Ghostbusters
New York, 1980s, after a supernatural encounter, three university professors get fired. They set up the Ghostbusters agency, using their knowledge of parapsychology and the paranormal to hunt down evil spirits for a fee. Based on a zany idea, Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd's film quickly became a cult hit, arousing the fascination of entire generations.
The hunt for ghosts
Ghostbusters is a fantasy comedy set in a world haunted by spirits. These ghosts can be simple nuisances of varying degrees of fun, but others are more dangerous. Worse still, as the Ghostbusters team begin their work, they discover that an evil entity called Zuul plans to open a passageway between dimensions to let Gozer, a destructive monster, wipe out the world.
High-tech versus spiritualism
A highly amusing aspect of the film is the contrast between the very material means used by the heroes to counter the forces of the occult. Rather than performing exorcisms and delving into ancient grimoires, our heroes build high-tech weapons to capture ghosts.
Their story also takes place in a fairly realistic world. Aside from ghosts, the biggest danger they face is the Environmental Protection Agency, which is after their nuclear material.
Legendary casting
While screenwriter Dan Aykroyd has reserved a special place for himself in the team of ghost hunters, the lead role goes to actor Bill Murray. This role made him a legend of "dead pan delivery": with his sad face like Droopy the dog, he always keeps a serious face even though he provokes moments of total hilarity. This makes him a complex character for a comedy.
Fun fact: Bill Murray only took on the role of Professor Peter Venkmann in Ghostbusters in order to finance his other project, a drama called The Razor's Edge. The Razor's Edge was a commercial failure, while Ghostbusters became the biggest commercial success in 1984 and made Murray a worldwide star.
The other two members of the team are professors Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis). They are joined by Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), while the female lead, Dana Barrett, is played by Sigourney Weaver. Already made famous by her role in "Alien", this film sees her become a recurring star of fantasy and science fiction films.
A huge franchise still in vogue
Although the original film dates back to 1984 (already 40 years old!), the franchise is still very much alive, despite having had its ups and downs (very downs).
A sequel was made, Ghostbusters II, but despite some initial success, it became clear that it was not at all in the vein of the first film. Bill Murray himself was reluctant to take part.
More interesting was the animated series, "The real Ghostbusters", which ran for 140 episodes over 7 seasons. It was followed by the series "Extreme Ghostbusters" in 1997. Video games were then created, while the adventures of the ghost hunters continued in comic books.
Reitman and Aykroyd then founded Ghost Corp in 2014 to relaunch the franchise on the big screen. The feminist reboot 'Ghostbusters' was released in 2016, but was a commercial and critical failure, focusing more on its message than its quality. Ghostbusters: Afterlife" was released in 2021, beginning with the death of Egon Spengler and recounting how his descendants reconnect with the old ghost hunters to face a new threat. It stars Carrie Coon in the lead role of Callie Spengler, the daughter of Professor Spengler. The film was a hit, thanks to its clever use of nostalgia and renewal.
By contrast, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire", released in 2024, failed to convince the critics, mainly because of its overly serious tone. After all, Ghostbusters is basically a comedy.
As for nostalgia, you'll find all the goodies from the Ghostbusters franchise in our geek shop, including the famous Ecto-1 car, the Ectomobile. Based on a Cadillac Miller-Meteor Sentinel, it's part of the Ghostbusters universe thanks to its clumsy and delightfully old-fashioned spaceship look.