Who you gonna call- besides the priests from The Exorcist or Buffy the vampire slayer?

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2009)

In the summer of 1984, two horror-comedy films came out, in direct competition with each other- Gremlins and Ghostbusters. Both became blockbusters. I grew up watching and loving both of them, but Gremlins is my favourite. Nevertheless, with Halloween nearly here, I've been reviewing horror-related movies/TV episodes/whatever, and Ghostbusters became a must-see again.
In this movie, three scientists in New York City have found a way to catch and contain pesky ghosts. It's horror-related in that it deals with ghosts, but there's really no horror here. Ghostbusters is first and foremost a comedy. It's not non-stop, laugh out loud humour, but there's some good humour in jokes like book stacking and "Get her!", as well as Ray's enthusiasm for a building and car of dubious value. The part where they catch Slimer, their first real job, is perhaps the best part of the movie for humour. Eventually they come to the big job, which makes the movie feel big- stopping the end of the world, with a Mesopotamian god called Gozer coming to New York. The Gozer and Zuul material makes for good myth, but it probably would have been more fun if they had found real ancient gods to use in this movie. Gozer was made up for Ghostbusters. They do tie in Gozer's coming with Biblical legends of the end of the world, particularly with the dead rising. Meanwhile, making Gozer a marshmallow man was inventive.
This movie made me admire Bill Murray. He brings some colour to the movie, with one character comparing him to a game show host. On this re-watch, however, he didn't come across as totally likable. He's not an honest man, and when his ex-boss calls him a "poor scientist," I couldn't help but think that was probably true. Nevertheless, his warning that cats and dogs may one day live together should be taken seriously.
Issues with the movie start with the whole concept- isn't it cruel to imprison ghosts forever? Why does the Environmental Protection Agency always have to be the bad guy? Is environmental protection necessarily sinister? The part where Gozer tries to kill the ghostbusters for not being gods was funny- but why didn't they die? On the whole, though, Gozer is a good villain, and Ghostbusters is a fun, memorable movie.
Happy Halloween.