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Ghostbusters: The Inside Story: Stories from the cast and crew of the beloved films
The essential guide to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II! Exploring everything from the pioneering special effects to the set design and the unforgettable soundtrack. This authorized book tells the exhaustive behind-the-scenes story of how Dan Aykroyd's original concept evolved into a movie phenomenon.
The perfect gift for the Ghostbusters fan in your life!
The guide is packed with hundreds of fascinating production photos, concept art and rare behind-the-scenes images, while new interviews with the cast and crew, including Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman, Annie Potts, Richard Edlund and many more, reveal how they overcame numerous challenges to create one of the best-loved movie franchises of the 1980s.
The perfect gift for the Ghostbusters fan in your life!
The guide is packed with hundreds of fascinating production photos, concept art and rare behind-the-scenes images, while new interviews with the cast and crew, including Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman, Annie Potts, Richard Edlund and many more, reveal how they overcame numerous challenges to create one of the best-loved movie franchises of the 1980s.
- GenresNonfictionFilm
240 pages, Hardcover
Published June 30, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 30, 2020
If you want to wander around Spook Central for a while, this book is a fun introduction, showcasing why its magic hasn’t dulled in over thirty-five years. It boasts new interviews with some of the cast and crew, which sit alongside a number of quotes from the books that came before it.
You get to find out a little bit about everything you remember from Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. From the household names to the actors who are still recognised for the character they played during a single scene. The people who worked behind the scenes to bring the script to life: the artists,
lighting department, special effects, sound. The ghosts. Ecto-1.
There are a few scattered mentions of the 2016 movie (no, it didn’t ruin my childhood. I really enjoyed it!), but the focus always remains on the first two movies. I would love to see some of the deleted scenes that were mentioned.
Along the way you’ll learn some fun facts:
👻 The ghost on the logo is called Mooglie.
👻 Stay Puft was 112.5 feet tall.
👻 100,000 gallons of slime were produced for the second movie.
👻 The sound of Ecto-1’s siren was a modified leopard cry.
You’ll also find out which actor’s initial thought when they saw the movie for the first time was, “Eh, it’s alright.” and find the blooper in a Stay Puft scene. I was introduced to the frog ghost that didn’t make it into the second movie.
If you’ve known me longer than a few weeks, you’ll know that Ghostbusters is my favourite movie of all time. It has been one of the constants in my life. The library ghost terrified me during my first viewing at six years old and I continued to ‘watch’ that scene through my fingers during subsequent viewings until my brave grew in.
My first and favourite childhood video game was the Commodore 64 Ghostbusters game, where it was hit and miss whether I could time that final dash past Mr Stay Puft.
Screenshot of the Commodore 64 game. Not pictured in this book.
Decades later, I still revisit the Ghostbusters every month, more often if I’m having a bad week. Whenever there was a storm when I was growing up I’d check out the sky and determine whether they were Ghostbuster clouds or not, and it’s quite possible I still do.
Then there’s the merchandise that’s managed to part me with my money: the t-shirt, the pyjamas, the Lego, the diecast model Ecto-1 with bonus Slimer, the books. So many books. Over the years I’ve owned the soundtrack on both cassette and CD, and the original movie on Beta, VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. I can still tell you which elements in each scene you are now able to see on widescreen that were missing on the VHS viewings of my childhood.
I may have been known to talk in Ghostbusters quotes at times the uninitiated deem inappropriate. There really is a quote for every occasion.
On hobbies. “I collect spores, moulds and fungus.”
When you’re starting your own business. “The franchise rights alone will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams.”
Need directions? “Hey, where do these stairs go?” “They go up.”
How to make an important decision. “Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes!”
How to: customer service edition. “Whaddya want?”
On winning. “We came. We saw. We kicked its ass!”
If you’ve been a Ghostbusters fan for any length of time you probably already know a lot of the fun facts you’ll read in this book. New fans will find plenty to love, as will readers who enjoy knowing a little bit about everything.
Some of the information is repetitive, especially the captions for the images, which basically restate what you’ve just read. The fire hydrant spurting sand instead of water when it’s kicked by Stay Puft was mentioned three separate times that I noticed. Several other tidbits were mentioned at least twice.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that everything was sunshine and roses on the set as so many interviews mention how wonderful everyone was to work with. There were a couple of interviews where someone would say that they had originally wanted things done differently or what they had spent so much time working on was suddenly changed at the last minute, but even these interviewees backtracked, saying that it all worked out even better than it would have if the plans hadn’t changed. It felt a bit disingenuous at times, although fangirl me maintains the hope that love, joy and peace flavoured the air during production.
