En route to see the trailer for "Batman: Dead End" director Sandy Collora's latest super hero short (this time with Batman and Superman), I came across this title on fanfilms.com.  Out of curiosity, I downloaded the thirty minute flick...  

...well, "Dead End" has just been taken off my number one spot for favorite fan film...  

It says quite a lot when a fan film is worth watching twice in a row at one o'clock in the morning.  It says even more when said film is probably one of the most original fan films in a moneyless "market" saturated with look-at-what-I-did "Star Wars" ten minute movies.  And though "Ghostbusters" is not usually touched upon as a fan film favorite (actually, I don't think it ever was), perhaps it should.

The story is basically as the title suggests.  Freddy Krueger has taken residence in a matress (who knew?) that causes the sleeper to lull off into Elm Street, where, of course, Fredy is waiting for the hapless victim.  Coincidentaly, the matress' owner's two friends are coming into town... one of which also happens to be orginal Ghostbuster Egon Spengler's nephew.  

Of course, one ghost encounter leads to another, and before you know it, the Ghostbusters are back, riding around in a white U-Haul complete with sirens and the Ghostbusters emblem.  Though, while business is booming, Freddy escapes from the matress (ironically, the Ghostbuster's fault), and begins to wreak havoc in the open.  It is now up to the motley crue of ghost hunters to put a stop to the demented killer.

What makes all of this work is the brilliance.  As stated earlier, you could probably say that 9 out of 10 fan made films are always based on "Star Wars."  For some reason, other franchises are rarely used (all I can think of is "Batman," "The Matrix," or "Max Payne").  "Ghostbusters," though, should certainly be used more often based strictly on what director/co-writer Hank Braxton was able to do with just (*gasp*) five hundred clams.

I certainly recommend this one based solely on its sheer brilliance as well as originality...

...not to mention it's free.

**** out of ****

Follow the link to view the film:

http://www.theforce.net/theater/nonsw/fvgb/index.shtml

I have to see this, but it'll take awhile to get it to work over on this end

I downloaded this and I was stunned.  These guys know their material and have respect for it.  Just watching the sequences, that pay homage to the actual films is worth the download and the film is funny.

I thought it was completely stupid but it was good and funny, they had no blood effects or any at all and didn't show the dirty fat guy after he died

It took me 2 hours to finally get it working but everytime I tried downloading it, it closed so i just played it in quicktime to just watch it

It's a lot better than some feature length films of the same genre

I think the tongue-phone gag is one of the funniet pieces of comedy I have ever seen in a short film.

I didn't even notice that joke when the tongue phone was licking the girls father instead of her, something about the scene made me think of it but I didn't notice until she screamed a few minutes later

The thing that struck me is that it was filled with numerous homages from both films,  music, and various other forms.  I know we've seen it before and the plot isn't a stretch, but it is great to see something GHOSTBUSTERS related again.  It's a franchise, that it is due for a rebirth.