Commentary by director Jerry Zucker and writer Bruce Joel Rubin, “The Making of a Classic”, “Alchemy of a Love Scene”, “Inside the Paranormal”, “100 Years…100 Passions”, theatrical trailer in HD, still gallery ---

Who would have expected a major romantic thriller from one of the directors behind “Airplane!”? Surprisingly Jerry Zucker does a terrific job and helped make“Ghost” a huge hit and made Patrick Swazye an “A” List star. Swazye plays Sam an investment banker who seems to have it all including true love in the form of his girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore). Sam is randomly murdered…or so it seems to Molly but Sam’s ghost discovers otherwise and desperately tries to contact her and his friend (Tony Goldwyn) to warn them that Molly is in danger from the creep who murdered him. The only way he can contact her is through a fake psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg in her Oscar winning performance) who REALLY does have the ability to see the departed. ***

A well made suspense classy romantic suspense thriller “Ghost” manages to overcome some of the hokey contrivances of the script. The winning performances also keep “Ghost” afloat along with Goldberg’s infectious performance. “Ghost” is an enjoyable flick and Swayze also gives a strong performance in the film anchoring what might be seen as preposterous by people that don’t buy into suspense thrillers. ---

Image & Sound:

As I’ve mentioned before it seems like in the rush to get these films to Blu-ray studios are taking very little time to research their source materials and/or preparing the films for the best transfer to Blu-ray. What is that important? Because this format will sink or swim based on how viewers are wowed by the presentation. If the high def transfer doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny, those that have started buying these Blu-ray titles are going to wonder what all the fuss is about. Blu-ray as a format won’t be around forever (let’s be honest, high def downloads are just around the corner for some folks whether or not they are TRUE high def transmissions) and will cannibalize the DVD market but will only do so if the studios do a proper job with the releases. If they don’t, they’ll find themselves in the same boat as the music business. ***

“Ghost” looks good but it isn’t a huge step up from the DVD transfer that the film received a couple of years back. It looks OK but could look terrific. Flesh tones are solid but the film lacks depth. Colors are pretty decent looking throughout. ***

Audio focuses on the dialog although there are plenty of moments when the 5.1 mix makes good use of the format such as when the supernatural moments appear on screen. ---

The special features from the 2007 DVD release have been ported over to the Blu-ray and they are presented in standard definition. ***

We get the original commentary track by Zucker and writer Bruce Joel Rubin and it’s solid enough but there are long stretches where we hear nothing. It might have been helpful to have a moderator here. ***

“The Making of a Classic” runs a brief 12 minutes and features interviews from the time of the DVD issue with Swayze, Rub in and Zucker. There aren’t any fresh interviews that for Moore or Goldberg. ***

“Alchemy of a Love Scene” –Since Zucker later parodies this scene himself in one of his “Naked Gun” flicks, it’s hard not to think of those parodies when watching how this scene was shot. ***

“100 Years…100 Passions” was part of AFI’s “100 Greatest” TV specials and this is an excerpt from that TV program. ***

“Inside the Paranormal”-OK this one is just silly. We hear from “real’ mediums and psychics who try to give credence to the film and what happens in it. Sorry I don’t buy it. ***

We get a still gallery and the ONLY thing in HD here aside from the film is the theatrical trailer. Pretty slim pickings for extras and they could have been presented better (hint—Paramount do them in high def!). ---

Final Words: