Ghostbusters

Annotation for KRRR! 2026

What happens when an amateur spiritualist (Aykroyd), a native of Komárno, Slovakia (Reitman) and a Jewish Buddhist (Ramis) meet in 1980s Hollywood? They make Ghostbusters, the highest­‑grossing comedy of all time, which, thanks to its popularity, has grown into a multimedia franchise and spawned a feature­‑length sequel to this day.

The original idea for the film came from Dan Aykroyd and his lifelong interest in the paranormal and spiritualism. Aykroyd conceived the first draft of the script more as an adventure sci­‑fi set on alien planets, with a more serious tone and more pronounced horror elements. However, a grand narrative film of this nature was not feasible in the conditions of the time. Ivan Reitman, whom Aykroyd approached with the idea, suggested setting the entire film on Earth to highlight the humor of the supernatural elements. He also hired Harold Ramis, with whom he had collaborated on the successful comedies National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Stripes (1981). Ramis and Aykroyd ended up not only writing the final version of the script, but also playing two of the main roles. The trio was joined by Bill Murray, their mutual acquaintance from Saturday Night Live, who took over the role that Aykroyd had originally intended for Eddie Murphy.

The story was strongly influenced by the atmosphere of the economic boom of Reagan America in the mid­‑1980s, when American society was rushing into business – and the creators decided to connect this natural motif with the supernatural. The discovery of the afterlife in Ghostbusters is thus not conceived as a groundbreaking scientific discovery or a fundamental spiritual experience, but as a business opportunity. The development of the plot depends on how the central trio establishes and runs their own ghost business, which also determines the dynamics of humorous situations and the choice of villains. A nosy environmental official and unpaid bills pose almost the same threat as a Sumerian god striving for the end of the world. The specific poetics of the film and probably one of the reasons for the film's timeless popularity is the connection of two very different genre levels: ghost horror and workplace comedy.

Michael Šenovský