rushed towards the kitchen. She screamed and struggled to get free. The door closed behind her.

On the roof, the two Terror Dog statues were in pieces.

Trivia[]

Ghostbusters[]

  • In the July 6, 1983 draft, on pages 63-64, the two Bums, later known as Robert Learned Coombs and Harlan Bojay comment on the growing atmospheric light-cloud forming above Dana's apartment building. This scene came after the one with Dana in the armchair getting taken into the kitchen by force.
  • The scene at Central Park is where Terrace Drive and West Drive intersect near the top of Sheep Meadow and the bottom Strawberry Field.
  • The opening and closing scenes were filmed at the Temple of Gozer set on Stage 16 at the Burbank Studios in Los Angeles.
  • The Terror Dog stone statue paw that breaks was made with a soft carve-able foam covered with a thin layer of plaster.[1]
  • The hallway and apartment scenes were filmed at Stage 12 and 18 at the Burbank Studios in Los Angeles.
  • In the September 30, 1983 draft, on page 73-75, the sequence of Louis telling Dana about his classic party appears and closely resembles the movie. Dana being taken comes next.
  • "Hot Night" plays during the hallway scene.
  • Louis walks out in the hall holding a Perrier.
  • Dana alludes to Peter Venkman.
  • Louis mentions the party game Twister.
  • Originally, the three arms that grab Dana were different - one human, one hook, and one green frog-like sucker arm. Ivan Reitman thought the sucker arm was too cartoonish and it was discarded.[2]
  • The illumination effect behind the door was simply light.[3] The door itself was rubber.[4]
  • The bulging and glowing kitchen door was Ivan Reitman's nod to a similar effect done by Steven Spielberg on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."[5][6][7]
  • Not everything was in sync during production. The articulated Zuul Terror Dog puppet used in the scene wasn't ready until the last days of principal photography. After the scenes when Dana's apartment is blown up, John DeCuir's team went back and put the set completely together for the one Terror Dog shot.[8]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife[]

  • Zuul attacks Egon Spengler in a similar way she attacked Dana Barrett in the first movie with multiple arms popping out of the chair.
  • Egon's ghost moves the armchair with Phoebe Spengler on it in a similar way done to Dana in the first movie.
  • The close up of the red eye on the Terror Dog statue in the mine was a nod to when a similar manifestation happened in the first movie.

IDW Comics[]

References[]

  1. The Containment Unit YouTube "Terri Hardin (Zuul, Ghostbusters) Interview" 1:43:15-1:43:46 1/2/2021 Terri Hardin says: "So in the opening of Ghostbusters when the stone dog cracks the paw, cracks through. That is a soft foam, carve-able foam like with flowers so it's a foam carved-we did a lot of foam carving-but it's actually carved out of foam and then you put a thin layer of plaster over it and then you can actually break it and it looks like rock but it's the way they painted it to make it look like it's the stone."
  2. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 112 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Michael Gross says: "It was always the intention to have only two, but when Thom Enriquez storyboarded the sequence, he showed the movement of one of the arms by drawing it in two positions, with cartoon-style movement lines in between. This drawing was misunderstood by the guys in the 'monster shop,' so they built three -- and since they had, we used them. When it came time to shoot the scene, Ivan decided to have the third arm come right up between Sigourney's legs. It really made the sequence much more terrifying and threatening. Originally, each arm was different. One was a human arm, one had a hook on the end of it and one was a green, frog-like sucker arm. Ivan didn't like the sucker arm -- he thought it looked too cartoonish -- so we ended up with two human arms and the one with the hook."
  3. Harold Ramis (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 51:17-51:19). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Harold Ramis says: "Just this cheap thing of a light behind a door."
  4. Ivan Reitman (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 51:34-51:36). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Ivan Reitman says: "Yes, that was a rubber door."
  5. Ivan Reitman (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 51:20-51:28). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Ivan Reitman says: "I know. I said, okay. Well, I'd seen "Close Encounters" and I said, "if Spielberg can do those lights, I can do those lights and we'll do it in a kind of different way.""
  6. Harold Ramis (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 51:32-51:34). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Harold Ramis says: "The door bending, of course."
  7. Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 60. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Line reads: "The illumination peeking through the doorframe was Reitman's nod to a similar effect in Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
  8. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 112 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Michael Gross says: "Articulated puppets take a long time to build -- and we knew the articulated Terror Dog wouldn't be ready until our last couple days of shooting. So all of the shots requiring an articulated dog, such as the one in Dana's kitchen, had to wait until the very end. Unfortunately, by that time, Dana's apartment set had been completely trashed for later scenes in the film -- holes knocked in the walls and floors torn up and that sort of thing. So after everything else was done, John DeCuir and his crew had to go in and put that set completely back together -- for one Terror Dog shot."

Gallery[]

Selected Screengrabs[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Secondary Canon[]

 
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