Goofs for
Ghost Busters (1984) More at IMDbPro »

• Revealing mistakes: When the building at the end rains down debris, a huge piece of concrete or stone bounces off a wooden police barricade, when it should have smashed through it.
  
  
• Continuity: After the Marshmallow explosion, Louis gets a smear of marshmallow goo on his shirt; in the next scene, it's gone.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In versions before the digitally remastered release, light can be seen reflecting off the camera lens when Venkman stops everybody so he can try to pull the tablecloth out from under the dishes.
  
  

• Continuity: During the "montage" there is a shot of the guys carrying their loaded traps out of a building and crossing the street. Just before the next clip comes in, the shot reverses and runs backwards for a few frames.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Louis runs toward the Tavern on the Green he says, "I'm going to bring this up at the next tenant's meeting. There's not supposed to be any pets in the building," but his mouth doesn't move.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scenes where the gang is about to enter Dana's building, an over-enthusiastic extra with ginger hair in an '80s cut can be seen in two different crowds that are supposed to be facing each other.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Ray declares the phenomena they are witnessing may be as important an event as "the Tunguska blast of 1909". The massive explosion that took place along the Tunguska River in Siberian Russia occurred on June 30, 1908, but this is Ray's error.
  
  
• Continuity: The scene where Venkman meets Dana after her recital and arranges their date is cut between two scenes where Winston is instantly employed and hurriedly trained. In the other two scenes, all characters are wearing the same clothes, implying they occurred at the same time. However, Venkman is present in all three scenes and could not travel between the two locations in such a short amount of time. Also, during the scene with Dana, his uniform is clean, and he's wearing an orange shirt.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The piece of street that cracks and pops up bounces when it stops.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Dana's chair is dragged into the kitchen. After the door has shut, the track used to drag the chair along is visible on the floor.
  
  
• Continuity: His uniform says "Zeddemore" over the pocket, but the credits list "Winston Zeddmore". (The sequel spells it "Zeddemore.")
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When we first see Dana Barrett (getting out of a taxi), there is a shot of the avenue below her apartment from the roof, just before she steps out of the cab. On the side of the roof there is the head of a gargoyle with protruding sharp teeth - and "through" the teeth we can see the yellow traffic lines separating the lanes on the avenue below, showing the compositing used to achieve the shot.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In a ground level shot of Mr. Stay Puft as he approaches Dana's apartment house, the lower section of the building shakes from the ground vibrations, but the upper sections do not.
  
  
• Continuity: After Dana and Venkman meet and set their date, Dana walks away with the violinist. As they walk, the violinist's violin case is alternately by his right side/tucked under his left arm between shots.
  
  
• Continuity: Inconsistent number and position of splattered eggs on counter as camera angles change.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: As the camera pans down on the rooftop when the gargoyles come alive, the soundstage floor can briefly be seen at the bottom left corner [Widescreen version only]
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When all the ghosts are escaping across downtown Manhattan, several ghost trails are not fully animated and abruptly cut off at the bottom right of the screen [Widescreen version only]
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: A heavy object used to destroy Dana's apartment wall can clearly be seen flying as the wall explodes.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: After "neutronizing" Gozer on the rooftop, as they walk off the platform, the folds in a dark curtain can be seen in the background behind Ray.
  
  
• Continuity: In the birds-eye view of the Ghostbusters walking through the wreckage of the penthouse, there is still sunlight bouncing off the building despite the fact that New York is supposed to be covered by a big black cloud.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Ghost Busters first encounter Slimer on the 12th floor, the proton beam burns on the wall appear before the proton blast has even reached them.
  
  
• Factual errors: The Hittites/Babylonians/Sumerians were said to worship Gozer around 6000 BC. The Hittite empire was from 1600 to 717 BC. The Babylonian empire in Mesopotamia was from 1900 to 1600 BC.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Obvious seam between the hot and cold sections of the counter top, revealed by the eggs only partially turning white.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Near the end of the movie, when the dimensional portal opens, part of the left-hand door disappears briefly in the close-up.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Ghostbusters are climbing the stairs to go and meet Gozer on the roof, they get off at the 22nd floor. When the outside shot of the building is shown, there is no way that the penthouse (or top floor) of the building is only 22 floors up. The building is much taller than that.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Dana/Zuul levitates as Venkman is counting to three, you can see part of the device used to lift her up under her middle back area.
  
  
• Continuity: When Dana gets out of the cab her groceries include a green leafy vegetable with a large white stem but when she gets to the hall it has become completely green lettuce. It changes to celery while she is talking to Louis. When she sets it on the counter it is still celery but in the next shot the item on the counter is lettuce. After the eggs start frying on the countertop it changes to lettuce and celery each pointing in opposite directions. When Venkman is checking out the apartment they are both pointing the same direction.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: During the scene where the ghost busters are about to enter the building and the ground begins to break apart, you can see that the pieces of ground are not all solid. What appears to be a brown colored sheet billows out as one piece slopes down.
  
  
• Factual errors: Veckman tells Dana that Zuul was a demigod worshiped by Hittites, Mesopotamians & Sumerians around 6000 BC. This fits for the Sumerian culture as they were just coming into being around that time. However, the Hittite culture didn't exist until a good 4000 years later than Vekman's date of 6000 BC. Mesopotamia does not refer to any people or culture. It refers to a geographical area that has had many peoples and cultures over the last 8000 years, not including the Hittites, who resided 500 miles to the west of Mesopotamia.
  
  
• Factual errors: Near the beginning of the film Bill Murray's character is conducting an experiment, in which he says he is using Negative Reinforcement. Two test subjects guess the symbol on the back of the card. Murray’s character administers electric shock for wrong answers, and gives praise for correct answers. (Of course, he's cheating, but on with the content critique.) Psychologically and Scientifically speaking, Negative Reinforcement is the subtraction of a variable in order to reinforce/increase the frequency of a desired behavior. Bill Murray's character is actually engaging in Positive Punishment, the addition of a variable/stimulus (in this case the electric shock) designed to decrease the frequency of a behavior (wrong answers). In Behavioral Psychology, Negative and Positive do not refer to traditional ideas of good or bad but rather the addition or subtraction of a variable in order to enhance or discourage a given behavior.
  
  
• Continuity: Disappearing/reappearing door - There is only one door into Dana's apartment. You see a door across the hall from her door as she enters and re-enters the apartment with Venkman. However in the last three shots we see of the door across the hall, it is gone in the first and third shot. Production obviously has to take it out to provide a way up to the roof, but you'll see from the blast in Dana's apartment that it's not supposed to reappear once the whole team of Ghostbusters arrive to defeat Gozer.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Right after the Library Ghost scares them out of the library, you can see the tape recorder around Ray's neck. It has no tape inside, meaning they've been videotaping nothing.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the ram-horned face breaks off the side of the temple, the dust/debris disappears behind the matte painting of the roof cap.
  
  
• Continuity: When Peter goes to Dana's apartment for the first time, the piano cover goes from being closed, to open, to closed, to open again.
  
  
• Boom mic visible: In the scene when the Ghostbusters get hit by Gozer's finger lightning, as there shot back you can see a boom mic getting pulled out of frame in lower/upper left side.
  
  
• Factual errors: In Dr. Venkman's meeting with Walter Peck from the EPA, he is asked about his credentials, where he responds that he has degrees in Psychology and Parapsychology. Later in the movie, Peter is describing his encounter with Dana Barrett/Zuul to Dr Spengler where he stated that was forced to sedate her with Thorazine. The problem here is the fact that psychologists, or parapsychologists for that matter, do not have the ability to prescribe or administer drugs - especially a controlled substance such as Thorazine. Only an MD has the authority to use such measures, and a psychologist is a PhD.
  
  
• Factual errors: The Hittites, an actual civilization, had quite a sophisticated religious mythology and have been unfairly dragged into association with the Evil Gozer.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Venkman tells Egon he has Dana "whacked up with 300cc" of Thorazine, a relaxant and anti-psychotic. "300 milligrams" would be more correct, as proper and vital practice is to describe dosage by weight, not volume. Besides, "300cc" is almost one-third of a liter of solution, certainly not doable given the circumstances but certainly fatal to Dana had it been so (demonic possession notwithstanding), if not diluted with sterile saline down from the standard 25mg/cc vials. That being said, 300mg Thorazine all at a single administration is exceedingly high even for severely disturbed patients.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Ray quotes a Bible verse, which he says is Revelation 7:12. In fact, what he quotes is Revelation 6:12, but he's no Bible scholar. Also, Ray forgets some words, while Winston adds words that aren't present in the verses. However, Ray acknowledges this as he says that he "remembers" the verse, there is a good chance that he does not remember all of it.
  
  
• Continuity: When Dr. Peter Venkman is with Dana Barrett when she is possessed by the Gate Keeper in her bedroom. The window that faces the city changes from nighttime to daytime to nighttime.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Throughout the film, the building is portrayed as being extremely tall. But it is revealed when they go to the penthouse and only make it to the 22nd floor that it is in fact not such a tall building. The building (55 Central Park West) is only 20 stories high with the true penthouses being on 19 and 20th floors.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Winston and Ray are in the car talking about the Bible verse, Winston is in the driver's seat. When they pull up to the HQ after the explosion, Ray gets out of the driver's seat. (They may have stopped and switched seats between the scenes.)
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the scene in Dana's apartment where Venkman is examining the contents of the refrigerator, a can of soda on the top shelf appears to switch between Coke and Coca-cola several times. However, there are two cans in the refrigerator - one says "Coke" and the other says "Coca-Cola".
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Dana enters her apartment after Louis cajoles her to bring her date to his party (and locks himself out again), her obviously touch tone phone rings like an old rotary. However in the 1980s touch tone phones existed that had an actual bell in them and could emulate the tone of an old rotary phone.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: At the end of the scene where Mr. Stay-Puft walks through Columbus circle in mayhem, his body overlaps a street light in the foreground even though he should be far behind it.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the scene when Ray and Winston are in the Ghostbusters car driving over the New York bridge, Winston is at first wearing his Ghostbusters uniform. When we see them exit the car after arriving at HQ, Winston is wearing a checkered shirt. There is a significant time gap and since the uniform is one piece, it is possible that Winston took it off when they stopped somewhere (see above goof).
  
  
• Factual errors: The Ecto-1 has blue lights but only a government vehicle like police, fire, or ambulance would be allowed to use blue flashing lights on a vehicle.
  
  

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