Ghostbusters

For other uses, see Ghostbusters (disambiguation).

Ghostbusters
File:Ghostbusters cover.png Theatrical poster
Directed by	Ivan Reitman
Written by	Dan Aykroyd Harold Ramis
Produced by	Bernie Brillstein Ivan Reitman
Starring	Bill Murray Dan Aykroyd Sigourney Weaver Harold Ramis Rick Moranis Ernie Hudson Annie Potts William Atherton
Cinematography	László Kovács
Edited by	David E. Blewitt Sheldon Kahn
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	June 8, 1984
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000

Ghostbusters (titled on-screen as Ghost Busters) is a 1984 sci-fi-comedy film about three eccentric New York City parapsychologists-turned-ghost exterminators. The film was released in the United States on June 8, 1984. It was produced and directed by Ivan Reitman and stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and Ernie Hudson. The film's original release grossed almost USD $230 million in the U.S. and $50 million abroad during its theatrical run, making it the biggest grossing film of 1984.

It was followed by a sequel, Ghostbusters II (1989), and two animated television series, The Real Ghostbusters (later renamed Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters) and Extreme Ghostbusters. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Ghostbusters the 44th greatest comedy film of all time. The American Film Institute ranked it 28th in its list of the top 100 comedies of all time (in their "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs" list). In 2005, IGN voted Ghostbusters the greatest comedy ever. In 2006, Bravo ranked Ghostbusters 76 on their "100 Funniest Movies" list.

Plot

Three misfit parapsychology professors are booted out of their paranormal studies research jobs at an un-named university (recorded at New York City's Columbia University). Despite their relative lack of funding, they start an enterprise called Ghostbusters, a "professional paranormal investigation and elimination" service. One of the men has a plan to catch and contain supernatural entities, though it has never been properly tested. Undeterred, they obtain a former fire station as a base and a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ambulance dubbed Ecto-1 (which quickly gets some upgrades and repairs thanks to Ray's efforts), and begin advertising on local television.

At first, their clients are few and far between, and the Ghostbusters have to depend on their individual talents to keep the business alive: Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) is a scientific genius, Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) is an expert on paranormal history and metallurgy, and Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) has charm and business savvy, although he is in some ways a charlatan. Although he initially comes off as a bit of a wise guy, Venkman eventually finds a subtly heroic side to himself when he learns that a creature called "Zuul" is haunting the apartment of Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), located 55 Central Park West, a client who has become the object of his lustful (and possibly deeper) intentions.

The business struggles until one night, when Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts), the Ghostbusters' personal secretary, answers a desperate call from the Sedgewick Hotel about a ghost that needs to be removed quickly and quietly. The Ghostbusters quicky answer the alarm and drive the Ecto-1 (with a drastic, ambulance-like makeover) to the hotel. Although the Ghostbusters have no practical experience and their equipment has never been tested -- each man uses a nuclear accelerator (also referred to as a proton pack) which produces a powerful and destructive energy stream that is difficult to aim when active -- they successfully catch the ghost after a destructively clumsy hunt. It is also during this first real test for the team that Egon tells them "Don't cross the streams". when they ask why he says "try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light." Peter thanks him for this "important safety tip".

Business soon picks up dramatically and the company becomes a household name, partially due to an unexplained increase in supernatural activity. Peter meets Dana and informs her that Zuul refers to a demigod worshiped around 6000 BC by the Hittites, Mesopotamians and Sumerians. Dana reads out loud from Peter's notes that "Zuul was the minion of Gozer", after which her additional questions are turned into a date-proposal by Peter.

File:Ghostbusterspeople.jpg

The Ghostbusters, (from left) Egon, Ray, Peter, and Winston.

Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters add a fourth member to their team, the blue-collar Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), to deal with the rapidly increasing workload. The company captures so many ghosts that the scientists become concerned about the capacity of their ghost-containment facility. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent to the Ghostbusters that the spike in paranormal events means they are headed toward a climactic confrontation with Gozer (Slavitza Jovan), the shape-shifting Sumerian god of destruction whose presence was implied by bizarre occurrences such as the demonic Zuul appearing in Dana Barrett's apartment.

