1984 Turns 30! A Retrospective: Gremlins (Joe Dante) & Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman)

Today marks, if Blogger is informing me correctly, my 84th post... and therefore it seems highly apt that I should be using it to say a few words about two perennial favourites from 1984 which were released in U.S. theatres a whole 30 years ago today.

I'm assuming practically everyone and their dogs and cats are well familiar with both films so I'll skip the usual plot summaries, trivia etc. as I'm sure there's very little new I can add on those fronts. Instead (and as this is very much an 11th hour post), I'll simply take this opportunity to very briefly give y'all my tuppence on the two...

I enjoy Gremlins (and practically every Joe Dante movie I've seen) quite a bit but it's never been a favourite... though if I'd first encountered it a few years earlier than I did, I imagine this may have been different. On the other hand, I frickin' love me some Ghostbusters... As I've said elsewhere (I reviewed the film a couple of years back and probably said most of what I have to say about it there), Ghostbusters is the film I've seen more than any other... and it never, ever gets old. Horror, humour, action, buddy comedy shtick, screwball comedy shenanigans, the film practically has it all... in fact so much so that one can easily understand why it was such a smash hit.

Both movies are arguably great gateway titles for introducing kids to the horror genre... scary in small parts, sure... but still generally light and action packed enough that the darker stuff doesn't seem to be much of a problem for most... even for many young kids... of course, one has to be careful though, as some can be much more sensitive than others.

Aside from having a much longer history with the film than with Gremlins, I think another reason I prefer Ghostbusters is the humour. Sure, Gremlins has its share but it's not quite as consistently funny to me over repeat viewings... plus, the whole movie has a Spielbergian borderline saccharine quality about it (which should come as no surprise I suppose) that I have to be in the right mood for, where as I can never not be in the mood for Ghostbusters... scientists have even proved it to be so!

I can't really think of anything else to add for now (though if anything does occur to me, I'll add a postscript), so I'll simply say that if you're in the mood, tonight would be an ideal time to revisit one or both of these... and if you watch Ghostbusters, do raise a belated glass in honour of the late, great Harold Ramis while you're at it... As many said when news of the man's death first came out, his contribution to and influence on the last generation of American film comedy (and the current one) can't be overstated... and needless to say, he was an integral part of the Ghostbusters, both on-screen and behind the scenes.

Finally, a random, but somewhat related sidenote... I recently noticed that the 15th anniversary DVD edition of Ghostbusters is now (and this won't surprise anyone who is even half awake) a whole 15 years old... holy shit, I can't believe some of my DVDs are teenagers, so to speak... and while we're at it, where the hell did the last ten years go?!? Damn I'm getting old!