Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters (sometimes written Ghost Busters) is a 1984 sci-fi comedy film about three parapsychologists who are fired from a New York City University, and start up their own business investigating and eliminating ghosts.

Plot

Gozer the Gozerian

Gozer the Gozerian, also known as Gozer the Destructor, Volguus Zildrohar and The Traveler, is a fictional Sumerian god who is the major supernatural enemy in the film, Ghostbusters. The character may have been an in-joke, as gozer in Hebrew means "surgeon who performs circumcisions". (Note: in the real Sumerian religion the deity's true name is Tiamat, but had to be changed to the unique Gozer for the film because of copyright issues with the makers of Dungeons & Dragons.)

Related Topics:
Sumerian - God - Film - Ghostbusters - Hebrew - Circumcision - Sumerian religion - Tiamat - Dungeons & Dragons

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Gozer has two dog-like minions called Zuul (The Gatekeeper) and Vinz Clortho (The Keymaster). Gozer the Traveller appears in one of his pre-chosen forms. During the movie Vinz Clortho speaking through Louis Tully claimed that: During the rectification of the Vuldronaii the Traveller came as a large, moving Torb. Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants they chose a new form for him--that of a giant Sloar. Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day, I can tell you.

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After World War I, an insane surgeon called Ivo Shandor, a leader of a secret apocalyptic cult, designed a massive apartment building in New York City (55 Central Park West) specifically to gather PKE (psycho-kinetic energy) that would power a portal that would let Gozer and his minions enter the world and destroy it.

Related Topics:
World War I - Surgeon - Ivo Shandor - Cult - New York City

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By 1984, the building had gathered enough energy to pull Zuul and Vinz Clortho through: the two planned to possess suitable humans to open the portal on top of the building to let Gozer through. Because of this (according to Dr. Spengler's reading), the PKE in the surrounding area in 1984 was a few thousand times normal (or a million times: see ). As a by-product, numerous ghosts were revived and became active throughout New York city as they waited to join their new master.

Related Topics:
1984 - New York

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The Ghostbusters come

Unfortunately for Gozer, events interfered. Three unemployed parapsychology professors had formed a business called Ghostbusters, a spectral investigation and removal service armed with technology of their own design that could track down and capture the entities with unprecedented ease.

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At first, their clients are few and far between, and the Ghostbusters must depend on their individual talents to keep the business alive: Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) is a scientific genius, Raymond "Ray" Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) is an expert on paranormal history, and Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), although in some ways a scientific charlatan, has charm and business savvy.

Related Topics:
Harold Ramis - Dan Aykroyd - Bill Murray

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Soon, business starts to pick up, due not only to the Ghostbusters building a reputation for themselves, but also due to increased supernatural activity, which turns out to be a direct result of the rise of Gozer. The Ghostbusters add a fourth member to their team: the blue-collar Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) to deal with the rapidly increasing workload, but it soon becomes apparent to the Ghostbusters that they are headed toward a climactic confrontation with Gozer. Although he initially comes off as a bit of a goof and sleaze, Venkman eventually finds a (subtly) heroic side to himself when he learns that Gozer and his minions are haunting the apartment of Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), a client who has become the object of Venkman's lustful (and possibly deeper) intentions. At first unaware of the cause of this sudden spike of paranormal activity, the company had brisk business capturing numerous ghosts to the point where they were concerned about the capacity of their containment grid.

Related Topics:
Blue-collar - Ernie Hudson - Sigourney Weaver

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An overzealous EPA inspector, Walter Peck, ordered the grid deactivated, against the advice of the Ghostbusters-- causing the spontaneous release of all of the captured ghosts. The result of this was a widespread haunting that immediately sparked chaos throughout the city. The Ghostbusters managed to convince the authorities to let them deal with the crisis and they confronted Gozer as he emerged from the portal on top of Shandor's building.

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After an initial skirmish, Gozer demanded that Ghostbusters choose the form the Destructor would take. Ray Stantz reflexively chose an innocuous corporate mascot, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. The result was the bizarre sight of a giant marshmallow man in a sailor suit with an insane smile stomping through New York toward the building. The Ghostbusters eventually stopped the god by crossing their proton pack streams as they fired at the portal. This created total protonic reversal which caused an explosion that apparently closed the portal and destroyed or at least neutralized Gozer and his minions and returned the possessed humans back to normal.

Related Topics:
Mascot - Stay Puft Marshmallow Man - Proton pack

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