Gozer's minion entities—monstrous, dog-like demons called Zuul (the Gatekeeper) and Vinz Clortho (the Keymaster) — soon begin seeking human hosts. Zuul is easily able to possess Dana Barrett in her apartment by trapping her in her chair with three hideous arms and then pulling her into the fiery chamber that was once her kitchen. Vinz Clortho at first goes unnoticed as he waits in the bedroom of Louis Tully's (Rick Moranis) apartment where a party is being held to celebrate Louis's fourth year as an accountant; but then the minion becomes impatient and crashes the party. Louis flees into Central Park, but the beast corners him near the Tavern on the Green and possesses him. Dana/Zuul gets a visit from Venkman, and she/it tries to seduce him. He realizes something is up (after Dana starts levitating over her bed) and sedates Zuul with a large dose of thorazine. The possessed accountant Tully is found roaming Manhattan and is eventually brought to Ghostbusters HQ by the police and examined by Egon. He claims to be Keymaster to Gozer and appears as a horned entity on Egon's infrared scanner. It is determined that Dana and Louis must never meet, as the "Keymaster" and "Gatekeeper" would literally open the gates of Hell. Vinz remains rather passive, waiting for a "sign" that Gozer will come.

However, an overzealous EPA inspector, Walter Peck (William Atherton), arrives and starts asking questions, concerned about the alleged use of toxic chemicals in the Ghostbusters' business. Initially brushed off by Venkman, Peck angrily returns with a court order to shut down the ghost containment facility, although he is warned that it will bring dire consequences. A ConEd electrician reluctantly shuts the grid down, and all the captured ghosts immediately burst forth in a fantastic explosion. A massive number of supernatural events spark chaos throughout the city as long-dead spirits run wild terrorizing the populace. Peck accuses the Ghostbusters of causing the explosion due to their own negligence and has them arrested. Meanwhile, Louis Tully/Vinz Clortho wanders off during the mayhem, mumbling to himself that the eruption of the containment grid was the omen he was waiting for.

While the Ghostbusters are in jail, they examine the blueprints of Dana Barrett's apartment building. Ray explains that the structure is "a huge, super-conductive antenna designed and built expressly for the purpose of pulling in and concentrating spiritual turbulence." Egon elaborates further by telling them how an insane surgeon, Ivo Shandor, having deemed society "too sick to survive" after World War I, created a secret society worshipping the Sumerian god Gozer. The rituals performed were designed to bring about the end of the world.

Eventually, the mayor of New York (David Margulies) summons the Ghostbusters from jail in hopes that they can explain the various supernatural phenomena. Walter Peck makes a series of baseless accusations that the Ghostbusters are con artists; however, none of the department heads at the meeting are able to support Peck's claims, and Venkman convinces the mayor, that if the Ghostbusters are allowed to deal with the crisis, then they and the mayor "will have saved the lives of millions of registered voters."

The Ghostbusters, along with representatives of the New York Police and local Army units, arrive at Dana's apartment building to a waiting crowd. The Ghostbusters collect their equipment and observe the building from street level, watching as the skies darken and the earth shakes beneath their feet. They wave at the adoring crowd before disappearing into the darkened apartment building.

The Gatekeeper and Keymaster finally meet and share a lustful kiss atop the art deco–style apartment building. The Ghostbusters climb wearily to the top of the tall building and find the two just as they transform into their true, demonic forms. The demon-dogs then use their combined powers to open a crystalline inter-dimensional gateway. The Ghostbusters watch in awe as the gate doors slide open and Gozer materializes before them in the form of a red-eyed woman with a flattop. Upon finding that the Ghostbusters are mere mortals, Gozer attacks them at once, hurling bolts of lightning from her fingertips. The Ghostbusters retaliate, but the entity is far too elusive, soaring 20 feet through the air and landing behind her attackers. The Ghostbusters try a second time, but the energy currents of their proton streams merely pass right through Gozer. She finally disappears altogether.

