Ghostbusters (4 Stars)

Camp. Trashy. Cult. Those are just three words that can be used to describe this 1984 film. It tells the tale of three university academics who're forced to form a company after the university withdraws its funding. They specialise in catching ghosts. They have fancy devices called positron colliders, which can grab ghosts.

It all looks so easy that anyone can do it. Later in the film a fourth man without any academic qualifications joins the team. They shove a positron collider in his hand and he can start work immediately.

Their first customer is a concert cellist called Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), but they don't get very far with her. When Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) visits her apartment he's more interested in chatting her up than taking her claims to have seen a demon seriously. Of the three men in the team, Venkman is the most sceptical. He always assumes that anyone who says he's seen a ghost is lying or delusional until he can see the proof with his own eyes.

The ghosts may be easy to catch, but the demons are more trouble. Dana is possessed by a demon called Zuul, the servant of a Sumerian God called Gozer. When Gozer enters our world he'll destroy everything he touches. The positron colliders won't be a match for him.

I enjoy the film, but it's technically very dated. Millions of dollars were invested in the film's special effects, but in 1984 they couldn't get much for their money. "Ghostbusters" hasn't survived the transfer to Blu-ray, because the high definition images make the film's weaknesses all the more apparent. For instance, in the final scene the New York skyscrapers look like cardboard.

But something about "Ghostbusters" has touched a nerve. It's still popular with film fans 40 years after its release. The cheap special effects are overlooked. The 2016 film shows what it would have looked like with modern special effects. Maybe it's Bill Murray's laid back humour that makes the film a success. Or maybe it's Sigourney Weaver's 1980's hairdo. Whatever it is, it's a film that has captured the imagination of a generation.

Success Rate:  + 9.8

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