Synopsis:

Ghostbusters (2016)' recut to remove 75% of the improv jokes, so the film stays on script and on character. Less is more... less jokes... more funny.

Intentions:

Both the 'Theatrical Cut' and 'Extended Edition' of 'Ghostbusters (2016)' are massively flawed IMO. However, in fanedit tradition, I think with the flaws removed the film is a really strong one. The cast is great, the story is good, some of the humour is spot on, the costume/set/prop design is imaginative, the visFX (A mixture of CGI and practicalFX) are nice and it brings a fresh more action-packed, colourful and fun take on the Ghostbusters universe. The detractors would have it that the film was a total train-wreck but I think it's actually a good movie... wrecked in the editing room. They tried to squeeze in as much of their cast improving jokes as they could and forgot to concentrate on the story and people. It felt choppy and incoherent as scenes are constantly interrupted by irrelevant improved jokes. Worst of all, no character felt real, as they all say crazy out-of-character and out-of-reality stuff. Holtzmann can say and do crazy stuff because that is who she is, everyone else should act like they exist in a real world. Then we will believe in them, get invested in them and laugh along with their problems. 'Ghostbusters III' features extra deleted material, no painful Bill Murray cameo and no terrible Fallout Boy cover song.

Change List:

- Fanedit created using the 'Extended Edition' as the primary source - This fanedit is mostly about removing lines that interfere with the flow of character and plot. I probably removed 75% of the jokes, so now the 25% that remain have room to breath - Specifically I removed as much of the "improv" humour as possible. It's clear to anyone that the Director got the cast to improv humour endlessly. The problem is that too much of it was left in. Even when it's interrupting story, or contradicting character - This version actually contains "straight men". No one in either original version acts in a realistic fashion, everybody is a wacky comedy character, so nobody has any comedy impact. For example, the tour guide in the opening scene no longer says any bizarre improv lines. He's just a real guy, who gets real scared. I find this also has the effect of now making Holtzman stand out in a good way for her funny antics. "straight men" include: Dr Filmore, Ed Mulgrave, Gareth (the tour guide), Mayor Bradley, Jennifer (the mayor's assistant), Dean Shanks, the theater Manager and to a lesser extent agents Hawkins/Rourke, as they are real people but also idiots (The kind of real idiots that find themselves in positions of power) so it's okay for them to be a bit buffoonish - Cameos AWOL = Bill Murray because he looked depressed to be there, Ozzy Osbourne because it was just awful and sadly the bust of Harold Ramis (It was in a scene I didn't use). The other cameos were fun and the actors looked to be enjoying themselves so they stayed in - Removed many interchangeable and generic reaction lines (mostly from Patty) of the "You have got to be kidding me!", "I vote we don't do that", "Are you serious?", "Oh damn", "This is just wrong" and "Awww hell no!/Awww hell yeah!" variety. If you can't write a memorable line for a character, then have them stay silent - A few deleted scenes and takes are added (about 4 minutes) including the crucial scene of Erin returning to the University. It's arguably the key emotional scene, which pays off at the end, so it was bizarre that it was not included in either official cut - Opening scene has all jokes removed to hopefully make it genuinely spooky (This is also done at points later in the edit). I've also held back the ghostFX to save it for when the Ghostbusters arrive at the mansion Cuts and Additions: 00.00.00 - Added new FE.org titlecards I've created just for this edit (Featuring the 2016 logo design) 00.00.13 - Added new TM2YC titlecard, which I've remade in 1080p for this edit 00.01.16 - Removed somewhat presumptuous "Ghost Corps" logo 00.01.26 - Removed 30 seconds of the tour guide improving nonsensical and irrelevant lines about "Enslaving Elephants". He's a "straight man" so doesn't say silly stuff 00.01.44 - Inserted shot of mansion interior to cover removal and rescored transition, plus added soundFX 00.02.21 - Removed tour guides' improv line about Gertrude. Recut footage and rescored transition 00.03.25 - Brought forward first door handle rattle to cover removal of candlestick trick. In this cut the ghost really did knock over the candlestick. Recut footage and added soundFX 00.03.53 - Horizontally flipped two shots of guide after hand burning, to better match new cuts 00.03.54 - Removed one shot of guide being thrown, so