Believing Gozer to be destroyed, the Ghostbusters begin to celebrate, but Egon's readings suggest otherwise. A huge earthquake rocks the building as Gozer's disembodied voice echoes down from the dark clouds above. Gozer gives them the opportunity to "choose the form of the destructor"; Peter explains to the other Ghostbusters that if they picture anything in their minds, it will be the form Gozer will take to destroy humanity with. While the other Ghostbusters deliberately clear their minds and think of nothing, Gozer's voice bellows once again, declaring that a selection has been made. The Ghostbusters quickly deduce that Ray had reflexively chosen something he had enjoyed from his childhood, a seemingly innocuous corporate mascot that he claims would never hurt anyone: the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. A giant sailor-hatted marshmallow man instantly appears, trampling everything in his path. The Ghostbusters attack Mister Stay Puft with their particle accelerators, but this only ignites its marshmallow body and makes the creature angrily start climbing the building.

Egon suddenly realizes that "the door swings both ways" and suggests that the Ghostbusters cross their proton pack streams within the world on the other side of the portal, as Egon himself had informed them earlier that such an action would likely be cataclysmic. The plan succeeds in causing "total protonic reversal", destroying the world inside the gate and annihilating Gozer. The explosion generated by the event incinerates Mister Stay Puft, raining molten marshmallow down onto the roof of the skyscraper and the street below and Peck. The dark sky becomes sunny again and all the ghosts (seemingly) disappear.

As the city settles moments after the explosion, the Ghostbusters pull themselves from the wreckage. Peter is notably quiet, faced with the likely implication that Dana (in Terror Dog form) was killed during the explosion. However, this fear is put to rest when the team sees signs of life and frees both Dana and Louis from the petrified shells of what were once the Terror Dogs. The Ghostbusters and the no-longer-possessed apartment dwellers exit the building to massive applause from the crowd, who cheer them on as Peter shares a passionate kiss with Dana, and Janine runs towards Egon and hugs him. The team loads their equipment up into Ecto-1 and everyone, excluding Louis, departs in the car, followed closely by a running and cheering crowd. The theme song plays while the credits roll. The scene fades on a newly released Slimer screaming as he flies up to the camera (which was recycled footage of him flying towards Peter).

Development

The concept was inspired by Aykroyd's own fascination with the paranormal, and it was conceived by Aykroyd as a vehicle for himself and friend and fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus John Belushi. The original story as written by Aykroyd was very different than what would be eventually filmed. In that version a group of Ghostbusters would travel through time, space and other dimensions taking on huge ghosts (of which the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man was just one of many). Also, the Ghostbusters wore S.W.A.T.-like outfits and used wands instead of Proton Packs to fight the ghosts; Ghostbusters storyboards show them wearing riotsquad-type helmets with movable transparent visors.

Aykroyd pitched his story to director / producer Ivan Reitman, who liked the basic idea but immediately saw the budgetary impossibilities demanded by Aykroyd's first draft. At Reitman's suggestion, the story was given a major overhaul, eventually evolving into the final screenplay which Aykroyd and Ramis hammered out over the course of three weeks in a Martha's Vineyard bomb shelter. Aykroyd and Ramis initially wrote the script with roles written especially for Belushi, Eddie Murphy and John Candy. However, Belushi died due to a drug overdose during the writing of the screenplay, and neither Murphy nor Candy could commit to the movie due to prior engagements, so Aykroyd and Ramis shifted some of these changes around and polished a basic, yet sci-fi oriented screenplay for their final draft.

In addition to Aykroyd's high-concept basic premise and Ramis' skill at grounding the fantastic elements with a realistic setting, the film benefits from Bill Murray's semi-improvisational performance as Peter Venkman, the character initially intended for Belushi. The extent of Murray's improvisation while delivering his lines varies wildly with every re-telling of the making of the film; some say he never even read the script, and improvised so much he deserves a writing credit, while others insist that he only improvised a few lines, and used his deadpan comic delivery to make scripted lines seem spontaneous.