There were plenty of stills from the movies and behind the scenes photos of the cast and crew, some of which I’d seen previously. The layout was quite consistent throughout the book and there were some really interesting pictures, especially those that showed the concept art
and the way the ghosts were made. I found the process involved in making the painting come to life in the second movie particularly interesting.
I doubt any Ghostbusters book will ever surpass Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History for me but I still enjoyed this read. It definitely made me want to see Dan Akroyd’s original Ghost Smashers script made into a movie and ‘research’ was a great excuse to rewatch the first two movies - again!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Hero Collector Books for the opportunity read this book.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
You get to find out a little bit about everything you remember from Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. From the household names to the actors who are still recognised for the character they played during a single scene. The people who worked behind the scenes to bring the script to life: the artists,
lighting department, special effects, sound. The ghosts. Ecto-1.
There are a few scattered mentions of the 2016 movie (no, it didn’t ruin my childhood. I really enjoyed it!), but the focus always remains on the first two movies. I would love to see some of the deleted scenes that were mentioned.
Along the way you’ll learn some fun facts:
👻 The ghost on the logo is called Mooglie.
👻 Stay Puft was 112.5 feet tall.
👻 100,000 gallons of slime were produced for the second movie.
👻 The sound of Ecto-1’s siren was a modified leopard cry.
You’ll also find out which actor’s initial thought when they saw the movie for the first time was, “Eh, it’s alright.” and find the blooper in a Stay Puft scene. I was introduced to the frog ghost that didn’t make it into the second movie.
If you’ve known me longer than a few weeks, you’ll know that Ghostbusters is my favourite movie of all time. It has been one of the constants in my life. The library ghost terrified me during my first viewing at six years old and I continued to ‘watch’ that scene through my fingers during subsequent viewings until my brave grew in.
My first and favourite childhood video game was the Commodore 64 Ghostbusters game, where it was hit and miss whether I could time that final dash past Mr Stay Puft.
Screenshot of the Commodore 64 game. Not pictured in this book.
Decades later, I still revisit the Ghostbusters every month, more often if I’m having a bad week. Whenever there was a storm when I was growing up I’d check out the sky and determine whether they were Ghostbuster clouds or not, and it’s quite possible I still do.
Then there’s the merchandise that’s managed to part me with my money: the t-shirt, the pyjamas, the Lego, the diecast model Ecto-1 with bonus Slimer, the books. So many books. Over the years I’ve owned the soundtrack on both cassette and CD, and the original movie on Beta, VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. I can still tell you which elements in each scene you are now able to see on widescreen that were missing on the VHS viewings of my childhood.
I may have been known to talk in Ghostbusters quotes at times the uninitiated deem inappropriate. There really is a quote for every occasion.
On hobbies. “I collect spores, moulds and fungus.”
When you’re starting your own business. “The franchise rights alone will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams.”
Need directions? “Hey, where do these stairs go?” “They go up.”
How to make an important decision. “Ray, when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes!”
How to: customer service edition. “Whaddya want?”
On winning. “We came. We saw. We kicked its ass!”
If you’ve been a Ghostbusters fan for any length of time you probably already know a lot of the fun facts you’ll read in this book. New fans will find plenty to love, as will readers who enjoy knowing a little bit about everything.
Some of the information is repetitive, especially the captions for the images, which basically restate what you’ve just read. The fire hydrant spurting sand instead of water when it’s kicked by Stay Puft was mentioned three separate times that I noticed. Several other tidbits were mentioned at least twice.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that everything was sunshine and roses on the set as so many interviews mention how wonderful everyone was to work with. There were a couple of interviews where someone would say that they had originally wanted things done differently or what they had spent so much time working on was suddenly changed at the last minute, but even these interviewees backtracked, saying that it all worked out even better than it would have if the plans hadn’t changed. It felt a bit disingenuous at times, although fangirl me maintains the hope that love, joy and peace flavoured the air during production.
There were plenty of stills from the movies and behind the scenes photos of the cast and crew, some of which I’d seen previously. The layout was quite consistent throughout the book and there were some really interesting pictures, especially those that showed the concept art
and the way the ghosts were made. I found the process involved in making the painting come to life in the second movie particularly interesting.
