Is Ghostbusters Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Barely, 3 out of 10. It's a comedy with ghosts in it, and the scariest thing is a refrigerator.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
3 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
Gone before the credits finish, apart from one look at your fridge.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: Fine for nearly anyone, and a good one to watch with a kid.
Ghostbusters runs one hundred and five minutes and is rated PG. Three parapsychology professors lose their jobs at Columbia and start a ghost-catching business in a disused firehouse. They build nuclear-powered equipment for it, and customers are slow to show up.
The premise, briefly
Three parapsychologists lose their university jobs, open a ghost-catching business in a firehouse, and uncover a supernatural threat to the world.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Gozer arrives as a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Egon has them cross their proton streams anyway, the explosion banishes Gozer and closes the gate, and Dana and Louis are pulled out of the wreckage. Everyone lives and the city cheers.
The scene you're dreading
The refrigerator, early on: Dana tells the Ghostbusters that a dog-like demon in her fridge said one word to her, "Zuul". It says nothing else, and she only describes it. The possession scenes come much later.
The dog
No dog dies. The only dogs are the demonic forms Dana and Louis take, and both of them are pulled out of the wreckage alive.
It's a comedy with a few jump scares, and knowing the ending only removes a little of the fun.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
Fired for studying ghosts, hired by nobody
Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz and Egon Spengler teach parapsychology at Columbia University. After the three of them meet a ghost in the New York Public Library, the dean decides their research is nonsense and fires them. They respond by starting a business called Ghostbusters in a disused firehouse. The gear they build is nuclear-powered and designed to trap ghosts for storage. Business is slow at first, and the dean's opinion of the whole idea has not improved.
Cellist Dana Barrett visits the Ghostbusters after something strange happens in her apartment. She tells them she saw something demonic with the look of a dog inside her refrigerator, and it spoke one word: "Zuul". This is the scene most worth knowing about. It comes early in the story, and she only describes it to the team: the creature says that one word and nothing else. Ray and Egon go off to research the word and her building, while Peter inspects her apartment and tries, without success, to charm her. The team then gets a job at the Sedgewick Hotel, where a ghost with a huge appetite needs removing. Egon warns them that crossing the streams of their proton packs could cause a catastrophic explosion, which the movie files away for later. They catch the ghost and put it in the containment unit under the firehouse. Business booms, they become famous, and they hire Winston Zeddemore.
Two neighbors become the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster
Walter Peck, an inspector with the Environmental Protection Agency, wants to examine the equipment the team built. Peter turns him away. Egon warns that the containment unit is close to full and that supernatural energy is rising across the city. Peter then tells Dana that Zuul was a demigod, a servant of Gozer the Gozerian. Gozer is a god of destruction who can change shape. When Dana gets home, Zuul takes her over, and a similar entity takes over her neighbor Louis Tully. Peter finds Dana announcing that she is the Gatekeeper. Police bring Louis to Egon, who hears him claim to be Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster. The team agrees on one rule: the two of them must be kept apart.
A government inspector turns off the ghost prison
The next morning Peck arrives with police and city workers to arrest the Ghostbusters. They warn him not to touch the containment unit, so he shuts it down. It explodes, and every captured ghost gets out. Louis escapes in the confusion and goes to the apartment building to join Dana. In jail, Ray and Egon work out that Ivo Shandor, who led a Gozer-worshipping cult in the early twentieth century, designed Dana's building as an antenna that gathers spiritual energy for summoning Gozer and starting the apocalypse. With ghosts loose across the city, the mayor lets the Ghostbusters out.
The ending, explained
The Ghostbusters climb to a hidden temple on top of the building. Up there, Dana and Louis open the gate between dimensions and change into demonic dogs. Gozer shows up as a woman and attacks, then vanishes when the team hits back, and a disembodied voice tells them to choose the form of the destructor. Ray accidentally thinks of a mascot from his childhood, so Gozer comes back as a gigantic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and starts flattening the city. Egon tells the team to cross their proton streams at the gate, the exact thing he warned against earlier. The explosion destroys Gozer's avatar, sends it back to its own dimension and closes the gateway. The Ghostbusters pull Dana and Louis out of the wreckage, and the city greets them as heroes.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. The credits roll over one last scene, and once it ends you can leave.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Ghostbusters scary?
Barely. Ghostbusters is a 3 out of 10 with low dread. It has a few jump scares and some demonic dogs, but it is mostly a comedy and it is rated PG.
How does Ghostbusters end?
The team crosses their proton streams at the gate, which destroys Gozer's giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man form and closes the gateway. Dana and Louis are rescued and everyone survives.
Does the dog die in Ghostbusters?
No dog dies in Ghostbusters. The only dogs are the demonic forms Dana and Louis take when they open the gate, and both of them are rescued from the wreckage alive.
Is there a post-credits scene in Ghostbusters?
No. The credits play over a scene, but when it ends there is nothing else, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is Gozer in Ghostbusters?
Gozer the Gozerian is a shapeshifting god of destruction. A cult led by Ivo Shandor built Dana's apartment building to summon it, and it takes the form of whatever Ray happens to think of.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Ghostbusters is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You don't have to watch Ghostbusters to find out who gets possessed and who gets rescued. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur the rest of the internet's horror for you.
