Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters is a 1984 American supernatural comedy directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, Aykroyd as Raymond Stantz, Ramis as Egon Spengler, and Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore. The story begins when the three Columbia University parapsychologists are dismissed from their positions after investigating a ghost at the New York Public Library. Ray proposes opening a ghost-removal business, and the group leases a disused firehouse at 14 North Moore Street in Manhattan, where they install containment equipment for captured spirits. Using proton packs and ghost traps, the newly named Ghostbusters capture Slimer at the Sedgewick Hotel, winning public attention. Their client Dana Barrett, played by Sigourney Weaver, reports frightening events in her Central Park West apartment building, 550 Central Park West. Dana's neighbor Louis Tully, played by Rick Moranis, is also drawn into the crisis. Both become targets of Zuul and Vinz Clortho, demonic Terror Dogs serving Gozer, an ancient deity whose return is being prepared by the building's architect, Ivo Shandor. William Atherton plays Walter Peck, an Environmental Protection Agency inspector who distrusts the Ghostbusters’ storage system. After Peck obtains a court order, the containment unit is shut down, releasing the collected ghosts across New York City. The team is arrested but is freed after explaining the threat to the mayor. Winston joins them as a fourth Ghostbuster earlier in the film, answering Ray’s newspaper advertisement and helping operate the expanding business. In the climax, the men enter Dana's building, climb to its roof, and confront Gozer, portrayed by Slavitza Jovan. Gozer commands them to choose the form of their destruction; Venkman tells the entity not to think of anything, yet Ray involuntarily imagines the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, a giant mascot based on a familiar advertising image. The Ghostbusters defeat Gozer by crossing the streams of their proton packs, despite Egon’s warning that doing so could cause catastrophic consequences. Dana and Louis return to normal, and cheering New Yorkers celebrate the team. The film was photographed by László Kovács, with music by Elmer Bernstein and the chart-topping theme song “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. Released by Columbia Pictures on June 8, 1984, it became a major commercial success and received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song and Best Visual Effects. Ghostbusters was followed by Ghostbusters II in 1989, with many of its original actors.