Louis Tully was originally conceived to be a conservative man in a business suit played by comedian John Candy, but Candy was unable to commit to the role. The role was taken by Rick Moranis, portraying Louis as a geek. Gozer was originally going to appear in the form of Ivo Shandor as a slender, unremarkable man in a suit played by Paul Reubens. In the end, the role was played by Yugoslavian model Slavitza Jovan, whose Eastern European accent (later dubbed by Paddi Edwards) caused Gozer's line of "choose and perish" to sound like "Jews and berries" to the crew's amusement. Ivo Shandor is also referenced in the third issue of the limited comic book series Spike: Asylum as the creator of the cursed grounds upon which the Mosaic Supernatural Asylum is built. Brian Lynch, the writer of the comic, is a huge Ghostbusters fan. The character was also used by White Wolf, Inc. in the Vampire: The Masquerade accessory Havens of the Damned (ISBN 1-58846-225-0). In the book Shandor was a vampire and secret architect of the Winchester Mystery House.

The proton packs' particle throwers were originally portrayed as wands worn on each arm. Winston Zeddemore was written with Eddie Murphy in mind, but he had to decline the role as he was filming Beverly Hills Cop at the same time. If Murphy had been cast, Zeddemore would have been hired much earlier in the film, and would've accompanied the trio on their hunt for Slimer at the hotel and be slimed in place of Peter Venkman. When Ernie Hudson took over, it was decided that he be brought in later to indicate how the Ghostbusters were struggling to keep up with the outbreak of ghosts.

Gozer's temple was the biggest and most expensive set ever to be constructed at that time. In order to properly light it and create the physical effects for the set, other stages needed to be shut down and all their power diverted over to the set. The hallway sets for the Sedgewick Hotel were originally built for the movie Rich and Famous in 1981 and patterned after the Algonquin Hotel in New York City, where Reitman originally wanted to do the hotel bust. The Biltmore Hotel was chosen because the large lobby allowed for a tracking shot of the Ghostbusters in complete gear for the first time. Dana Barrett and Louis Tully's apartments were constructed across two stages and were actually on the other side of their doors in the hallway, an unusual move in filmmaking.

A problem arose during filming when it was discovered that a show was produced in 1975 by Filmation for CBS called The Ghost Busters, starring Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker. (It should be noted that this show's title is written as two words instead of one word like the 1984 movie.) Columbia Pictures prepared a list of alternative names just in case the rights could not be secured, but during the filming of the crowd for the final battle, the extras were all chanting "Ghostbusters", which inspired the producers to insist that the studio buy the rights to the name.

For the test screening of Ghostbusters, half of the ghost effects were missing, not yet having been completed by the production team. The audience response was still enthusiastic, and the ghost elements were completed for the official theatrical release shortly thereafter.

The film spawned a theme park special effects show at Universal Studios Florida. (The show closed some time in 1997 to make way for Twister: Ride it Out!) The Ghostbusters were also featured in a lip-synching dance show featuring Beetlejuice on the steps of the New York Public Library facade at the park after the attraction closed. The GBs were all new and "extreme" versions in the show, save for the Zeddemore character. Their Ecto-1 automobile was used to drive them around the park, and was often used in the park's annual "Macy's Holiday Parade". The show, Ecto-1, and all other Ghostbuster trademarks were discontinued in 2005 when Universal failed to renew the rights for theme park use. Currently, the Ghostbuster Firehouse can still be seen near Twister, without its GB logo and "Engine 89" ribbon. A "paranormal investigator" etching on a nearby doorway hints at the old show.

NECA released a line of action figures based on the first movie but only produced a series of ghost characters, as Bill Murray refused the rights to use his facial likeness. Their first and only series included Gozer, Slimer (or Onionhead), the Terror Dogs (Vinz Clortho and Zuul), and a massive Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, contrasting the diminutive figure that was in the original figure line. Ertl released a die-cast 1/25 scale Ectomobile, also known as Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters' main transportation. iBooks published the novel Ghostbusters: The Return by Sholly Fisch and Rubies' Costumes has produced a Ghostbusters Halloween costume, consisting of a one-piece jumpsuit with logos and an inflatable Proton Pack.

