Background
Vinz Clortho was worshiped as a demigod by the Sumerians, Mesopotamians, and Hittites around 6000 BC. According to ancient belief, the souls of the dead were ruled by Gozer and protected by a powerful Gatekeeper and Keymaster. For Gozer to rise and walk the human plane, the Gatekeeper and Keymaster had to assume the form of beasts. Vinz Clortho served as the Keymaster: together with Zuul, he can open a portal allowing Gozer to cross over into the physical dimension. Vinz's full formal title, recited when possessing Louis Tully, is "Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer, Volguus Zildrohar, Lord of the Sebouillia."
One distinguishing physical feature separating Vinz from Zuul is the length of their horns. Vinz Clortho's horns are noticeably longer and thinner than Zuul's.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Vinz Clortho first signaled his presence when Dana Barrett opened her refrigerator to find its contents replaced by an otherworldly dimension, with a Terror Dog growling from within. He manifested fully on a Thursday evening, appearing on Louis Tully's bed while Louis was hosting a client party in his Central Park West apartment. After Louis threw a coat toward the bed, landing it on Vinz's head and initially confusing guests about a dog at the party, Vinz burst through the bedroom door and crashed onto the refreshment table, scattering the guests. He chased Louis out of the building, across Central Park, and cornered him at the Tavern on the Green, where he possessed Louis while onlookers inside the restaurant continued their conversations unaware.
While possessing Louis, Vinz could speak but could not access his host's memories or knowledge. He immediately sought out Zuul, the Gatekeeper, referring to himself as the Keymaster and wandering the streets. He mistook a horse attached to a carriage for the Gatekeeper and attempted to converse with it, introducing himself in full. After harassing passersby and causing a horse-drawn carriage incident, police arrested him and brought him to the firehouse, releasing him into the custody of Egon Spengler and Janine Melnitz. Egon used the PKE Meter to confirm the readings and connected Louis to the Aura Video-Analyzer, which displayed an image of the Terror Dog on its monitor screen confirming possession. While in Egon's custody, the possessed Louis revealed Gozer's plan to assume one of the pre-chosen destructor forms, recounting past conquests including the giant Torb form during the Rectification of the Vuldronaii and the giant Sloar during the Third Reconciliation of the Meketrex Supplicants.
When Walter Peck forced the shutdown of the Containment Unit, the release of imprisoned ghosts provided the sign Vinz had been waiting for. He escaped the firehouse and made his way back to the Shandor Building, where he found Zuul (possessing Dana Barrett) and shared a passionate kiss in her apartment. They then ascended a hidden stairwell to the rooftop, where their ritual union opened the interdimensional gateway through which Gozer entered. Upon completing the ritual, both Vinz and Zuul transformed back into their Terror Dog forms. After the Ghostbusters defeated Gozer, Vinz disappeared from the dimension and Louis Tully returned to his human state, with no recollection of the events since his possession. A deleted scene from the film suggests Louis may have had some memory of intimacy with Dana Barrett while both were possessed, which Dana rejected as untrue.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Prior to the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), Egon Spengler captured Vinz Clortho in a Ghost Trap while working to prevent a new Gozer incursion at the Shandor Mining Company property in Summerville, Oklahoma. Unable to also trap Zuul, Egon concealed the Trap containing Vinz beneath a hidden panel in the floor of his farmhouse study. Years later, Egon's ghost guided his granddaughter Phoebe to the Trap. When Gary Grooberson attempted to charge the old Trap using a school bus and jumper cables, Vinz escaped in P.K.E. wisp form, shattered nearby windows as he flew past, and entered the Shandor mine, where he became dormant inside a stone statue of himself.
Vinz broke out of the statue and followed Gary to the Summerville Walmart, where he shifted into Terror Dog form and began eating bags of Purina Dog Chow before confronting Gary directly. After a chase through the store that knocked over clothing racks and shattered the entrance doors, Vinz stomped on the hood of Gary's car, flattening the tires, before possessing him. The possessed Grooberson later sabotaged the Proton Cannons at the mine intended to contain the Gozer incursion. He reunited with Zuul (possessing Callie Spengler), and together they completed the ritual union that allowed Gozer to emerge from the sacrificial pit and transmogrify both Vinz and Zuul back into Terror Dog form. The Ghostbusters and Phoebe ultimately captured every entity on the property. When Trevor removed Vinz's head from the captured husk, Gary Grooberson was revealed inside, noting that his hands hurt from galloping.
In the IDW Comics crossover Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron, Vinz Clortho appeared alongside Gozer and Zuul approximately 1,000 years ago during the Autobot-Decepticon civil war on Cybertron. Vinz charged at Megatron as he approached the Temple of Gozer, though Megatron knocked him aside. Vinz also appeared in the primary IDW continuity during the Tiamat incident, at Gozer's side when Gozer induced telepathic contact with Ray Stantz.
In Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Version), Vinz Clortho is referenced in an audio recording found during the Museum of (Super)Natural History level. In the Ghostbusters: The Computer Game by David Crane, Vinz's possessed form appears on the map screen in several versions of the game.
Personality
Vinz Clortho is notably more dim-witted than Zuul. Where Zuul is seductive and calculating, Vinz is confused and blundering: he mistook a carriage horse for the Gatekeeper, and once possessing a human host, he could not retain that host's memories or knowledge. He mirrored and repeated the behaviors and speech of humans nearby, most notably parroting Egon Spengler's words and gestures during his time at the firehouse. He is reckless when capturing hosts, attacking Louis at a crowded party and chasing him through active streets. That same recklessness carried into Afterlife, where he caused significant collateral damage chasing Gary Grooberson through the Walmart.
When possessing a human host, Vinz speaks in a bookish and oddly eloquent pattern, recounting ancient history and cosmological events with surprising detail despite the surrounding confusion.
Physical Description and Powers
Vinz Clortho's native form is that of a Terror Dog: a large, powerful, horned, dog-like beast with blazing red eyes. His horns are longer and thinner than Zuul's, serving as the primary visual distinction between the two. In addition to the corporeal Terror Dog form, Vinz can take a spectral Sentinel form (a bipedal entity with a ghost-like tail instead of legs) and a P.K.E. wisp form, as seen in Afterlife. His core powers are possession of a human host and shape-shifting. In conjunction with Zuul, he can open the interdimensional portal that Gozer uses to cross into the physical plane.
In the IDW Comics and Insight Editions classification, Vinz Clortho is a Class 7 fully corporeal possessor. In Ghostbusters: The Board Game, he is classed as a Class 6 Cryptozoic entity.
Production Notes
The Terror Dog puppet used for Vinz Clortho in the original film was operated by as many as six puppeteers working independently but in concert, with one puppeteer situated beneath an elevated floor to control the body and the facial expressions managed by cable controls. Footage of Vinz bursting through Louis's bedroom door, crashing onto the buffet table, and smashing through the apartment door into the hallway were all postproduction blue-screen shots using a small-scale stop-motion puppet animated frame by frame by effects animator Randy Cook. Closeup shots and scenes where Vinz was stationary used the full-size articulated puppet on the live-action set.
John Bruno, the effects art director, was responsible for getting Ted and Annette Fleming's coats to land convincingly on Vinz's back at the party, a task that required multiple attempts. Ivan Reitman rejected Cook's initial animation of Vinz hitting the hallway wall because the movement appeared too comedic for the tone of the scene and requested it be revised. When Gozer pets Vinz Clortho in the film, the two puppeteers operating the puppet were Mark Bryan Wilson in the front and Tim Lawrence in the rear.
An earlier design for Vinz Clortho was shorter and more dumpy in proportion, dating from the period when John Candy was still being considered for the role of Louis Tully. In early storyboards, Vinz's clumsiness was more exaggerated, including a moment where he would crash into a wall and knock over bookshelves. During the scene where Egon and Janine interview the possessed Louis, Rick Moranis ducked out of the frame for portions where the screen showed Vinz's true form, with a rubber Terror Dog head used as a stand-in on the video analyzer display.
For Ghostbusters: Afterlife, re-recording mixer Will Files used the original Terror Dog sounds as a foundation and augmented them, adding voices pitched down and blended with animal sounds. The Walmart parking lot chase was shot at night at the Deerfoot City Walmart location in Alberta. Jason Reitman felt the sound of Vinz crunching dog food was not violent enough, so Files added the sound of a lion eating prey. The crew studied the Running of the Bulls and how bulls regain their footing after smashing storefronts when choreographing the Terror Dog's movements.
Key Quotes
- "I am Vinz, Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer...Volguus Zildrohoar, Lord of the Seboullia. Are you the Gatekeeper?"
- "You will perish in flame! Soon as I find the Gatekeeper."
- "Gozer the Traveller. He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldronaii, the Traveller came as a large, moving Torb! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex Supplicants, they chose a new form for him... That of a giant Sloar! Many Shubs and Zulls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of a Sloar that day, I can tell you."
Vinz Clortho has been the subject of several high-end collectible figures, including a 1/10 Art Scale statue from Iron Studios depicting the Terror Dog form. The character was a stretch goal in the Ghostbusters: The Board Game Kickstarter campaign, unlocked on February 12, 2015 at the $400,000 tier. A Keymaster costume based on the possessed Louis Tully design was included in the Full Containment Edition and first Buster Bundle of Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord.
References
- Ghostbusters (1984), Columbia Pictures
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), Columbia Pictures
- Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron #1, IDW Publishing
- Tobin's Spirit Guide, Insight Editions (page 82-83)
- Ghostbusters Wiki (Fandom), "Vinz Clortho"
