Comedy film spoofing with the spooks

Rating: 8/10 (23 June 2018)

Comedians Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis have fun in this 1984 film as "Ghostbusters." They are booted out of Columbia University where they've had their own parapsychology research office.
Murray's Dr. Peter Venkman is some sort of bogus parapsychologist. He plays at tests to study telepathy and similar mental games. But, he's mostly interested in female students. Aykroyd's Dr. Raymond Stantz and Ramis's Dr. Egon Spengler, on the other hand, are into the paranormal. That's the realm of the unknown outside of science. But unlike the psych field, things here can be seen in real life.
Venkman is mostly clueless to their work, but he goes along with it. So, they go into the business of catching ghosts. The team invents a trap to contain or imprison ghosts they catch. They have proton weapons that sort of lasso ghosts electrically or by their zapping energy. Venkman is more interested in pursuing Sigourney Weaver's Dana Barrett. who becomes a client.

For comedies such as this, one doesn't have to question the fact that there wasn't such a business before because there was no apparent problem. While the para designation says it's outside of science, Stantz and Spengler have made it a science of studying the para field.
All of this contributes to the comedy. The humor isn't in clever, witty dialog, but in rapid-fire nonsensical stuff about the paranormal. And, in some satire and the antics of the Ghostbuster squad as it tangles with ghosts. A fourth ghost fighter joins them. Erne Hudson plays Winston Zeddmore. The various ghosts are mostly funny caricatures.
The best comedy is provided in the spoofing jabs of the mayor of New York City, city government, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. William Atherton plays Walter Peck, an EPA honcho who shuts down the Ghostbuster's power supply that keeps its huge collection of jailed ghosts confined. Pandemonium results, and the guys become the heroes of the city for shutting down organized spookery.
This is an enjoyable fantasy and sci-fi comedy. It was deserving of the two Oscar nominations it received - for best visual effects and best original song. Toward the end, the ghost fighters encounter their biggest challenge. This is approaching the demonic, and the scenes could be scary for young viewers.