Ghostbusters

Ivan Reitman, USA, 1984, 107 minutes

Parapsychologists Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz and Egon Spengler have a problem: they’ve lost their university funding, had all of their equipment nicked, and have been kicked out of their lab. Obviously the only remaining option is to start their own business as ghost hunting bad-asses and cause the end of the world.

The massive summer blockbuster of the early 1980s, defeating Indiana Jones and Gremlins, and taking $200 million at the box office in its first five months of release, Ghostbusters was the in-thing in 1984, spawning a disappointing sequel and two animated spin-off shows. You could ask anybody the simple question of “Who ya gonna call?” and would get a hearty “GHOSTBUSTERS!” as an answer, thanks to the insanely catchy theme song. Even almost 20 years after its release, the film is great fun to watch. It’s hard not to get sucked into the excitement as the four unlikely heroes set out to save New York. The characters, the dialogue, the story; it all works together flawlessly, facilitated by the great interaction between the seasoned comedy actors (Murray, Aykroyd and Ramis) in the lead roles and the odd-ball supporting characters such as friendly neighbour Louis Tully and assistant-with-a-crush Janine Melnitz. However it’s Murray who steals the show as the cynical, fast-talking loudmouth Dr. Peter Venkman. He acts like a complete ass for the duration of the movie and still gets to snog Sigourney Weaver… the bastard!

The jokes come fast and furious, and the movie provides an enjoyable story, pitting three college dropouts against the greatest Evil mankind has ever known: the US job market of the 1980s… Oh, and some Sumerian god arriving to destroy mankind. You know, the usual.

Chock-full of great one-liners, off-the-wall humour and essential life lessons for everybody – such as how to properly respond when being asked “Are you a god?” – this movie still holds up as a prime example of 107 minutes of mainstream film-making that doesn’t have to resort to graphic violence, excessive strong language or self-indulgent camera trickery to entertain.

Just don’t cross the streams...

Review by Joe Panaeotiks
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2004