it's less extreme 00.04.27 - Removed 8 second chair flying scene. It felt like the paranormal activity ramped up too fast. I wanted the big reveals to be saved for our heroes 00.04.16 - Brought forward title music to time with door slam 00.04.18 - Removed 30 second scene showing the ghost, slime and the stairs collapsing. Again this was showing way to much, way too early 00.04.19 - Added "III" to title-card and reframed skyline shot for new longer title 00.04.36 - Removed Phil calling Erin "sweetheart". The scene is about establishing that she isn't his sweetheart 00.05.40 - Removed the second non-kiss with Phil. It was too much and I think the actor is corpsing 00.06.14 - Removed some of the Erin improv humour as she leaves. Rescored and recut new sequence 00.06.16 - Inserted alternate-take of Erin jumping imaginary cracks as she leaves, a development of the earlier joke, instead of her randomly pulling some dudes ponytail 00.06.31 - Removed two shots and shortened the silly dancing. Now Ed's arrival is really a surprise 00.07.48 - Removed Ed's improv like about knowing how to read. It makes no sense for him to say that as he is a "straight man" 00.08.30 - Removed about 30 seconds of improv and Filmore criticizing Erin's clothes. He'd be up before an employment tribunal! Rescored and added soundFX 00.10.12 - Replaced Abby's stupid improv lines about getting a mini-fridge (It makes no sense for her character) with an alternate-take about her getting a podcast. Much more grounded and funnier too. Rescored and soundFX added 00.10.39 - Brought forward Erin giving Abby a sarcastic look while she is still going off about flying babies 00.10.42 - Shortened some of the flying baby improv 00.11.58 - Silenced Abby's improv line, that steps all over Holtzman's darkly comic line about the CERN guy being in a coma 00.12.55 - Replaced/redubbed lame EVP fart-gag with a sample from the movie "Ghost" (Addiesin's idea). I especially like it because ladies who are the age of these characters would definitely dig a Swayze reference 00.12.59 - Added soundFX and recut reaction shots 00.13.02 - Removed a few fart-specific reaction lines 00.13.51 - Removed Abby being nasty to Erin as they leave the lab. It feels like they should be too caught up the Aldritch excitement to remember they aren't still best friends 00.15.13 - Removed a few improv poop lines and recut Erin's reaction shots. We go straight to Abby asking for a soil sample. It's what a scientist with no regard for social norms would do! 00.15.15 - Removed Ed's improv line about the soiling. Why would a real person say that? 00.15.23 - Removed Gareth being sarcastic to Erin. He's still too in-shock to be sassy 00.15.49 - Removed Abby scoffing. It was overplayed 00.15.52 - Removed Holtzman messing around with the video camera. All her nonsense undercuts the spookiness during this sequence, so has been cut back 00.15.55 - Removed more camera nonsense. Remixed Abby's dialogue and added soundFX 00.16.25 - Removed part of Erin's walk in and Holtzman and Abby's first shot 00.16.27 - Removed Abby improving "Just your mom" and the response lines. It felt out of character 00.16.48 - Removed Abby improving the line "I didn't even know it did that". She designed the PKE meter, of course she knew. A contender for the stupidest improv in the whole movie 00.17.06 - Removed Holtzman ruining the spookiness by eating Pringles. Rescored transition 00.17.50 - Removed hysterical line from Abby 00.18.03 - Removed another Pringles eating shot which interrupts the sliming 00.18.17 - Removed Holtzman shouting something in a silly voice 00.18.34 - Removed moment with Abby getting slimed that interrupts the euphoria 00.19.13 - Removed Erin improving silly lines as she walks down the corridor. I wanted to speed this up a lot but still make it humiliating for the character 00.19.19 - Removed more of Erin improving lines 00.19.30 - Removed one last improv line and reworked the audio 00.20.54 - Removed improv meta-humour lines about youtube comments 00.22.17 - Removed 30 seconds of Dean Shanks improving about flipping the bird. Now we just cut on Erin giving him some sass 00.23.00 - Retimed and Patty lines about jacket and cut improv sweater line (It isn't a sweater) 00.23.03 - Cropped first shot of Rowan a bit tighter 00.23.46 - Removed Patty's improving about Starbucks. I've removed most of her dialogue in this scene. She is talky but not when she's scared 00.24.05 - Removed insane line where Patty doesn't realise a floating blue apparition isn't a normal human customer. Recut shots to cover removal 00.24.27 - Removed Patty saying a generic reaction line 00.24.36 - Removed Patty saying another generic reaction line 00.24.38 - Silenced yet another generic reaction line from