Ghostbusters is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. There is no pan and scan version available. This is a decent transfer with great color, solid black levels, and superb clarity. What knocks this one down a bit is some excessive grain and flickering. Almost every scene has something the resolution has trouble with and it really can get annoying at times. Still, the print has been cleaned up almost flawlessly with only minor instances of scratches and spots. It looks good, but it could certainly be better. (***)
The re-mixed 5.1 sound is a nice touch, but a missed opportunity as well. There are plenty of opportunities for rear speaker usage but they never seem to kick in. A few sequences use them a little while, but rest assured your sound will almost always be coming out of the front speakers. The LFE channel is also used sparingly (check out the scene when their first power-up the proton packs in the elevator), but again, not as much as it should be. Regardless, voices are clear and understandable with soundtrack never sounding better. (***)
This was one of the earliest discs to really pack on the special features, but the challenge is finding them. Sure the menu looks great with a rampaging Stay Puft Marshmallow man stomping along to the theme song, but it's completely disorganized and confusing. The same feature can be accessed from 3 different locations and just playing the movie will baffle those who are just now getting into the format.
Anyway, here is what I THINK is a complete rundown of the features, but I very well may have missed something. The most obvious feature is the visual commentary, a great way to make a feature like this worthwhile. Ivan Reitman, Harold Ramis, and associate producer Bill Mudjk are super-imposed silhouettes, pointing things out (literally) about the film as they go. Think Mystery Science Theater without the jokes and you'll get the idea. They all have a blast talking about the movie and pointing out mistakes. You'll get some great stories from the set as well. If you don't want the three people blocking the botom portion of your screen, you can just listen to the commentary.
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