Fans and critics love the film (Image: Getty)
A supernatural comedy film with a near-perfect rating is leaving Netflix soon, giving fans just days to watch the evergreen classic which changed the landscape of pop culture.
The 1984 horror comedy Ghostbusters will be departing from the streaming giant’s platform on February 1.
Directed by Ivan Reitman with a screenplay by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters proved to be a mammoth success at the box-office, garnering $296.6 million worldwide during its initial release in 1984 against a production budget of $30 million.
Starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis in the lead with stellar supporting performances from Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, and William Atherton, this supernatural comedy became the second-highest-grossing film of 1984.
The film’s official plot says: “After the members of a team of scientists (Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray) lose their cushy positions at a university in New York City, they decide to become “ghostbusters” to wage a high-tech battle with the supernatural for money. They stumble upon a gateway to another dimension, a doorway that will release evil upon the city. The Ghostbusters must now save New York from complete destruction.”
Murray’s performance in Ghostbusters was highly lauded, and the success of the film launched a multi-billion dollar multimedia franchise spanning video games, board games, comic books, clothing and music, several haunted attractions, two animated television series — The Real Ghostbusters (1986) and Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) — as well as a sequel in 1989 called Ghostbusters II.
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Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis star in the supernatural comedy (Image: Columbia Pictures)
That’s not all, multiple reboots of the film have since flooded mainstream media, starting with a 2016 remake of the same name as the original, followed by a second sequel to the 1984 original titled Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021). The latest in the franchise was the 2024 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
With a critics rating of 95% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the original Ghostbuster was a critic and fan favourite.
While one critic said of the film: “Ghostbusters galvanized the comedy genre as a ferociously funny fable with state-of-the-art special effects and scares to spare.”
Another added: “Ghostbusters thrives on the fine line between taking it all seriously enough to be scary, then poking fun at it in the most creative ways possible.”
A third critic called it “a classic, funny, great special effects and a cultural phenomenon”, and a fourth reviewer wrote: “As entertaining today as it ever was, a classic to be treasured by all.”
Yet another critic and fan of the film said: “More than 40 years on from becoming the first big-budget comedy, Ghostbusters continues to sparkle because it remains funny and its premise still works.”
The film will be leaving Netflix on February 1 (Image: Columbia Pictures)
Audiences have showered the film with equal love and praise over the years, with one fan writing: “For me, the greatest film of all time. It’s that simple. The dark comedy, the ghosts, everything works perfectly.”
While another viewer shared: “This is a film that quite literally helped invent a whole new genre for comedy, it never took itself too seriously and always was just something easy to watch. The cast are amazing, the characters are better. This is the kind of thing that could never be remade (please stop trying) and will never ever be swayed from the top ten greatest movies of all time.”
A third positive fan review of the film says: “One of the best movies ever made. The formula was comedy in the face of scary/spooky and they haven’t been able to repeat it since.”
While a fourth audience member writes: “This monumental movie perfectly blends sci-fi, horror and comedy, so much that it probably had a lot to do with shaping my sense of humor and personality. I’m tearin’ up just talking about it!”
Ghostbusters will be departing from Netflix on February 1 and will also be leaving BBC iPlayer on February 2, where it is currently free to stream.
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