Ghostbusters II (1989)

Film and Plot Synopsis

Ghostbusters II takes place five years after the events of the first film. Lawsuits and court orders have plagued The Ghostbusters for years, and their once-lucrative business is now bankrupt. However, when ghost problems afflict Dana once again, the boys come out of retirement. The police promptly arrest them, but with New York City once again headed for supernatural doom, it needs the boys now more than ever before. A river of ectoplasmic slime full of negative emotions bubbles towards a museum where an old Carpathian sorcerer named Vigo is located. He needs to possess Dana’s baby for his glorious rebirth. Can the Ghostbusters get on the mayor’s good side long enough to stop the world from Vigo’s wrath?

‘Ghostbusters II’ Movie Summary

Ghostbusters II takes place five years after the boys took on Gozar and saved the world. After every city, state and federal agency, sues the Ghostbusters, the government prohibits them from using their equipment. Additionally, they may no longer operate any kind of paranormal elimination business. Now, each man has embarked on a very different career path. Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) now work as children’s party entertainers. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) works in a laboratory experimenting on people’s emotions. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) hosts a cheesy television show about psychics filled with crackpots and the insane.

However, when Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), their former client and Peter’s former girlfriend, begs for their help, the Ghostbusters jump back into action. It turns out a city bus nearly ran down Dana’s infant son, Oscar. Some unseen force took control of his stroller, and pushed it into New York City traffic.

The Ghostbusters examine baby Oscar, but the investigation doesn’t turn up anything. So, the boys return to the location where the stroller stopped in the street. There they find it high in paranormal readings, and decide to burrow into the street that night.

The secret river

Once they lower Ray into the chasm, he finds a river of slime that appears to be sentient. It attempts to grab Ray as he takes a sample of the slime. Meanwhile above ground, Peter and Egon try to explain their activities to the NYPD and the electrical company. However, they fail to do so, and the police arrest the three Ghostbusters for criminal damage and using their equipment in violation of a court order.

At the trial, Louis Tully (Rick Moranis), the former tax adviser now turned attorney, represents the Ghostbusters. He does a ridiculously bad job too, and the court convicts the boys. During the sentencing, when a fit of rage from the Judge causes the slime to react to his negativity; the energy from the outburst brings to life the ghosts of two brothers that the Judge sentenced to death. The Judge orders the Ghostbusters to help him. However, they refuse his request until he both lifts the injunction and dismisses their criminal case. Once again the boys are bona fide, and the arm themselves with their old equipment. After they make short work of the two ghosts, the Ghostbusters  are once again open for business!

The slime attacks

Soon after, the slime invades Dana’s apartment to attack her and her son. She hides out at Peter’s apartment while the boys investigate this second occurrence. When Peter visits Dana at her new job at the art museum, where she cleans paintings, he becomes suspicious of a portrait of Vigo the Carpathian; a brutal, sixteenth-century tyrant and powerful magician. Turns out that the painting contains Vigo’s living soul , and he’s using his magic to control Dana’s boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol). Vigo tasks Janosz  to find a child for him to posses so that he may once again live…and rule the world.

When the rest of the boys come to museum and examine the painting, they find the entire museum is high in paranormal energy. They take photographs of the portrait which reveal another presence within the painting. Most importantly, they discover that something connects the river of slime and Vigo’s portrait.

While Dana and Peter attempt to rekindle their relationship, Ray, Egon, and Winston return underground to thoroughly examine the river of slime. However, they fall into it, and learn it’s full of negative emotions. All this negativity also flows straight into the museum where Vigo feeds off it.

Once again, the mayor’s no help

The Ghostbusters go to the mayor (David Margulies) to tell them that the negative emotions of New York City are feeding energy to the slime. When the mayor dismisses their claims, the boys threaten to go to the media with their warnings. The mayor’s assistant, Jack Hardemeyer (Kurt Fuller), steps in and commits all four Ghostbusters to an insane asylum.

With the boys locked up, Janosz freely goes to Peter’s apartment, and kidnaps baby Oscar. He takes the boy to the museum so that Vigo may possess him. Dana pursues them to the museum shortly before the slime covers the building; preventing anyone from entering.

With ghosts now running rampant, and the museum covered in slime, the mayor releases the Ghostbusters. Unfortunately for our heroes, the Ghostbusters discover that their equipment is useless against the overwhelming negativity of the slime. Only an equally powerful, positive slime can counteract it to break through the barrier. Fortunately, Ray and Egon have been working on such a slime through most of the film. They spray the slime onto the Statute of Liberty; a symbol that they believe that all New Yorkers can get behind in a positive way.

The city’s citizens come to the rescue

The torch of Lady Liberty breaks through the negative slime, and the Ghostbusters get into the museum. They make short work of Janosz, but Vigo takes out all the Ghostbusters. It’s only when the citizens of New York sing a timely chorus of “Auld Lang Syne” New Year’s Eve that the boys are able to counter Vigo’s negative energy.

This traps Vigo in the portrait again as he makes one last ditch effort to take control of Ray. However, the other Ghostbusters use their proton packs, and their positively charged slime, to free Ray and destroy Vigo. The Ghostbusters once again save the world, and the adoring crowd welcomes them as heroes as they leave the museum.

Additional Film Information

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