Patty 00.24.42 - Removed 1 minute long Rowan scene (including his nonsensical 4th-wall break) and remixed music and soundFX into new transition to the Ghostbusters. I wanted to keep the mystery of who Rowan is 'til later 00.25.23 - Removed original musical intro into Chinese restaurant and about 15 seconds of yet more Wonton improv. Instead we simply go straight into the DeBarge dance. Mixed in new introduction to the song. Added street soundFX. Recut footage 00.26.06 - Removed Abby's bad DeBarge pun and 30 seconds of nonsense about the leaflet. Created new outro to the music as Kevin walks in. Added new soundFX 00.28.04 - Removed 30 seconds of Kevin's "Mike Hat/My Cat" improv. I actually thought it was a very funny routine but it's just a bit irrelevant in plot terms 00.28.40 - Removed 45 seconds of logo improv. Holtzman's "Ghost t,ts" line was funny enough to end on, the rest just gets silly 00.28.57 - Removed the dialogue about Abby saying she doesn't find Kevin attractive. Something that is contradicted multiple times later on. It also undercuts the whole reason they keep Kevin on, despite his flaws. Recut footage and reworked audio to cover removal 00.30.00 - Removed Patty's silly improv line about electricity 00.30.28 - Removed the graffiti artist line about a boat. It just interrupts Patty's logical reaction 00.30.55 - Removed a few seconds of Patty telling the guy to stop. It got silly 00.31.24 - Shortened establishing shot of tunnel 00.31.29 - Removed 20 seconds of improv about the third rail and urine 00.32.00 - Removed Patty's line about dirty garbage 00.33.19 - Removed the first failure of the Proton beam prototype. It felt anti-climatic and redundant for me as narratively it fails anyway because it's not powerful enough. Recut footage and reworked audio 00.33.54 - Removed Patty's improv line about Queens. The one line about scary people on the train was enough and was actually very funny. Recut footage and replaced part of the audio 00.35.26 - Removed Patty's improv line about The Rock 00.35.33 - Removed a line about seeing Patty. It's funnier without and removes the phone ringing soundFX 00.35.35 - Removed a whole minute of improv about Kevin that was awkwardly spliced between two lines about Patty joining "the club". Now the two lines play uninterrupted 00.36.07 - Totally recut Patty arriving with the hearse. Added soundFX. Removed many lines of improv, including lame and out-of-date pop culture references. Remixed audio. Added two alternate takes of Patty, graded them to match 00.36.39 - Removed 90 second sequence of Rowan at work. Again it's showing too much of him, too early. Added soundFX and reworked audio to create new transition 00.37.29 - Removed Abby improv line about an impressive purr. Plus we can hear it, without the dialogue telling us we can hear it 00.37.38 - Removed several shots of Abby flying around 00.37.46 - Replaced library-music Metal song with 'Ghostbusters Meets Metal' by youtube musician 331Erock 00.37.51 - Removed more shots of Abby flying around and replaced dialogue audio 00.38.27 - Removed Abby improv line about Karate Cats 00.40.50 - Added earlier phone ringing soundFX, rescored scene and cropped shot of Patty tighter to remove Erin 00.40.53 - Removed 1 minute first cameo from Bill Murray 00.42.09 - Removed Abby and Patty improving lines that interrupt Erin's emotional scene 00.42.24 - Removed 45 seconds of Abby and Patty improving lines that interrupt Erin's emotional scene. Added soundFX 00.42.55 - Replaced music with classic Ghostbusters theme (my own vocal and instrumental mix) as I did not like the Fallout Boy cover. 00.43.01 - Removed Holtzman playing a trick on Erin in front of her a,,hole boyfriend. Her new friends should be supportive, not embarrassing her too 00.43.02 - Totally recut first trip in the "Science mobile" sequence. Replaced all soundFX from Erin getting in the hearse to the theatre manager speaking, including street noise, car sounds, siren, footsteps, clothes, doors etc. Recut and reordered footage to match flow of new music 00.43.30 - Removed awkward "Let's go" scene. It interrupts my new "They're badasses" flow 00.43.49 - Removed little 15 second scene about the janitor being traumatised. Is there supposed to be a running gag of Erin thinking she can speak Spanish? It falls flat both times and makes no sense 00.43.53 - Removed the rest of the theatre managers 30 second scene. He is just there to show the GBs in and not improv silly lines. Rescored and added soundFX 00.44.02 - Removed Holtzman's wig improv, it undercuts the spookiness. Rescored and soundFX added 00.44.28 - Removed Patty improving pop-culture references for no reason. Added soundFX 00.46.14 - Removed Patty screaming about the bad music 00.46.33 - Removed the whole 90 second crowd-surfing and ghost on Patty's shoulders section. It was very silly and the ghost on the shoulders looked bad 00.46.35 - Inserted shot of theatre-manager and Abby saying "Alright ladies, light 'em up" 00.46.36 - Mixed in audio of sequential igniting of proton-beams and cut footage to match timing 00.46.39 - Removed Patty shouting a generic reaction line 00.47.28 - Removed Patty saying some silly line and a shot of her running. Instead I replaced it with a stunned silence. soundFX added. 