Who You Gonna Call?

The entertainment world suffered a huge loss on Monday when Harold Ramis passed away. He was an actor, writer, and director, who mainly lived in the comedy world. One of the acting roles he was known best for was Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (which he also cowrote). Most all of the movies that Ramis wrote or cowrote have become cult classics, but Ghostbusters may arguably be the best known of all of them.

In the movie, three scientists go to investigate a paranormal sighting at the New York Public Library and get their first conclusive data. Egon announces that with the data they've collected, there was a chance that they could catch a ghost and hold it permanently. When they return to Columbia University to run tests, they find that their grant has been terminated and they would be forced to leave.

Venkman convinces Ray to take out a mortgage on his childhood home and use it to start their own business. They buy an old firehouse and work to create an office in the middle of the disrepair. Dana Barrett arrives after seeing a commercial for the Ghostbusters and seeing another world in her refrigerator. Venkman goes back to Dana's place to investigate, but finds nothing out of the ordinary.

Later, while the men are sitting down to dinner, they get their next call. The Ghostbusters gain almost instant fame and suddenly have more than enough jobs to keep them busy. Winston Zeddemore walks in to look for a job and is hired on the spot.

Venkman sees Dana after her orchestra rehearsal and he tells her what he has discovered about Zuul. They decide to get into more detail over dinner, but when Venkman arrives at her apartment, Dana has been possessed by Zuul, the Gatekeeper. Meanwhile, across the hall, Dana's nutty neighbor Louis is having a party. The party is interrupted when one of Gozer's Terror Dogs burst into Louis's party. He runs away, but the Terror Dog catches up with him and he is possessed by the Keymaster.

The NYPD drop Louis at Ghostbusters headquarters and Egon listens to the stories about Gozer. Minutes later, Walter Peck shows up with a court order and police officer. The power grid is shut off and everyone runs from the building before the energy of thousands of spirits explode from the roof of the building. The Ghostbusters are taken to jail and Louis takes this time to escape and meet up with Dana. The Keymaster and Gatekeeper are together at last.

While the men are in jail, they go over the blueprints for Dana's building and discuss how the designer, Ivo Shandor, was obsessed with bringing about the end of the world. He, along with other followers of Gozer, would perform rituals on the rooftop that was actually meant to serve as a gateway to Gozer's world. The men are removed and taken to the mayor, who allows them to leave and attempt to stop the paranormal phenomenon occurring throughout the city.

The Ghostbusters make it to Dana's apartment to see Dana and Louis be struck by lighting and turn into Terror Dogs, and Gozer appear. They attack Gozer, but she disappears and we hear, "Choose the form of your destructor".  Venkman encourages them to clear their minds, but Ray has already thought of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. They set fire to him, but he continues to advance. The group isn't sure what else to do when Egon suggests they go against all the rules and cross the streams from the proton packs. Crossing the streams does result in a cataclysmic blast, but thankfully it only destroys the portal and not the Ghostbusters. Dana and Louis emerged from the charred Terror Dog carcasses and the group returns to the street to a thankful city.

This movie freaked me out as a kid. My mom covered my eyes when the scary librarian came out in the beginning, so I never even knew what she looked like. I have to say, flying library books and cards were plenty scary for me.

Random thought: I'd like to know why Slimer was so likable. He was absolutely disgusting. He was one of my favorite parts of playing with the Ghostbusters toys though. You could just make him spin 'round and 'round. We even got Hi-C Ecto Cooler from him. I also loved playing with the proton streams. They were fun and super spinny! I've realized that these types of things are equally as fun as you get older since I saw a replica of the Ecto-1 at the Detroit Fanfare. Such good times! Take a couple of hours this week to watch this movie again and say a final farewell to the beloved Harold Ramis.

~Songbird