A scarier version of the "Librarian Ghost" puppet was created, but it was rejected for being too scary. (The film has a PG rating for language and scary moments that are unsuitable for children under age 8, according to director Ivan Reitman and actor / writer Harold Ramis.) It was recycled and reused for the 1985 horror / comedy hit, Fright Night, also released by Columbia Pictures. Richard Edlund and his team did the special effects for both films back to back. In 1984, Harvey Comics, the copyright holders of Casper the Friendly Ghost, launched a lawsuit against Columbia Pictures for $52 million in damages on the grounds that the movie's logo was copied from their character. The case was dismissed in 1986. "There are only very limited ways to draw the figure of a cartoon ghost," said Judge Peter Leisure. (Time, November 10, 1986). Ironically, years later, Dan Aykroyd would perform a reprise cameo as Ray Stantz, saying the line, "Who ya gonna call? Somebody else," in the film adaptation of Casper. The soldiers seen towards the end of the movie belong to the 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division, as evidenced by their rainbow shoulder sleeve insignia. Since the end of World War II, the 42nd Infantry Division has been the largest element of the New York Army National Guard. In the January 2007 issue of Empire there was an article comparing Ghostbusters to Gremlins. Within the article were interviews from Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd, and Aykroyd confirmed that his favorite character in the film was Louis Tully, played by Rick Moranis. He said, "I could listen to his dialogue all day on my iPod". During the scene where Tully runs from the terror dog, he ends up at a restaurant. In that restaurant is a birthday party, and the girl with the pink bow is Deborah Gibson, three years before the release of her first album.

In the middle of the film's initial release, to keep interest going, Ivan Reitman had a trailer run, which was basically the same commercial that the Ghostbusters use in the movie, but with the 555 number replaced with a 1-800 number, allowing people to call. They got a recorded message of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd saying something to the effect of "Hi. We're out catching ghosts right now." They got 1,000 calls per hour, 24 hours a day, for six weeks. Their promotion was similar to that of a calling service offered by the production of The Empire Strikes Back. In the published annotated script for the movie, there's more romantic-type banter between Dr. Venkman's "secretary," Janine Melnitz, and (a seemingly oblivious) Egon. While some of the dialogue remains in the finished movie, including a loving hug during the closing credits, Ghostbusters II seemed to drop that subplot for Janine's relationship with Louis Tully. The idea was played up expanded on a lot more, however, in The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series. Michael Ensign, the actor who played the uppity hotel concierge in the Sedgewick played virtually the same character in the film adaptation of Pink Floyd's The Wall. The cartoon initially featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Peter Venkman, instead of Bill Murray. Lorenzo Music also played the voice of Garfield. Bill Murray then went on to play the voice of Garfield in the live-action movie. The Ghostbusters building was also used in the Seinfeld episode "The Secret Code".

Cast

• Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman
• Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz
• Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett
• Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler
• Rick Moranis as Louis Tully
• Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz
• William Atherton as Walter Peck
• Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore
• David Margulies as Mayor Lenny
• Slavitza Jovan as Gozer (voiced by Paddi Edwards)
• Ivan Reitman as Zuul / Slimer (voice)

Cameos

• Roger Grimsby
• Larry King
• Joe Franklin
• Casey Kasem
• Bill Walton

Reception

Ghostbusters was well-received and holds a 93% Fresh Rating at Rotten Tomatoes. In her review for the New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Its jokes, characters and story line are as wispy as the ghosts themselves, and a good deal less substantial." Newsweek magazine's David Ansen wrote, "Everyone seems to be working toward the same goal of relaxed insanity. Ghostbusters is wonderful summer nonsense."

Ghostbusters was an enormous financial success. During its first release, it grossed $229,242,989 at the box office, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1984, behind only Beverly Hills Cop. At the time, these figures put it within the top ten highest-grossing films of all-time. A re-release in 1985 made it surpass Beverly Hills Cop in total gross, making Ghostbusters the most successful comedy of the 1980s.

Music

The film score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. Orchestrators contributing to the film were Peter Bernstein, David Spear and Patrick Russ. The first film sparked the catchphrases "Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!" and "I ain't 'fraid of no ghost(s)". Both came from the hit theme song written and performed by Ray Parker, Jr. The song was a huge hit, staying #1 for three weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and #1 for two weeks on the Black Singles chart. The song earned Parker an Academy Award nomination for "Best Original Song".