00.48.06 - Removed Ozzy Osborne cameo because it was embarrassingly awful 00.48.55 - Removed a straight 5.5 minutes of footage featuring dancing, Holtzman doing some Proton pack upgrades, Bill Murray's second painful cameo, Erin releasing the ghost which made her look stupid, explaining things to a Cop, the Ghostbusters being escorted away by the FBI and some improv nonsense by the Mayor. All this had to go to remove Bill Murray, as just after the very public Rock concert, was the only believable point to cut straight to the Mayor's office without explanation. Rescored new transition, added soundFX and remixed dialogue. Nuking the whole 5.5 minutes from orbit was the only way to be sure 00.50.06 - Removed Holtzman shouting "Whaaaattt?!!" in a way that was too silly even for her zany character 00.51.07 - Removed 20 seconds of improv about cats in bags and covered with a reaction shot 00.51.53 - Removed insert shot of FBI business card and part of FBI line. Just what was the joke supposed to be? 00.52.15 - Removed a few seconds of the door shenanigans 00.52.19 - Removed 20 seconds of FBI improv. Cut on door slam straight to the alleyway tests 00.54.28 - Removed 15 seconds of Kevin talking about Bill Murray's now absent cameo 00.57.16 - Removed second part of the not-at-all funny gag about Erin talking Spanish. It interrupted the plot too 01.00.04 - Removed Rowan's silly "They're mostly dudes" line. At this point, before getting his ghost powers, Rowan should be serious and not be delivering jokes 01.00.19 - Removed 10 seconds of "Pestering" silliness 01.00.25 - Removed Holtzman saying "Apocalypse" the second time, so it's now like it was in the trailers. Rescored transition 01.02.57 - Removed the Mayor's assistant improving a pop-culture reference 01.05.04 - Removed Dean Shanks advertising his new album. Abby just cuts him off. Added remote off soundFX 01.05.34 - Added reversed, and zoom-panned establishing shot of Columbia University. Added soundFX and more laughter 01.05.37 - Added deleted scene of Erin returning to the University. Graded to match 01.05.42 - Removed a minute of dialogue between Erin and Dr Filmore. The simple gag is that she believes he will have her back, it doesn't need laid on with a trowel 01.05.45 - Removed a small amount of Erin dialogue 01.05.59 - Removed 30 seconds of Dr Filmore improv and Erin being led down the corridor again. It was the same scene as earlier all over again, plus we've had closure on Phil already. We just cut straight outside now 01.07.29 - Combined two shots by isolating and inserting Abby leaving over the top of the second reaction shot of Erin 01.07.33 - Removed Abby saying take care of yourself. It sounded a bit too final for my taste. Rescored moment 01.07.52 - Added elements from the deleted version of the scene of Erin sitting in bed. Regraded to match. Sound and music mixed with the movie version. SoundFX added 01.08.48 - Added deleted scene where Abby checks the spooky stairwell twice. Graded to match 01.10.24 - Removed Rowan improving jokes about the slime. He now stays in character and we get the classic "...and then the world... woo-ha-ha-ha...ha-ha-ha" Doctor Evil style villain line 01.10.32 - Removed a few shots of the projectile vomiting. It stopped looking horrid and started to look like an effect 01.10.59 - Brought forward Lotus-Leaf restaurant scene so now it occurs just after Erin says the line "Lotus Leaf?" 01.10.63 - Removed more insane improv lines from the Mayor. Replaced audio in establishing shot 01.12.07 - Added establishing shot of GB-HQ and replaced audio. Remixed dialogue from Erin and Patty over the top 01.13.17 - Removed Patty improving lines in the middle of a fight scene 01.13.32 - Removed silly looking shot of Patty running and screaming. Now we only hear her 01.13.45 - Removed comedy fight parts from what is supposed to be a serious life-threatening moment 01.13.48 - Removed Abby saying "Hi Patty/Patricia" again in the space of a minute 01.13.52 - Removed Patty's terrible "The devil is ali-ive!" scream. Now Abby's head whips round super-fast, Linda Blair style 01.14.15 - Removed Patty's terrible "The power of Patty compels you!" screamed pop-culture reference 01.14.43 - Added bass rumble as Rowan flexes his arms. I thought we should hear something? 