When there are comedy inclined ghosts causing mischief, nearly everyone in the world knows who to call. It isn’t a stretch at all to call Ghostbusters one of the most culturally significant movies of all time. A comedy garnering the kind of reaction and following it did in 1984 would be unheard of today, and may never happen in the same way again.
Ghostbusters’ impact spreads further than a cool logo on t-shirts and hoodies. It has deeply impacted a ton of films in the thirty years since it was released. Here are just ten films that were more directly inspired by the king of all ghostly comedies.
Ghostbusters
Okay, okay, let’s get this out of the way. Yes, Ghostbusters is going on its own list of inspired movies. There was actually a sitcom of the same name in the 70s, and when the movie was made, Columbia Pictures paid for the use of the name. Even though the original show featured two ghost catchers working alongside a gorilla, the similarities are at least there enough to say the classic comedy was inspired by it.
The original series would come back as an animated series after the new film’s success, which then leads to the Ghostbusters animated series being titled The Real Ghostbusters. An audacious claim when they were technically second.
Ghost Fever
Released only two years after, this movie wanted to cash in on the success of Ghostbusters and failed completely. It is about two policemen who find themselves in over their heads when a normal distress call ends up being paranormal.
The movie is a ghost comedy, and not good with either. There was a thought process somewhere along the line that said having ghosts and jokes would be enough for the film to flourish at the time, but it doesn’t work when the ghosts and the jokes are both awful.
The Watch
This movie features an all-star comedic cast of neighborhood watchmen who find themselves aware of an alien invasion. There’s a familiarity in the dynamic of four uniformed, witty, officials in way over their head. The movie has scenes where the team haphazard their way through trying to stop aliens in a similar manner to the way the busters destroy everything in sight when they actually attempt to catch a ghost.
Much raunchier and more violent, The Watch ultimately strays away from the tone of the classic, which isn’t a bad thing. The jokes and plot of the movie are the bad things…
Casper
The family movie about a friendly ghost is the most wholesome film on the list. It takes the mix of ghosts and humor and also uses ghost designs very similar to those seen in Ghostbusters II.
More importantly, it has a direct homage to Ghostbusters in the first act. After deciding their house is haunted, the homeowners call a character played by Dan Akroyd, in full busting attire, to get rid of the ghosts. The cameo is short, with Akroyd failing to help.
Shadow Chasers
If there is a line between inspired by and ripping off, this series drives the Ecto-1 right past it. It aired less than a year after the original film became a hit, and followed a paranormal researcher who puts together a team to take on farcical ghosts. Seem familiar?
The show bombed, getting the lowest ratings for anything in its time slot. It was canceled after one season, with the season not even fully airing in the US. It served as proof that Ghostbusters somehow caught lightning in a bottle, and that its premise alone wasn’t the driving force of its popularity.
Deadtectives
Proof that the impact of Ghostbusters isn’t fading, this modern horror-comedy dropped on Shudder in 2018. When a team of reality TV ghost hunters end up in an actual haunted house, their lack of skill could mean their doom.
It’d probably suffice to say that any comedy centered around a team of ghost chasers is at least subliminally inspired by the classic, but this film actually bears a similar tone and goes for some of the same types of set-ups that make the original funny or interesting. Unfortunately, it falls a little flatter this time around.
Men In Black
Arguably the most successful film on this list, Men in Black clearly brings enough original material to the table that it can stand alone, however, even though it is based on a graphic novel and has spawned its own franchise of films (now with more films than Ghostbusters), the film wouldn’t have existed without Ghostbusters.
The movie first went into production in 1992 and was trying to emulate the dynamics of the famous ghost hunters, only this time with a team that tracks and hunts aliens. After multiple delays, the film would come out over a decade after Ghostbusters, and calling it a rip-off would be quite the stretch. Luckily for fans of both, in 2019 the iconic teams finally united in comic book form.
RIPD
Although it is also adapted from a graphic novel, this movie about two undead policemen hunting down ghosts that haven’t passed on is absolutely a mash-up of Ghostbusters and Men in Black. Since it’s already been covered that the latter is inspired by the former, this one goes on the list as well.
A comedic team-up movie where the team is hunting ghosts. While the film goes for a much more action-oriented take, the inspiration is still there. While not a rip-off of the film, it picks and chooses elements and transitions them into the world it is building.
Pixels
Adam Sandler’s movie about arcade game characters running rampant is loaded with blatant attempts to capitalize on 80s nostalgia. The video game characters and many of the references made by the crew are all homages to that era.
Less blatant, but still not subtle, is the film’s Ghostbusters qualities. Beyond the obvious team dynamic of snarky scientists taking on an otherworldly threat, the main cast wears jumpsuits that look pretty familiar and even use what are basically proton packs.
Evolution
Ivan Reitman himself was brought on to direct this science-fiction comedy about a team of scientists trying to stop a meteor that is causing wild mutations on creatures. Originally written as a horror film, Reitman was tasked with rewriting most of the script, and the result is obvious.
Maybe the most similar film on the list to the tone of Ghostbusters, this movie clearly knew it wanted to try to recapture that magic in 2001. The ploy at least somewhat paid off, as the film would go on to get video games and an animated spin-off series. Not bad for a second attempt at something as culturally significant as the original film.
