I ain't afraid of no ghost...

Introduction

Who ya gonna call? Don't say 118!

I can still remember going to see this film at the cinema (the now defunct State Cinema, Grays, Essex) when I was 10. It was great fun back then. It was great fun watching it when it came out on DVD 9 years ago. And it's still great fun now that it has come to Blu Ray.

As with watching the DVD, lots of jokes which might have sailed overhead 25 years ago are now much appreciated. This is a good film, even after 25 years, and is not just for kids. I won't bother going into the plot because you must surely know all about it by now.

The screenshots in this review are taken from the old DVD...

Video and Audio

The picture quality is great, essentially a gently tweaked and improved version of the DVD transfer. Some of the special effects do look very dated now, but a few have aged reasonably well. And considering the budget they had back then, I would say that is quite a feat.

The new TrueHD 5.1 remix of the sound is also great - without a doubt this still sounds better in my lounge than it did in the cinema 15 years ago. Dialogue is well reproduced as are sound effects. Watch out for those proton packs charging up - plenty of LFE there. The rears also get some work to do, with ghosts flying around the room. Perhaps they could have done even more (a complaint I levelled at the original DVD soundtrack), but this is now the best this film has ever sounded. 

The musical score is also brought back to life (compare it to a VHS copy if you still can).

Extra Features

Everything from the old DVD is here (which is good). And they've added more stuff too.

The commentary track is still here and is still worth listening to. The "before and after" special effects sequences are still here (the Ghostbusters DVD was one of the few "mainstream" DVDs to make use of the multiple angle feature). Add to that storyboards, loads and loads of stills, ten deleted scenes, a trailer and a Ghostbusters 2 trailer, and some other short documentary footage and you have a winner.



And now the new stuff. A great feature on Ecto-1 called Resurrecting the Classic Car, which goes into detail about this iconic vehicle. There's also a "Commentary Blu-Wizard"  which can be used to bring up any number of features whilst watching the film.

Slimer Mode brings both a text commentary track full of trivia and facts (like a classic Doctor Who DVD text stream) as well as interview footage.

There's also CineChat which uses BD-Live to let you talk with other people about the film (if that's your thing) and some features on the new Ghostbusters game coming soon. That looks brilliant particularly to a fan of the original game!

Conclusion

Who ya gonna call ?

Your nearest retailer, to get your copy now! This Blu Ray has taken all that was great about a great DVD, improved it and then shovelled on some more stuff too. The film is still brilliant after all these years. It's funny. It's clever. It's entertaining. It's a classic. It has endlessly quotable dialogue. I could go on and on but I don't need to. It's just a great film.

If you don't already have this on DVD, then buy it now. If you do have the DVD, there's enough here to make you want to upgrade, particularly if it's been 9 years since you bought the DVD.

Highly recommended for your collection. It's an old film but all those extras really make it a disc that is worth having!