01.14.55 - Removed two shots of Rowan riding the motorcycle, so now both motorcycle scenes play as one 01.17.24 - Removed 12 second scene of Dr Filmore in a bar. It's not needed and isn't funny 01.17.48 - Removed a couple of lines of Dan Aykroyd talking about scientific ghost stuff. I liked his cameo but his character shouldn't know this stuff 01.18.18 - Removed Holtzman improv line 01.18.40 - Removed 15 seconds of Slimer driving the car away and then driving it right back again. Now Abby just shouts "Light him up!" as soon as he closes the car door 01.18.44 - Removed generic reaction line from Patty 01.18.46 - Inserted shot of Slimer putting his foot on "The gas". It now just plays as if he's starting from a few feet away, instead of the other end of the street 01.19.49 - Removed generic reaction line from Patty 01.20.05 - Removed balloon fart-gag by trimming a few shots 01.20.13 - Removed generic reaction line from Patty 01.21.59 - Removed Rowan line about jumpsuits. One a,,hole line from him was enough 01.23.02 - Heavily reordered first half of battle with ghost army to be a bit more hectic and exciting. Removed generic reaction lines from Abby, Erin. Removed green dragon ghost, or changed him to blue in one shot. Removed Abby failing to throw the grenade by combining two parts 01.24.19 - Removed Abby shouting at the re-dead Ghosts in a very silly way. Reworked the dialogue to cover the removal 01.24.37 - Removed Patty shouting at the frozen people 01.24.54 - Removed Abby delivering a fairly generic reaction line to the Slimer Car. Now they just stare at in silence, as if they have given up being surprised by this sh,t. Added soundFX 01.25.19 - Removed Erin slipping on the slime. It cut into the tension and this isn't really a running gag in this edit. Added soundFX. Also a line from Abby 01.25.40 - Removed the guy from the hotel showing up. I didn't like the way this gag suggested that the hotel is still full of people, as moments later it is destroyed. Making that feel less fun and more like 911. Added soundFX 01.26.56 - Removed generic reaction line from Patty and another shot 01.27.35 - Removed Patty screaming at Rowan. It undercut the building tension IMO. Rescored and added soundFX 01.27.41 - Removed generic reaction line from Abby. Added soundFX 01.28.42 - Removed first improv reaction from Patty, the second one is funnier and enough. Rescored and added soundFX 01.31.04 - Reduced length of silly looking Slimer flying upwards shot and painted him out, so it's just a fire ball. We still hear him scream though 01.31.29 - Removed shots of the GBs shooting Rowan in the d,ck. It felt a bit over the top to me. We just see them shoot him somewhere in the front, which may or may not be his d,ck LOL 01.31.33 - Slightly recoloured crotch on ghost so it isn't in flame, it's now a blue-ish/pink like the rest of him 01.32.29 - Removed 7 seconds (3 shots) of Erin falling through the portal. They still fall for what seems like a stupidly long time/distance but it's now a lot less stupid 01.32.52 - Removed a couple of seconds of Erin and Abby staring at each other. It went on for too long considering they are still falling 01.33.31 - Silenced generic reaction line from Patty. Rescored and added soundFX 01.58.54 - Removed 10 seconds of sandwich improv. The joke is that Kevin is nonchalantly eating a sandwich, not where he got it from 01.34.44 - Removed 30 seconds of more food based improv and combined shots from both scenes of Abby throwing the sandwich away 01.59.36 - Brought forward news reel audio and music so it plays over shot of Abby 01.35.04 - Removed silly line from the Mayor 01.35.37 - Removed 15 seconds of hair colour based improv 01.48.36 - Added fanedit credits and thank yous

Additional Notes:

FYI: Sony's Ghostbusters 2016 has their un-removable Cinavia copy protection embedded into the audio. So this edit has it in there too. It will play just fine on your desktop but will not play correctly on Sony hardware players. Players from other manufactures may, or may not have any issues.

Other Sources:

Ghostbusters 2016: Extended Edition (Blu-Ray) Deleted Scenes and Alternate Takes (Ghostbusters 2016 Blu-Ray Bonus Disc) Ghost (Blu-Ray) Ghostbusters 2016 (Soundtrack) Ghostbusters 1984 (Soundtrack) Ghostbusters Meets Metal by 331Erock (YouTube) www.freesound.org (Various soundFX)

Special Thanks:

Special thanks to addiesin for the 'Ghost' EVP idea. Thanks to all the people who offered vital feedback and general encouragement in the project thread: Dr. Chim Richalds, revel911, thecuddlyninja, coinilius, dangermouse, That One Guy, DominicCobb, Zarius, vernequeneto, Zamros, SpectacularSMan, Nic, nova2725 and Hubunkey.