Rating: PG | Runtime: 108 minutes
Release Date: June 16th, 1989 (USA)
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Director(s): Ivan Reitman
Writer(s): Harold Ramis & Dan Aykroyd

Death is but a door. Time is but a window. I’ll be back.

Ghostbusters became a national phenomenon after its 1984 release, giving the world a witty comedy inside a science fiction narrative that transcended age by appealing to all. As a result, the studio decided to monetize the name by spawning an animated television show (“The Real Ghostbusters”), a plethora of toys, and even a neon green Hi-C juice box labeled Ecto Cooler. Columbia Pictures had a goldmine on their hands and the desire to produce a sequel while the iron was hot couldn’t be denied. Director Ivan Reitman and writers Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis felt no desire to concoct a follow-up, however. They believed the original stood alone and ended exactly where it should. But the money-machine holds too much clout and the three wrestled with ideas before eventually deciding on having a go after all.

Ghostbusters II was thus born from slime—literally. By latching onto one of the funnier physical gags from the original, the comedians fashioned a tale around New York City’s never-ending vitriol facilitating a river of emotionally resonate slime beneath it. A gooey phlegm-like substance common in the cartoon (and the namesake of fan-favorite Slimer), its inclusion in the film meant skewing away from the more intellectual humor of the first for easier, lowest common denominator jokes. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just different with character nuance turning into caricatures for cheap laughs. Watching it today still garnered plenty of chuckles, but viewing it so soon after its predecessor does make me wonder how much of my love rests in nostalgia rather than quality.

Either way, the set-up is quite brilliant. Five years passed since the paranormal cesspool of Gozer was run out of NYC in a mess of marshmallow and the Ghostbusters find themselves lost. Venkman (Bill Murray) is a reviled TV talk show psychic. Egon (Ramis) continues his studies via academia. And Ray’s (Aykroyd) occult bookshop owner moonlights with Winston (Ernie Hudson) as a birthday party act receiving chants of “He-Man” when asking eight-year olds, “Who you gonna call?’ With their rockstar status depleted, this quartet has begrudgingly moved on since distant memories do little to silence present frustration. The mayor won’t even grant them more than two minutes of face time after practically winning reelection courtesy of their heroics due to his new aide (Kurt Fuller’s Jack Hardemeyer) proving a thorn in their side. But not everyone has forgotten.

Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver)—jilted by Venkman and steadfast in avoiding him—knows Egon is the only one who can help once her baby’s stroller goes on a kamikaze ride through a busy downtown street. Unwittingly drawn into the paranormal chaos again, Dana’s luck proves disastrous. On leave from her orchestra, she’s now restoring paintings at a museum and unwittingly making her son Oscar the prime candidate for possession by 17th century tyrant Vigo the Carpathian (played by Wilhelm von Homburg and voiced by Max von Sydow). A heavily accented weasel, her over-the-top boss Dr. Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol) cultivates ideas of grandeur to rule the world with Vigo and win Dana’s affections. Unfortunately, much like Louis (Rick Moranis) in the first film, he isn’t quite Dana’s idea of a prime relationship candidate.

Its simple plot sadly leaves a lot to be desired with its mirroring of the original’s themes exacerbating its shortcomings to the point where its influx of jokes can’t compensate. Dana and Venkman’s unrequited love sparks as though they’ve been having an affair this entire time. Annie Potts’ Janine puts the moves on another nerd in Louis (the character that’s been gutted the most to prove a shadow of his former self) to mussed hair success. And Ray lets his exuberance get the best of him again to bring yet another creature onto our plane of existence. A mental institution plays a similar role as jail did previously and a blue hardhat wearing utility worker even finds a way to bureaucratically shut them down here as well. Some things never change.

You can’t necessarily blame Aykroyd and Ramis for sticking to what already worked—especially since they didn’t want to write this one in the first place—but you can’t exactly praise them either. When the biggest change is letting MacNicol run wild to create an immigrant from the West Side effeminately waving his hands, smiling creepily, and shrieking goofily, their priorities have definitely skewed. That’s not to say I don’t love Janosz. He is by far the most memorable piece of the film and fantastic fodder for hysterics. But why must the stakes be constantly subverted with jokes? Even the creation of uncontrollable ooze with malicious intent coursing through it somehow becomes the equivalent to a dance party when Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” plays. The potential for darkness is there, but the Ghostbusters name is no longer able to be edgy after the youth of America adopted it for themselves.

Not a total waste with rousing scenes like Winston’s nightmarish run in with a ghost train, some intriguing cameos (Cheech Marin, Philip Baker Hall, Kevin Dunn, and Bobby Brown), and the return of Murray’s quips, I do wonder about my feelings had I not watched it religiously on HBO and VHS throughout the 90s. There’s a sentimental charm clouding my judgment and weighing the comedy much higher than I probably should in comparison to the theatrics used to hide its rather weak story. I wonder if Murray’s current revulsion towards a third entry has roots in the fact he sold out to an inferior product in 1989 already. But then I remember Garfield and its sequel and begin to think that hesitance is a carefully constructed ploy to keep the Ghostbusters name alive. Thankfully, Ghostbusters II is a fun enough adventure to mindlessly watch and enjoy. If only I could still drink Ecto Cooler while doing so.

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Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver in GHOSTBUSTERS II.