Ghostbusters (1984)

A 1984 supernatural comedy about three parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in new york, hire a fourth member, and accidentally bring about the end of the world. The film is honest about the absurd premise and the honesty is the part most comedies of the absurd-premise type were not willing to pay.

What the film does

Bill Murray plays Peter Venkman, the con-man scientist who cares more about the grant money than the paranormal, who gets fired from his university job, and who starts the business with the two scientists who actually do care about the paranormal, played by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The business takes off because ghosts are real, because the apartment above the Chinese restaurant is haunted, because the central library is full of ghosts, because the city is haunted. The film is interested in the business as a business, in the small-business details of the proton packs and the containment grid and the ECTO-1, and the small-business details are the comedy.

The fourth ghostbuster is Winston Zeddemore, played by Ernie Hudson, who is hired because the other three need help and who is allowed to be the audience surrogate, who is allowed to be the one who asks why anyone would do this job, and who is allowed to be the one who is right to ask. The four men are not interchangeable, and the film is interested in each of them as a specific kind of person who has ended up in this specific kind of job. The film is also interested in Dana Barrett, played by Sigourney Weaver, and in Louis Tully, played by Rick Moranis, and in the relationship between the two of them, which is the most human thing in the film and the funniest thing in the film and the thing the film is most quietly about.

The third act is the rooftop confrontation with Gozer, the Sumerian god, and the third act is the place the film has been heading, and the third act is the place the film delivers. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is the visual joke the film is known for, and the joke is the right joke, and the joke is allowed to be the climax. The film commits to the joke, and the commitment is the part most 80s comedies of the supernatural type were not willing to pay.

Why it’s in the canon

Criteria blend is 1+3, loved it and want to remember it. A good 80s comedy that is also a good horror film, which is the rare combination, which is the combination the film is for. The film is a comedy about catching ghosts, and the film treats the ghosts as real, and the film treats the catching as work, and the work is the comedy. The combination is the reason the film works and the combination is the reason the film has lasted. The film is from 1984 and the film is still funny and the film is still a good time and the good time is the reason the film is in the canon.

The film is also the rare 80s comedy that does not get smaller with age. The film is bigger than the era, and the bigger-than-the-era is the part the film gets right. The film is not a 1984 comedy, the film is a comedy, and the comedy is what the film is, and the comedy is in the canon.

A note on the year

The film is 1984. The Letterboxd page is the 1984 film. We use 1984.

A note on disambiguation

This is the 1984 Ivan Reitman film starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson. There is no other feature film of this title in 1984. The 2016 reboot is unrelated and is not a ghostbusters film.

A note on the version

The Letterboxd still URL uses the suffix ghostbusters-20- which is a hash, not a re-release. The film is the 1984 theatrical release. The 2024 re-release uses a different image. We use the 1984 image.

On hand

Yes, DVD + digital. The DVD is the Sony release. The digital copy is the same transfer, no extras.