The music video produced for the song is considered one of the key productions of the already booming music video industry, and was a #1 MTV video. Directed by Ivan Reitman, produced by Jeffrey Abelson, and conceptualised by Keith Williams, the video organically integrated footage of the film in a specially-designed, haunted house made entirely of neon for the music-video. The film footage was intercut with a humorous performance by Parker, and—in a first for a music-video—was further intercut with cameo appearances by various celebrities who joined in the call and response chorus, including Chevy Chase, Irene Cara, John Candy, Nickolas Ashford, Melissa Gilbert, Jeffrey Tambor, George Wendt, Al Franken, Danny DeVito, Carly Simon, Peter Falk and Teri Garr. The video ends with comical footage of the four Ghostbusters, in costume and character, dancing in Times Square behind Parker, joining in the singing.

In autumn 1984 and throughout 1985, Huey Lewis successfully sued Ray Parker, Jr. for plagiarism, citing that Parker stole the melody from his 1983 song "I Want A New Drug". Ironically, Lewis was approached to compose the main theme song for the movie, but he declined due to his work on the soundtrack for Back to the Future. It was reported in 2001 that Lewis allegedly breached an agreement not to mention the original suit, doing so on VH1's Behind the Music.

Lindsey Buckingham was also approached to do the theme song based on his success with "Holiday Road" for the National Lampoon's Vacation films. He declined, reasoning that he did not want to be known as just a soundtrack artist.

Influence in other media

• In an episode of Family Guy Lois opens the fridge with Peter inside and after telling him to get out of the fridge he replies "There is no Peter, only Zuul".
• In the Robot Chicken episode, "Sausage Fest", two men wearing Ghostbusters uniforms are using urinals next to each other until one veers off course causing the other to yell, "Hey! Don't cross the streams!"
• In the 2008 film, Be Kind Rewind, Jerry (Jack Black) and Mike (Mos Def) make their own version of Ghostbusters because Jerry unintentionally erased every VHS in their video store.
• Ghostbusters was the first videotape 'sweded' in Be Kind Rewind; Sigourney Weaver has a cameo in BKR as one of two court baliffs who comes to New Jersey to threaten Jerry and Mike with copyright infringement, many times over.
• In the Simpsons episode "The Frying Game", the EPA inspector bears a resemblance to Walter Peck, the EPA inspector from this movie.
• In another Simpsons episode, Homer tells Bart that the story they just heard, Hamlet, was adapted into a modern movie: Ghostbusters. The family begins dancing as the Ghostbusters theme starts playing. Another reference earlier in the skit is when Hamlet's father (Homer) visits Hamlet (Bart) in his room to tell him of his murder by his Uncle Claudius (Moe). Homer then leaves the room and phases through the wall, leaving a silhouette of green slime behind him, the same way Slimer does when he passes through walls.
• In a Halloween episode of The Basil Brush Show, Basil and the gang form a Ghostbusters-type team to get rid of the poltergeist.
• The film Casper featured a brief cameo of Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stanz who was hired to catch Stretch, Stinky and Fatso.
• Lane Kim, a character in the television series Gilmore Girls tells her mother that she is studying "spores, molds, and fungus."
• A Christmas episode of The X-Files has Gillian Anderson's Agent Scully admonish Mulder for taking her "ghostbusting."
• In the Everybody Hates Chris episode "Everybody Hates Cutting School", Chris and his friend take off of school to see Ghostbusters and miss the surprise Earth, Wind and Fire concert at their school.
• In the 30 Rock episode, "Sandwich Day", Liz's ex-boyfriend, Floyd, says he has a meeting with "Peter Venkman". Liz later runs into him and realizes he used a name from Ghostbusters to lie to her. She remarks, "You used Ghostbusters for evil!"
• In the Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts", the Doctor investigates the appearance of ghostlike beings in London. He dons a variety of scientific gadgets, including a backpacks which superficially resembles a Proton Pack, and utters the catch-phrase "I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts!"
• In the Psych episode, "There's Something About Mira", Shawn wriggles out of plans by saying he has an urgent call from a client concerning 'something about a ghost in a ballroom'. Also, Ernie Hudson, who portrays Winston in both movies, plays Gus' father on this show.
• In one of the annual Halloween cartoons on the website cartoon, Homestar Runner, one of the characters Pom Pom is seen dressed as Mr. Stay-Puft.
• In an episode of Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, when the friends think a ghost is haunting the house, Wilt asks Coco (who has a phone to hand.) who's she gonna call and she replies "Ghostbusters" (to the sound of her own name).
• In the pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother main character Ted tells his friends Marshall and Lily about his date with Robin and claims she is the perfect girl because "She can quote obscure lines from Ghostbusters".
• In an episode of Family Guy, Peter talks about his job as a ghostbuster and then shows him catch Patrick Swayze in Ghost
• In the first part of Rose Red, there is a newspaper article about psychics going to a haunted house with the title "Who you gonna call?" and also when Professor Miller talks to the group before they leave to go to the haunted house, Steve says that they need to head off and Miller replies "Yes, places to go, ghosts to bust."
• In the fifth episode[6] of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Ernie Hudson[7] appeared as a parody of his Ghostbusters persona, a Slimebuster, using his own name rather than Winston Zeddemore.
• In an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the line "who you gonna call?" is delivered, followed by a rather awkward pause and a comment to the effect that the phrase has been ruined forever.
• In Clerks episode 1, the quick stop is vandalized in red paint saying "Clerks Burn In Hell" a reference to the vandalization of the front of Venkman's office door.

