Cleanin Up The Town – Remembering Ghostbusters

For anyone out there who really digs GHOSTBUSTERS, this retro-documentary – a labour-of-love affair courtesy of siblings Anthony and Claire Bueno – CLEANIN’ UP THE TOWN delivers the ultimate geeky tribute to the much loved 1984 horror-comedy smash, with an array of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

A whopping twelve years in the making should be proof enough that brother and sister-team Anthony and Claire Bueno let no obstacle come in the way to fulfil their mightily ambitious project: an in-depth and detailed documentary which not only features fascinating interviews with some of the film’s cast members including Dan Akroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ernie Hudson, William Atherton, Annie Potts and Harold Ramis (who passed away in 2014), but equally eye-opening are interviews with director Ivan Reitman, musician Ray Parker Jr. and of course the incredible talent behind the jaw-dropping special effects (Ghostbusters was the first movie to cough up super-expensive special effects, long before CGI altered cinema forever). Consequently we get first-hand accounts from the likes of Special Effects artists Steve Johnson, Randy Cook and assorted puppeteers and stuntmen but we also learn how ‘Slimer’ and the ‘Stay Puft Marshmallow Man’ were created.

Most surprising perhaps is the very idea for GHOSTBUSTERS… for which we have Dan Akroyd and his grandfather to thank: were it not for the fact that both held a deep fascination for spiritualism and ghostly things there may never have been a Ghostbusters movie at all… though Dan Akroyd’s initial concept had to be changed for reasons of cost and practicality.
Sigourney Weaver reveals how her character (cellist Dana Barrett) was transformed into demi-god Zuul and William Atherton (who played Environmental Protection Agency Inspector William Peck) recalls having had gallons of shaving foam chucked over him after the Marshmallow Man explodes towards the film’s finale. Equally interesting is an interview with Ray Parker Jr. during which he tells us how he became inspired to write the film’s cracking theme tune – shame then that we don’t hear it in this documentary.

Cleanin Up The Town – Remembering Ghostbusters provides 128 minutes of entertainment and information for all you die-hard fans out there though unfortunately no interviews with Bill Murray. The Blu-ray/DVD release furthermore offers additional bonus material and illustrated info booklet.