I doubt any Ghostbusters book will ever surpass Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History for me but I still enjoyed this read. It definitely made me want to see Dan Akroyd’s original Ghost Smashers script made into a movie and ‘research’ was a great excuse to rewatch the first two movies - again!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Hero Collector Books for the opportunity read this book.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
July 7, 2020
Everyone loves Ghostbusters... aaand some people like Ghostbusters II. This division is reflected in this book - the chapters on the first film are rich in detail, the part on the second film much less so.
In fact, I was pleasantly surprised how in-depth the book is on the first film - at first the book comes across a bit like a collection of information gathered together from previous interviews and pieces, but there are a lot of new interviews here, with a wide array of people. Characters get their own chapters, no matter how small the role (Michael Ensign, who plays the hotel manager, gets his own write-up, for example). The visual effects rightfully take up a lot of space (the moment when the Stay-Puft marshmallow man has caught on fire, gets its own chapter!).
Ghostbusters II feels a bit like an afterthought. I found it surprising there wasn't a chapter on Wilhelm von Homburg, who played Vigo the Carpathian (though not Vigo's voice) - to call Von Homburg a character is a serious understatement.
There's a lot of attention paid to the Scoleri Brothers (ghosts in the second film), so much that it feels a bit like filler. The last chapter is the special effects involved in Ray Stanz's possession by Vigo the Carpathian, and then we're unceremoniously dumped into the index, which feels a bit jarring.
All that said, even if the Ghostbusters II part is a tad anemic, I can wholeheartedly recommend the book for anyone who is interested in the creation of the first film.
(Kindly received a review copy from Hero Collector through Edelweiss)
In fact, I was pleasantly surprised how in-depth the book is on the first film - at first the book comes across a bit like a collection of information gathered together from previous interviews and pieces, but there are a lot of new interviews here, with a wide array of people. Characters get their own chapters, no matter how small the role (Michael Ensign, who plays the hotel manager, gets his own write-up, for example). The visual effects rightfully take up a lot of space (the moment when the Stay-Puft marshmallow man has caught on fire, gets its own chapter!).
Ghostbusters II feels a bit like an afterthought. I found it surprising there wasn't a chapter on Wilhelm von Homburg, who played Vigo the Carpathian (though not Vigo's voice) - to call Von Homburg a character is a serious understatement.
There's a lot of attention paid to the Scoleri Brothers (ghosts in the second film), so much that it feels a bit like filler. The last chapter is the special effects involved in Ray Stanz's possession by Vigo the Carpathian, and then we're unceremoniously dumped into the index, which feels a bit jarring.
All that said, even if the Ghostbusters II part is a tad anemic, I can wholeheartedly recommend the book for anyone who is interested in the creation of the first film.
(Kindly received a review copy from Hero Collector through Edelweiss)
June 14, 2020
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
I have to be honest - I had a hard time trying to figure out the point of this book. There are several detailed books on the making of the movie and even a visual guide with an annotated screenplay. So what does this book bring to the table? It feels very much like a survey of the movie - a mix of screenshots, some behind the scenes images, a few blueprints or mockups and then an endless assortment of bland and unrevealing (even self-congratulatory) written vignettes. I did not feel like I learned much and the photographs didn't really reveal anything new (there were a LOT of "everyone group together and smile" on set quickies that don't really reveal much other than some are in costume and some aren't. As a visual piece, it is nicely presented. But yes, it does feel like fluff or filler.Information wise, the book is grouped as a set of short write ups on topics. So you'll get a few paragraphs from the actors (or their relatives, if deceased), the special effects guys, the sound technicians, puppeters, etc. From them we learn that the marshmallow gunk was heavy, they worked long hours, the leads were a pleasure to work with, and Slimer had a lot of iterations. It's all very general stuff with very few really good sound bites that made me glad I read the book. But you'll learn about everyone from the woman Venkman is flirting with when doing the testing at the beginning of the first movie to the hotel manager actor. Other non-human topics are the development of Slimer and the Eco-1. But to give you the idea of the fluff of the book, in the section on the music/soundtracks, it doesn't even mention the lawsuit over the Ray Parker Jr. theme song - only that the crew listened to "I want a new drug" Huey Lewis song while on set. In fact, very few issues or negativity can be found anywhere in the book. Everyone loved everyone else and the long hours, being screamed at by Reitman, and any setback were trifles.
Visually - if you are a fan you have likely seen these images before. There are a LOT of screenshots from the movie and few actually added to the text and look to be there to add flavor. The captions for the images were even more useless - restating nearly verbatim what was written in the short paragraphs of that topic or describing the scene of a screen capture. So while it was mildly interesting to see all of Slimer or the Ghost Dogs' iterations, it still felt slight and lacking good insight or depth.
So who will this appeal to? I would think perhaps kids who enjoyed the movie and were curious about the movie making business (since the topics are lightly glossed over and easy to read). Or someone who has never read a behind the scenes book on the movie (which, oddly enough, I have not read any of them and still feel like I did not take anything away from this book). For me, I felt like I was skimming the surface of an interesting topic but being given a very optimistic, abbreviated, and sanitized view on the topic. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
November 11, 2020
For my review of this book, visit my Youtube Vlog at:
https://youtu.be/m5QT8G56pas
Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/m5QT8G56pas
Enjoy!
June 13, 2020
A thoroughly entertaining book for fans of these two movies.
This book is jampacked with memories and behind the scenes information, along with interesting facts as to how the movies were made.
I highly recommend this book.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
This book is jampacked with memories and behind the scenes information, along with interesting facts as to how the movies were made.
I highly recommend this book.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
July 31, 2020
They came, they went, they kicked ass.
This book is all about the Original Ghostbusters movies, the 80-ies ones with Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray and Seagourney Weaver about a bunch of paranormal investigators who get thrown off-campus because, quite frankly, at least one of them uses their platform to get dates.
I can see two reasons why one would enjoy this one:
1. You're a fan of the movies and want background information.
2. You're into film-making and want to know more about special effects before CGI.
We learn a lot. For example, that Dan Akroyd came from a spiritist family and got the idea for the first movie while browsing a psychic's journal his dad had lying around, and the different stages the plot for the first movie went through, some naturally, some forced by the means of the special effects guys.
On the other hand, there is a huge focus on the different spectres that appear in both movies, concept art, the iterations the puppets went through, how through greenscreen techniques they were filmed and layered on top of what the actors did.
Again with the twos: There are things I didn't like.
1. In the first third of the book, the author went with the superlative. This was perfect, that was the best ever made, bla. It got exchausting and either he stopped or I became resistant, I don't know. But I do know that everything has flaws, and these movies are not different in that regard. A more critical eye would have been nice.
2. As I already said, there were different stages for the plot of the movie, and the first, the original idea, was called "Akroyd's treatment/ Dan's treatment". Every. Single. Time.
It's a pretty eye-drawing way to phrase it, and a stylistic device, once or twice would have been fine, but it kept cropping up and that's bad writing. It annoyed me.
The best parts were the interviews, which leads me to the conclusion that I like the contents of this book but not the way it's done, and I'd have wished for another author.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
This book is all about the Original Ghostbusters movies, the 80-ies ones with Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray and Seagourney Weaver about a bunch of paranormal investigators who get thrown off-campus because, quite frankly, at least one of them uses their platform to get dates.
I can see two reasons why one would enjoy this one:
1. You're a fan of the movies and want background information.
2. You're into film-making and want to know more about special effects before CGI.
We learn a lot. For example, that Dan Akroyd came from a spiritist family and got the idea for the first movie while browsing a psychic's journal his dad had lying around, and the different stages the plot for the first movie went through, some naturally, some forced by the means of the special effects guys.
On the other hand, there is a huge focus on the different spectres that appear in both movies, concept art, the iterations the puppets went through, how through greenscreen techniques they were filmed and layered on top of what the actors did.
Again with the twos: There are things I didn't like.
1. In the first third of the book, the author went with the superlative. This was perfect, that was the best ever made, bla. It got exchausting and either he stopped or I became resistant, I don't know. But I do know that everything has flaws, and these movies are not different in that regard. A more critical eye would have been nice.
2. As I already said, there were different stages for the plot of the movie, and the first, the original idea, was called "Akroyd's treatment/ Dan's treatment". Every. Single. Time.
It's a pretty eye-drawing way to phrase it, and a stylistic device, once or twice would have been fine, but it kept cropping up and that's bad writing. It annoyed me.
The best parts were the interviews, which leads me to the conclusion that I like the contents of this book but not the way it's done, and I'd have wished for another author.
I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
March 8, 2021
A fun romp down memory lane. Ghostbusters was a fun film for this teenager at the time. The perfect summer movie: a little scary, a little romance, a lot of funny, and the good guys win in the end.
I enjoyed the behind the scenes info on all aspects of the movies. A great read for Ghostbusters fans.
I enjoyed the behind the scenes info on all aspects of the movies. A great read for Ghostbusters fans.
May 6, 2021
What can I say? It was a terrific book! Not perfect, but it was still fascinating.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews