With Halloween season just about wrapping up, it’s likely you probably watched a few Halloween-associated movies. “Ghostbusters” is an all-time classic film about ghosts taking over New York City, but the citizens know who they’re gonna call to save the day. The film was released to massive critical acclaim, huge box office numbers, and was a widespread cultural phenomenon. Its legacy still lives on to this day, as the success of the first film sparked a TV series, several sequels, and a reboot (which did not release to success but that’s another story).
“Ghostbusters” was one of the most popular films of the 80’s decade. However, many films long after their release often don’t age well in the modern day, whether it be having elements that would not be acceptable today, effects that don’t look as good as they did at the time, or just simply not being as enjoyable by today’s standards. Does the original “Ghostbusters” also fall into this trap, or is it still a joy to watch over 40 years later?
For those who have not seen this film, “Ghostbusters” is an action-comedy movie that follows scientists Peter Venkman (portrayed by Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) as they discover the existence of ghosts that are posing a threat to the people of New York, and they open a business to remove them. They later hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), as the company grows bigger. After Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) witnesses a mysterious dog-like creature in her refrigerator uttering the word “Zuul,” the Ghostbusters discover that her apartment building was built with the purpose of contracting spiritual energy, and that Zuul was a demigod that served Gozer the Gozerian, a shapeshifting god of destruction.
When the film was released, it received high praise for its comedy, perfectly blending a serious tone with a fun, goofy vibe. Even to this day, a lot of the jokes are still funny. There are some jokes that haven’t aged super well, for example, scenes where Peter Venkman is trying to get together with Dana Barrett can come across today as creepy and pathetic. While that was how he was supposed to be portrayed in those scenes, it may not come across as funny today, and more or less dislikeable. Thankfully, the romance element, while necessary to the plot, is not as focused or explored as the action scenes.
Many of the scenes and jokes still hold up to this day. For example, the scene where the giant Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man perfectly blends comedy and seriousness. It takes an idea as ridiculous as a giant friendly-looking marshmallow man terrorizing New York City, and not only makes it feel genuinely intimidating and like it’s a genuine threat, but it is also still able to make it funny as well. Another example is Egon Spengler. At the beginning of the movie, he states how he is “always serious.” In a later scene, Egon uses an analogy with a Twinkie to describe the extreme levels of energy in the city. The joke is that it’s a genuinely serious analogy that makes sense in the context, and it’s funny because it’s a scientist comparing a Twinkie to dangerous levels of energy. It’s a ridiculous analogy that works and is serious in the plot, something not many comedy films are able to do. That is just one of many jokes related to Egon’s seriousness.
The special effects at the time were revolutionary. However, as films age, so do the effects. The effects in “Ghostbusters” aren’t really an exception. Yes, they were great for the time, however, they are obviously dated and aren’t really up with today’s standards. But does that make them bad? No, not really. Yes, they’re dated, but that really was the best they could’ve looked given the technology, and they don’t even look that bad next to modern effects.
In conclusion, “Ghostbusters” may have some elements that haven’t aged as well, but it’s safe to say that for the most part, it still holds up to this day, and is still an absolute blast to watch. Even with many newer films in the franchise, the original is still regarded as the best in the series by far, and it’s very difficult to find opposing arguments.
