Ghostbusters

Continuity mistake: When Stay Puft is walking towards the church, an aerial shot shows the (miniature scale model) streets totally empty; however, a floor-level angle shows hundreds of (green screened) people who have appeared from nowhere. (01:32:05)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When they're all fighting in the Mayor's office, the mug on the desk changes its position between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When the guys blast the glass lamp in the hotel, it falls on a table and messes up the table and chairs around. In the following angle the area, which was dark half a second ago is now perfectly lit. (00:35:30)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: In the first scene the librarian is pushing a cart of books. In one shot both her hands are gripping the back but in the next shot her left hand is holding the top shelf. (00:00:50)

rabid anarchist

Ghostbusters mistake picture

Continuity mistake: At the Lincoln Center (that place Dana's orchestra plays at) the nerd with her has his case and they're leaving when Peter is there. Nerd-boy goes off to the side and waits. When they start off again, his case pops back and forth unhumanly between being carried under his arm and in his hand between long and close shots about 3 times. (00:44:34)

Continuity mistake: During the earthquake, after the ground swallows the police car, the crowd to the left disappears, only to appear half a second later.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Ray first tries the fire pole at the station, he is holding it with his left arm with his right hand on the wrist. When he hits the floor, he is holding the pole with his right arm under his left arm. (00:16:10)

Continuity mistake: When Venkamn picks up slime from the library's drawer, the wood is first partially dry with chunks of slime, but a frame later appears all wet with no slime. (00:09:15)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Venkman meets Dana by a fountain. When he says goodbye to her, first a man with a hat passes behind him and disappears in the next angle; then, in a close-up, Venkman is surrounded by dozens of people who vanish half a second later in the wide angle, where the place appears empty. (00:44:45)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Venkman is doing the tests trying to flirt with the blonde student, when she says that the figure on the card is a star, Venkman is first holding the card with his thumb and two fingers. But from the back angle, four fingers are seen extended. (00:03:20)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Louis/Vinz Clortho is dropped at Ghostbusters office at night at the same time Venkman is drugging Dana/Zuul at her apartment. When Venkman calls from her apartment it is night, Janine is in the same grey striped blouse, black skirt and tights outfit during that call she was wearing when Louis was dropped off by the police, at this time Venkman says he is on his way back to the office. Venkman does not arrive until the next morning, during the EPA raid, he is still wearing his same brown date night jacket and blue shirt but it's daylight now and Janine has changed into a new outfit, red blouse, grey vest, grey skirt and red tights and does not look like she slept at the office, Egon has also changed at least his tie and put on a suit jacket.

Continuity mistake: When the 'disgusting blob' goes through the wall above the vase of ferns after being attacked by Ray, you can see two small amounts of slime appear on the wall. In the next scene, when the food trolley crashes into the table, there is more slime on the wall than there was in the previous shot. (00:33:15)

Continuity mistake: When Egon tries to prevent Walter Peck from shutting down the protection grid, he has Janine and Vinz (Louis) behind him. You can see that Vinz is raising his right arm, but in the next shot his right arm is now lowered down. (01:06:15)

Continuity mistake: When the Ghostbusters are heading for the building, there's a wide view of New York bathed in a sunset light with a red and blue sky. In further close-up shots, there is a clear sunny light everywhere. (01:15:20)

Sacha

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Most likely the result of the supernatural clouds forming around the building.

If such were the reason it would be the other way around: it should be dark near the building where the ghost-clouds are, but it's not. Therefore it's a continuity mistake due to the scenes being shot in different days.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Trying to escape the demon dog, Tully trips over a chair and bangs against the windows of the restaurant. You can see in the first shot that the maitre d' (the guy with grey hair and stache, wearing black) is looking at him. But in the reverse shot, he's smiling at the patrons at the table, and only a moment later raises his head to check out what the fuss is about. (00:54:35)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Vinz Clortho sprints off the building's front doors to chase Tully, the distance between the passers-by changes. (00:54:05)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: Dealing with Tully, Annie Potts says one rather oddly foreshadowing line to Harold Ramis about his death, and then clings to him. Ramis puts a hand on her shoulder, and the position is different in the next shot. (01:02:00)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: When Venkman is in Dana's bedroom the quantity and quality of light coming through the window changes between shots; look at the side of the window when he is counting down, for instance. (00:58:30)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: During the scene with the possessed Dana in bed with Peter, the pillows rest at different heights against the bed's headboard. (00:57:30 - 00:58:40)

Sammo

Continuity mistake: After the library scene, while the three scientists are walking and talking, a woman in a striped blue and yellow sweater passes by Egon, but disappears in the immediate next angle. (00:21:35)

Sacha

More mistakes in Ghostbusters
More quotes from Ghostbusters

Trivia: When Peter Venkman mentions the time Egon Spengler tried to drill a hole in his head, Egon replies, "That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me". This line was ad-libbed by Harold Ramis.

More trivia for Ghostbusters

Question: I heard that Ron Jeremy had a walk on part in this film, does anyone know in which scene he is in?

Answer: Ron Jeremy can be seen in the crowd outside the firehouse right after the containment unit is shut off.

More questions & answers from Ghostbusters

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.