1984’s Ghostbusters follows parapsychology professors Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz,
and Egon Spengler who begin investigating paranormal activity around New York City.
After a run-in with a ghost at New York Public Library,
the three are fired from their jobs and decide to start their business, Ghostbusters,
in which they would rid the city of its ghosts. They develop technology to trap the ghosts,
set up shop in an old, unused firehouse, and hire a secretary named Janine Melnitz.
While business for the Ghostbusters is initially slow, things pick up
considerably when they capture a ghost named Slimer and the story is picked up
by the media. Soon, business is booming and the Ghostbusters become local celebrities.
To help out with the newfound demand, they hire on a fourth Ghostbuster, Winston Zeddemore.
The Ghostbusters get a call from Dana Barrett, who encounters a demonic dog in her apartment
that calls out the name “Zuul”. Venkman takes a liking to Dana and agrees to help her.
Unfortunately, Dana becomes possessed by Zuul, known as “The Gatekeeper”,
and Dana’s quirky neighbor Louis Tully is possessed by Vinz Clortho,
the “Keymaster”. If brought together, they would summon Gozer Gozerian, a god of destruction.
And if that wasn’t enough trouble for the Ghostbusters, they also had to deal with
Walter Peck, an inspector for the Environmental Protection Agency who believed their ghost
containment technology was dangerous. Peck has the Ghostbusters’ containment unit shut off,
which causes an explosion that releases all of their previously captured ghosts.
In the chaos, Zuul and Vinz open the gate between dimensions at Dana’s apartment to summon Gozer.
The Ghostbusters arrive to defeat the evil god, who asks which form they’d like their
destruction to take. Ray accidentally thinks of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man,
and so that is the form Gozer takes to destroy the city. The only way to defeat the giant villain
was to cross the energy streams of their proton packs, something Egon had strongly advised against
as too dangerous previously. Luckily, crossing the streams works, and Gozer was defeated and
the gateway was closed. Dana and Louis were no longer possessed, Dana and Venkman share a kiss,
and the city was saved, leading to crowds rallying around the Ghostbusters as heroes.
In Ghostbusters 2, five years have passed since the team saved the world from Gozer.
After the city sued them for the immense property damage caused by the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man,
the company has gone out of business. Ray now owns an occult bookstore and is an unsuccessful
children’s birthday party entertainer with Winston on the side. Egon is back to running
scientific experiments in a lab, and Venkman is the host of a talk show about psychics.
Venkman and Dana broke up years ago, and in the years since,
she’s become a single mother to Oscar and taken a museum job cleaning artwork. At the museum,
a painting of Vigo the Carpathian comes to life and possesses Dana’s boss Janosz.
Vigo wants Janosz to bring him a baby to possess so he can be reborn and conquer the world.
And because Janosz is a little obsessed with Dana, he decides to go after Oscar.
Dana turns to the Ghostbusters for their help and they discover a river of slime
running under the city. While investigating the slime, they accidentally break a power
line which causes all of New York City to go dark. The Ghostbusters are forced into
court for the damages, where Louis Tully serves as their inept lawyer,
but the slime explodes and summons ghosts to the courtroom. The Ghostbusters capture the ghosts and
are cleared of all charges. The event causes a resurgence in the Ghostbusters’ popularity,
and they return to business. And what would the Ghostbusters be without their trusted secretary
Janine returning, who has started her own romantic relationship with wannabe Ghostbuster Louis.
As Venkman and Dana rekindle their relationship, Ray, Egon, and Winston discover that the slime
river leads directly to the museum and that it has amassed the negative emotions of all New Yorkers.
If the slime gets on you, you start to become influenced by the slime’s negative energy.
When Janosz kidnaps Oscar and takes him to the museum for Vigo to possess, the Ghostbusters
realize they need the slime to harness positive emotions in order to stop the tyrant. And so,
they douse the Statue of Liberty in slime and bring it to life, then ride it through the
streets as a symbol of positivity. The plan works, and the city rallies around the Ghostbusters,
with a suited up new Ghostbuster Louis leading a chorus of singing. The Ghostbusters,
aided by the power of positive slime, are able to enter the museum to defeat Vigo and destroy his
painting. The team had once again saved the day and were lauded by the city as heroes.