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There’s just something about the Ghostbusters franchise that will not, you’ll pardon the expression, die. When erstwhile collaborators Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis first unleashed their story upon unsuspecting movie-going audiences back in the summer of 1984 (directed brilliantly by Ivan Reitman), it quickly went from being just another movie to ascending into the realm of pop culture phenomenon. The story about four intrepid ghost hunters (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson) who set out to save the Big Apple from an invasion of otherworldly proportions became a rallying cry for what a genuine popcorn movie should be – Fun, exciting with maybe a small scare or two. It was a simple formula that ballooned into a cottage industry that, among many highlights, featured a hit single, comic-books, video games, a sequel and a remake all distributed and parceled out to a public hungry for that indefinable something which tickled their funny bone sensibilities. Ghostbusters: Afterlife, a sequel to the last in-canon effort (1989’s Ghostbusters II) finally bowed to audiences this very year and perhaps you’d be forgiven for thinking that Ghostbusters mania may have died down just a wee bit after all the recent hoopla. You would be wrong on that count, Dear and Constant Reader.
Announced today by our “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts” pals over at Bloody Disgusting News comes the news that the ultimate in Ghostbusters Blu-ray box sets is poised to drop this February 1 at all self-respecting retailers worldwide. Can I get an “Amen”?
The set’s crown jewel looks to be a bona-fide rarity in the form of a 114-minute “preview cut” of the original Ghostbusters, replete with “alternate takes, additional scenes, early effects” and other goodies. For a select handful of cinephiles, this revelation is tantamount to a newly unearthed director’s cut of It’s a Wonderful Life or The Best Years of Our Lives making the bootleg rounds. The difference here being, of course, I that this cut actually exists and is getting a legally sanctioned release.
The set also features Ghostbusters II with a jaw-dropping NINETEEN deleted scenes from the movie which will be making their world debut within this package.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife will naturally be included in the set, but it is worth noting that there will be no (as in nada) representation in the set of an actual physical disc featuring the mucho maligned Paul Feig 2016 stink-fiesta which was essentially Ghostbusters remade with an entirely female cast. Word ‘round our particular campfire has it that a digital download of that ill-advised remake will be made available in the set, but to avoid risk of contaminating the three in-canon films in the series, no actual Blu-ray of this debacle will be enclosed (try intoning those last few lines in your best Simpson’s “Comic Book Man” tone of voice). Some wounds just never heal.
We’ll try and have a review up of the Ghostbusters Ultimate Collection Blu-ray set just as soon as we get our grubby mitts on one, True Believer; Excelsior!
