moviefreak

Hubby bought this DVD since he’s a HUGE fan of this movie directed by Peter Jackson. Yep, the same guy who directed The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the bonus part, Peter Jackson explained that in the 1995, when he was directing this movie, CGI was just started booming and in order to create the special effects for this movie, he had to buy SO many computers and he was stressed out about what to do after the movie was finished. So he had to think of how to make use of all the computers, right? That was when he came up with the idea of making The Lord of the Rings trilogy. So if he hadn’t made this movie, maybe there wouldn’t have been The Lord of the Rings trilogy. COOL!!!

Well, I think this movie is fun and funny complete with interesting/wacky characters and COOL effects (esp. since it was released in 1996), so I’ll give this one a 7.9 stars out of 10. Remember, though, that it’s rated R for horror/violence.

The Story:

Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) is a ghostbuster. He can see ghosts ever since his accident a few years ago. In order to earn money to finish his dream house, he works with three ghosts. So the job of two ghosts are to haunt other people’s houses and leave his business card there so that the owner of the house will call him and ask him to get rid of the naughty ghosts.

In the meantime, in the town where he lives there has been plenty of dead people in weird circumstances. All those people have a sudden “heart attack” but upon autopsy, it’s discovered that their arteries are fine, but it seems as though somebody has squeezed their hearts very hard. Even from the beginning of the story, you’ll see a ghost figure with a black robe trying to strike a woman named Patricia Ann Bradley (Dee Wallace). Patricia lives with her mother that seems to be controlling her all the time. She won’t even allow Patricia to go out of the house.

In this town there are also a couple who just moved in. The wife is Dr. Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado), whereas the husband is the cocky Ray Lynskey (Peter Dobson). Ray and Frank get into a fight as Frank ruins Ray’s fence and lawn decoration with his car. Then after Frank sends his ghosts to haunt Ray’s house and then he comes there to “save” them, Frank sees a number on Ray’s forehead, but he doesn’t know what it means.

As the story progresses, you’ll learn that the number on the forehead shows that the person is going to die and it shows how many people the Grim Reaper (the black hooded figure) has killed. In fact, Frank’s wife had a carving of number 13 on her forehead when she was found dead. And Frank didn’t remember anything at all about the accident - you’ll know that he remembers what has happened only much later in the story. So, of course Ray dies not long after Frank sees the number on his forehead and Ray’s ghost asks Frank’s help to get in touch with Lucy. While helping Ray, you can begin to see attraction between Frank and Lucy.

You’ll also find out in the middle of the story that years and years back, Patricia Ann Bradley was suspected to be an accomplice to his boyfriend/killer named Johnny Charles Bartlett (Jake Busey) who killed 13 people in a hospital without any specific reason. That is why Patricia’s mother won’t allow her to go out of the house.

Anyway, while the Grim Reaper’s killing spree continues and Frank seems to be connected with the deaths (he’s often in the wrong place at the wrong time) and since he was a suspect in the death of his own wife, the police puts him to jail. He’s depressed since he can’t seem to help other people avoid the Grim Reaper, even though he can see it and he sees the number on the victims’ foreheads before the Grim Reaper comes. While in jail, Lucy comes to visit Frank and Frank sees a number on Lucy’s forehead. Now Lucy’s in danger and before long, the Grim Reaper comes to get Lucy’s soul…Frank’s ghost buddies try to help, as well.

What will happen to Lucy? Will Frank be able to help Lucy get out of danger with the help of his ghost buddies? Why is the Grim Reaper killing people like that? What’s the reason?

Okay, here’s the trailer: