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Ghostbusters (1984)

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    4. (1984)

Ghostbusters was a supernatural comedy from 1984 starring Bill Murray (Venkman), Dan Aykroyd (Stantz) and Harold Ramis (Spengler). The film is about three parapsychologists who set up a business in New York to catch ghosts in a similar manner to pest controllers. After successfully catching and containing their first ghosts, the team become minor celebrities and are hired to clean up the city from the ever-increasing number of ghosts, eventually hiring a fourth Ghostbuster, Winston (Ernie Hudson), to assist them in their endeavours.

Everything seems to be going pretty well until the Ghostbusters are called to investigate a demonic spirit called Zuul who, rather bizarrely, seems to be living in Sigourney Weaver’s fridge. It turns out that the fridge is actually a portal to a spiritual realm where the demigod Gozer the Gozerian lives who just happens to be planning a visit to New York to bring about the end of the world.

As the Ghostbusters plan their strategy for preventing the appearance of Gozer and saving the world, a visit from the US Environmental Protection Agency leads to the Ghostbusters’ facilities being shut down because of the suspected use of dangerous chemicals. This unfortunate glitch in the plans results in the ghost containment machine being deactivated which then releases all the captured ghosts back into the city, causing mayhem and ending with the mayor asking the Ghostbusters to resume their activities.

Whilst the Ghostbusters attempt to recapture the freed ghosts, they are unable to prevent the appearance of Gozer who takes the form of whatever the Ghostbusters imagine it to be. Unable to keep his mind blank, Stantz tries to think of “something that could never, ever possibly destroy us” whereupon Gozer emerges in Stantz’s chosen form of the, now iconic, giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man! The giant Marshmallow Man then begins destroying the city but is eventually stopped by the Ghostbusters who dangerously cross the energy streams of their backpacks in order to blow him up.

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Do You Remember Ghostbusters?

Do You Remember Ghostbusters?

  • Anonymous user
    on
    After watching this film several times, my friends and I decided to become Ghostbusters ourselves and spent numerous playtimes on the hunt for ghosts in the school playground. My best friend at the time, tried to convince me that he had actually seen a real ghost at home and that he had even collected some of its ectoplasm. The next day he bought in a little plastic bottle with some green slime in it that looked somewhat convincing but suspiciously smelled of shampoo.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I went to see Ghostbusters for my 10th birthday. I took 3 mates, and we went to THE coldest, draughtiest cinema in the world. The pop was expensive and flat, the chocolate was a rip off, but it was by far the best evening I've ever had. The library ghost that went "Shhhhh" totally that freaked my mate out, Slimer careering towards Venkman in the hotel corridor and obviously the Marshmallow Man were totally unforgettable. Fave lines from the film...Ray : "Listen...do you smell something?"Ray : "Hey, where'd these stairs go?"Venkman : "They go up."Still to this day, Ghostbusters is in my top 10 fave films ever, and one of the few I've re-bought on DVD.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Saw this at Birmingham's Odeon Queensway in the December of '84, with my sister and her then boyfriend. You're right, the library ghost made me jump too- not really suitable in a film that was aimed at children. The rest of the film just irritated me, except for the wonderful little green ghost 'onion-head' and his passion for food!
  • Aura
    on
    Saw this at the Odeon with aunt and uncle, cousins. The library ghost that went "Shhhhh" made me jump.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I remember seeing this at Christmas 1984 in Llanelli cinema. You could smoke in there in those days. Me and my mate worked our way through a box of ciggies during the film and we were sick outside afterwards.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I still want to be a Ghostbuster!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    My favourite film of all time, looking back now, its amazing how rubbish the sfx seem now, but they were top class back in 84. I challenge anyone to find a fella now, who didn't want to be a ghostbuster!! I always wanted my own Ecto 1 as well. "We came, we saw, we kicked its a*s" !! "Lets show this prehistoric b*tch how we do things downtown"! A timeless film, that still entertains me now
  • Anonymous user
    on
    i remember my best mate kerry and myself getting a glow in the dark ghost buster tshirt and going to the pics proudly wearing them and singing at the top of our lungs at the end to the theme tune and i was a teen!!!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I seem to remember Sigourney Weaver's fridge being a portal to Zuul? Bizarre but funny.

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