Return of the Ghostbusters

Having watched the film dozens of times (for studying purposes), it becomes clear that one should not expect a $144M budget type of movie. Instead, for $3,000, all the heart and fun that stretched dollars can afford are put on screen.

The film sure has its cheesy moments and it has to be expected instead of hoping for a miracle. And in some ways, this fan film is sort of a miracle in itself. You have quirky characters, a clichéd villain, the reporter (who reminded me a lot of TMNT's April O'Neil for some reason) and a few great action scenes for the tight budget they had.

The camera work is interesting and is much more determined to shoot a cool looking scene than most fan films I've seen lying around. Not that they're any bad, but it's nice to dissect them and try and see where there are a few problems, where scenes could be trimmed, etc.

This film could have used a bit of trimming or a few extra takes instead of keeping a scene where the same word can be heard two or three times. Not to be picky, it just creates a redundancy that slowly can cripple the narrative when repeated too many times. Although I'm sure these were most unintentional and they do not hinder my fun of watching it.

Knowing that this is a low budget production, I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of accuracy, the fun, the efforts to try and tell an original story, to have a few references to the original Ghostbusters while also covering its own grounds. The film does mention some of the original characters, but that's where the movie gets some of its best fun: talking about other fictional characters, thus making them seem more real, as well as the Ghostbusters name and the overall story at the same time.

It's not a Stanley Kubrick film, and it's not a Rolland Emmerich film either. It's a Hank Braxtan film. The man wrote and directed it and before that, he did the same with "Freddy VS. Ghostbusters", another fun short film featuring some of the characters seen in "Return".

For doing all this by himself, and for the fun results I still enjoy to this day, I'd say he's more than earned my eternal respect.

First of all, a bit about myself as the reviewer: I have a huge respect for Ghostbusters as a brand, and as a phenomenon. I am a HUGE fan of both Ghostbusters movies with Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Sigourney Weaver in leading roles, and have a huge respect for them as actors and performers. The first movie being my favorite. I am also a fan of "The real ghostbusters" which was a cartoon, with great music, atmosphere, and good stories to help feed my Ghostbusters hunger. But of course it is the movies that I love the most. I am 29 years old. The last movie came out in 1989, and I want more..

Return of the Ghostbusters is a movie made by a group of fans of the original Ghostbusters movies (1 and 2). It is made by a group of fans, with a budget of a little under 10000 dollars or something like that.

Dan Aykroyd, "the man with the plan" has stated many times that there will not be a third Ghostbusters movie. Never ever. So a group of fans took it upon themselves to make a third one. This movie tells the story of a completely different ghostbusters unit located in Denver. I am not going to say anymore than that.

So why should you see it you say? You don't believe in fan movies, or you just don't think that this movie is up to par with the actual original ghostbuster movies? Well, for those of you who really believe that, don't see this movie. But Dan Aykroyd could have said like "maybe in the future", or "hmm would be cool to do a third one" instead of "NO" all the time. Fans tend to get a little crazy. We don't want to hear "no." We are like kids in a sense, in that we have a craving for something. Let's call it sugar. To me, Ghostbusters is sugar, and I want more. I guess that is why this movie exists. So it is any good? Well the acting is not top notch, as it is played by fans, not actors. But the acting is far from bad, and for some reason gets better as the movie progresses. Nonetheless Neil Anderson delivers a brilliant performance throughout as the "bad guy." I got a tear or three in my eye on one occasion in this movie, and I actually couldn't believe myself. This movie has managed to keep very strong to the original material, and added some new twists into the formula to honour the new decade. The soundtrack, which mixes a lot of music from the first movie, with a completely new written score which is absolutely amazing, helps that good old Ghostbusters feeling return, which has been gone a while. And last but not least, the script, and the story are very well written. The famous Dan Aykroyd did say on one occasion that there never was a third movie because the scripts were all bad.. . Well there you have it.

I recommend this movie not only to fans, but for all who are interested in movies in general. If you tell yourself that this is made by fans, and does not come from Hollywood BEFORE you see the movie, I can 100% guarantee you that you will have a good time. It only goes to show that people in general love movies, and good movies even better. I'll burn this out on a DVD, and put it on the shelf with Ghostbuster 1 and 2, and write a big 3 on this one. Thank you very much, BraxtanFILM, I had a great time:D Rock on!

I'm a science fiction and horror movie fan and well yes I loved the original Ghostbusters when I was a youth, but compared to the tons of fan film material that were based on the Star Wars series, this was much, much better. I was even frightened watching it, you know, the subtle way! I couldn't get my eyes from the screen!

Mostly everything was very good or gorgeous: -The FX were better than in many a commercial TV series. -The acting was very, very good. My special compliments to the "bad guy"!!! -The cuts were wow! -The dialogues were awesome, my god, who wrote the script? Reitman and Ramis personally?

Yeah, the main characters are kind of like the original ones, but they got this new "russian" guy also and so the casting is an overall good compromise between old and new.

Will somebody please give these guys a TV series? Man, these guys belong in the showbiz!

I give this a 5 for effects a 4 on script mainly for the "bad guy" and Egon's dialog that's it. The rest of the script they should have burned it. Get ready for the cheese when you watch this one. Now I fully understand the meaning of cheesy and we all know what cheese is made from old milk and that's what this is. They stole lines from the original maybe to make it better in their minds. This script is trash. I read the other reviews, I am not sure what movie they saw but they must be either geeks or the actors. This insults the great creation that is Ghost busters. This is worse then that extreme ghost buster cartoon, that also sucks monkey balls. They tried I give them that, but it is painful to watch. They had the tools but no talent with this one, except for Egon they were on the money with him and the bad guy is OK he needs work though. Watch if you must see everything that is ghost busters only, otherwise skip and watch some classic ghost buster cartoons on youtube.

That would be an understatement.

Never before, in the history of fan-film-making, has there been such dedication and passion put into a film that would yield NO financial benefits whatsoever. This was a film (video, movie, whatever) put together BY fans, FOR fans, period. If you liked Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, you'd be hard pressed not to believe that this was Ghostbusters III.

The cast, those returning from 'Freddy Vs. Ghostbusters' and the newcomers, really pull this piece together. I especially thought that Wiess gave an amazing performance.

How many fan-films can boast original music? Well, Jon Vandergriff, along with a few other contributors, make this one a first! The score to this film, from the opening credits, to the ending ones, is nothing short of fantastic.

Now let's talk about the special FX. Wow. When you watch this film, you understand that it is a film made with limited money, resources, and materials, but that's the LAST thing you think when you see the FX. The crew behind the visual fx in 'Return' did their jobs, and they did it well.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that this is an amazing film, as both a fanfilm and a standalone film. It is better than its predecessor in every way (don't get me wrong, I love FvGB).

SEE IT.