When The Dead Rise From The Grave

Tonight's marathon is the second major push towards building up a promising season full of Halloween themed movies. In the case of this evening's marathon, it's a marathon that is more down to earth and family oriented but maintains the dark and mysterious feel of Halloween. The theme that runs rampant throughout this lineup is both death and resurrection. The dead rise from the grave in each movie which prompts the need for control of the situation leading to the entrance of the Ghostbusters, the only men qualified to handle such a situation. It's a brilliantly clever marathon that is centered around the story arc of the dead rising from the grave and when strange things begins to happen, there is such an urgent need to call THE GHOSTBUSTERS. We have the following on tonight's menu:

Corpse Bride 2005, Frankenweenie 2012, Beetlejuice 1988, Ghostbusters 1984, and Ghostbusters ll 1989

 

       Now this is such a fun and epic marathon. There isn't a better way to open up the Halloween season than with such a clever and fun spirited marathon like this one. It all goes back to the conversation that the characters Ray and Winston had in the Ghostbusters car in the first movie. During that scene, both men are discussing the Bible and what it says in regards to resurrection. The character of Winston played by Ernie Hudson tells Ray played by Dan Aykroyd that the reason they've been so busy with chasing ghosts is because the dead have been rising from the grave. That one scene and brief exchange of dialogue is the basis for this entire marathon of movies which blend together nicely given the theme of the night. The first movie of the evening is the 2005 critically acclaimed Tim Burton animated film titled Corpse Bride. Featuring the voice talents of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Albert Finney, Emily Watson, and Tracey Ullman, the film centers around a shy groom set to marry his bride decides to practice his wedding vows on a young woman who rises from the grave with the assumption that he married her. Corpse Bride was nominated for an academy award for best animated film of 2006 and deservedly so because it shows the brilliance behind Tim Burton's visual style of directing in a world that screams Halloween, while also remaining sentimental and emotional with it's story about a man who awakens the dead and ends up giving back life to the woman he resurrected unintentionally and freed in the end.

      The second movie of the marathon is another Tim Burton movie that centers around death and resurrection titled Frankenweenie. Featuring the voice talents of Winona Ryder, Catherine O Hara, and Martin Short, the story centers around a young boy named Victor who conducts a science experiment to bring back his dog Sparky to life even though it may come with dire consequences. Frankenweenie is another sentimental tale from Tim Burton where a boys love for his dog who passed on inspired him to find a way to resurrect him from death. It's touching, it's heartwarming and further demonstrates how skilled Burton is at crafting a dark emotional tale centering around dark themes such as death.

       The third movie of the marathon is Tim Burton's 1988 comedy classic and blockbuster titled Beetlejuice starring Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, and Michael Keaton in the title roles. Winner of an academy award for Best Makeup, Beetlejuice centers around a recently deceased couple becoming desperate to claim ownership of their house from an eccentric and miserable family that now claims it, that they contract the services of a "bio-exorcist" named Beetlejuice in order to remove the new owners from the house. Little do they know that Beetlejuice was a force that was put away in a grave for good reason as he is a troublemaker who claims to have the ability to get rid of the living. Beetlejuice is a classic comedy from Tim Burton which centers around the theme of death and trying to make contact with the living but does it in a creative manner and makes it funny.

      The fourth movie of the marathon is the 1984 blockbuster classic titled Ghostbusters starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, and Rick Moranis. Nominated for two academy awards including best visual effects, the story places three unemployed scientists in New York City as they set up a business as a ghost removal service, calling themselves The Ghostbusters. Their system works pretty successful and garners them international fame until their power system that controls the ghosts is shut off by the Environmental Protection Atgency, releasing all the ghosts into the city and creating a potential armageddon scenario. Prior to that incident, the three Ghostbusters agreed to help a beautiful young lady named Dana Barrett get rid of a pair of ghosts that run rampant in her apartment under the control of a powerful supernatural being named Gozer.  Ghostbusters blends, comedy and thrills so well together that it's become one of the most iconic movies in pop culture as well as one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, and one of the funniest movies ever made. All of the movies prior build up to Ghostbusters because the resurrections of the ghosts becomes outrageous and gets out of hand, therefore  prompting the need for someone to control the situation. In this case, it's the four men wearing Photon packs who choose to stand up to the supernatural powers of Ghosts.

      The fifth and final movie of the evening is the 1989 blockbuster sequel to the first Ghostbusters film titled Ghostbusters ll. Set a total of five years after the events of the first film, the Ghostbusters team has disassembled due to being run bankrupt by the city for all the damage they created upon saving New York from the giant marshmellow man. Only when ghosts began to reappear throughout New York and a museum is taken over by a deceased 16th century tyrant in a picture frame named Vigo. Vigo creates a river of slime that runs throughout the underground part of the city and is being charged by all the rudeness of the city as a stepping stone for bringing New York city to its knees. Only when things great real strange and don't look good that the Ghostbusters are able to revive their closed business and save New York as well as Peter Venkmen's ex girlfriend Dana's baby from becoming victim to Vigos wrath and a new human form for him. Ghostbusters ll never received the same kind of fame as the first movie nor reached its level of quality but it brings the marathon to a reasonably satisfying conclusion that us both heartwarming and will leave fans cheering.

So what are these movies trying to say when you put them all together for a marathon? The marathon says that sometimes its best that those who are dead remain dead because their old lives are gone and being brought back from the grave can present dire consequences. They may not be the way you remember them and can be something that can do great harm to mankind. Sometimes its best to just let the past live on in a persons memory and not toy with destiny or the idea of resurrection. A group of men like the Ghostbusters that are meant to help people should be given the opportunity to prove themselves without being accused of false pretenses, and chastised as criminals. In a situation such as New York being overrun by a State puff Marshmallow man or a river of slime that covers up a museum, the Ghostbusters may be the only chance for mankind to fight back against ghosts.