Releases

The DVD version of the movie was released and became one of the fastest selling units ever on Reel.com. Sony has announced that the movie will be sold on DVD and UMD formats together, as well as Blu-ray.

Computer and video games

There are many computer and video games about the Ghostbusters:

• Ghostbusters (Activision video game), For the Atari Video Computer System (1984, 1985), and the Nintendo Entertainment System (1988)
• Ghostbusters (Activision video game), the 1984 Activision video game for the Atari 800, Commodore 64 and others.
• Real Ghostbusters (arcade game), a video game loosely based on the cartoon.
• Ghostbusters II (video game), the 1989 Activision video game.
• Ghostbusters II, the 1990 Activision video game
• New Ghostbusters 2, The 1990 HAL Laboratory video game
• Ghostbusters (Sega video game), the 1990 SEGA video game.
• Extreme Ghostbusters, the 2001 LSP video game
• Extreme Ghostbusters: Code Ecto-1, the 2002 DreamCatcher video game
• Extreme Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Invasion, the 2004 LSP video game
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game, the 2008 Vivendi video game for Windows, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, DS, actually acting as the third installment of the series.

Additionally, beatmania IIDX GOLD features the 'Ghostbusters' theme as a playable song.

Tie-in novelizations

There were two novelizations of the film published. The first, which came out around the same time the movie did, was written by Larry Milne and was 191 pages long. The narrative, interestingly, is written in the present tense, and the novel contains a behind-the-scenes section (profiling the major cast and crew members), and also the movie's complete end credits. A second novelization, written by Richard Mueller, was released in 1985. It was 65 pages longer at 256 pages, and had the extended subtitle The Supernatural Experience. Both differ from the finished version of the film in many respects, containing scenes that ultimately did not make the cut, most notably the sequence set at Fort Detmerring. Mueller's book in particular also contained a subplot involving the two homeless men played by Murray and Aykroyd in the deleted scene, who are identified as Harlan Bojay and Robert Learned Coombs.

A larger A4 sized book was also released by Hippo Books, containing a large number of stills - some from the movie, some publicity shots - tying in with the story on the relevant page. This publication is more child friendly than the previous two, and the story, while still quite extensive, is somewhat scaled down in detail.

External links

• Ghostbusters official site
• Ghostbusters at IMDb
• Ghostbusters at Rotten Tomatoes
• Spook Central: The Ghostbusters Companion
• Ghostbusters Fans - The Largest Online Ghostbusters Community
• Ghostbusters.net
• Proton Charging - Ghostbusters news and information
• Ghostbusters Headquarters
• Ghostbusters Video Game Preview from Das Gamer
• Ghostbusters Full movie on Hulu