Every Ghostbusters Movie, Ranked

The "Ghostbusters" franchise has been kicking around since 1984, thanks to director Ivan Reitman and the comedic bona fides of primary cast members Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis (who also co-wrote the script), with a little help from Ernie Hudson as the blue collar guy who makes it easy for things to be explained to the audience. But the film series lay dormant for nearly 20 years, until Sony Pictures attempted to reboot the entire franchise from scratch in 2016 with Paul Feig's new "Ghostbusters," which would go on to get the subtitle "Answer the Call." More recently, "Ghostbusters" has been given new life, thanks to the nostalgic legacy-quel "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" and a new narrative thread following the once-estranged family of the late Egon Spengler.

Among the five total "Ghostbusters" movies released so far, we have a fascinating spectrum of storytelling, both in quality and style. While the original paranormal-infused comedy blockbuster is an undeniable classic that is one of the greatest movies ever made, where do the others land? Though you can likely guess what movie ends up at the top of a "Ghostbusters" franchise ranking, you might be surprised by what ends up on the bottom. 

As we cut through all the ectoplasm and bureaucratic red tape New York City has to offer, this is a die-hard "Ghostbusters" fan and lifelong cinephile tossing on a proton pack and neutrona wand to provide a complete ranking of all the "Ghostbusters" movies released so far. 

It's a shame we have to start this way, but the latest chapter of the "Ghostbusters" franchise had to end up somewhere. Sadly, this overstuffed and unfocused sequel is the worst of the bunch. Director Gil Kenan takes the reins from "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" director Jason Reitman, and the two also co-wrote the script, which finds Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) returning to New York City with her kids Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), who have all taken up the family business of being Ghostbusters as paranormal activity seems to be surging in the Big Apple again. 

Joining them is summer school teacher and seismologist Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), who has become a kind of step-father figure as a relationship with Callie blossoms. Of course, he's part of the Ghostbusters crew too, and while the development of this little family unit in the face of typical Ghostbusters hurdles involving the paranormal and the bureaucracy of NYC would have been enough for one movie, there's also the surviving legacy cast from the original "Ghostbusters" movies who are still kicking around. Unfortunately, Ray Stantz (Aykroyd), Winston Zeddemore (Hudson), and Peter Venkman (Murray) all feel shoehorned into a story that doesn't have room for the rest of the supporting characters in play, including Trevor's friend Lucky (Celeste O'Connor), Phoebe's friend Podcast (Logan Kim), and three new characters played by Kumail Nanjiani, James Acaster, and Patton Oswalt.

Too many characters make for too many storylines, and none of them get the proper attention that they should. While a compelling development in the ghost world involving a young girl ghost befriended by Phoebe offers a spark of innovation, it suffocates under the weight of catering to all the other characters. Everything feels rushed, with the exception of the primary threat, a literally chilling ghost known as Garaka who doesn't actually do anything threatening until the third act and never really feels like an urgent concern until the rushed climax brings all of these characters together in quite the messy fashion. But at least it pushed the franchise past $1 billion at the box office.

Before the 2016 iteration of "Ghostbusters" came around, there were endless rumors about varying assemblies of the most talented dudes in comedy at any given moment coming together as a new team of paranormal exterminators who would grab the baton from the original crew. But director Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids") and writer Katie Dippold ("The Heat") opted to let some of Hollywood's funniest ladies strap on the proton packs for the movie that would eventually come to be known as "Ghostbusters: Answer the Call," and the entire fanbase was totally normal about it and didn't turn into spiraling crybabies who couldn't handle girls playing in their ghost trap. 

Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Kate McKinnon take the places of the original trio of Ghostbusters, each playing scientists who have been figuring out how to find and capture ghosts as paranormal activity surges in New York City. Yes, the reboot takes a very basic approach on the surface, but the rise of ghosts is fueled by a strange occultist played by Neil Casey, adding a new but pointless wrinkle to the storyline. Leslie Jones takes the role of a blue collar subway worker who ends up joining the team, and Chris Hemsworth plays a dimwitted, scene-stealing himbo of a receptionist for the newly formed team. 

Where "Answer the Call" stumbles is in trying to hew too closely to the original "Ghostbusters" formula while leaning much harder into a more broad, modern style of comedy that overshadows any of the grounded stakes that made the sci-fi/horror concept work so well in the original. While it's not downright terrible, the movie ends up feeling too big for its britches without ever really establishing a firm foundation for the paranormal universe. By the time the third act rolls around, we've got a Marvel-scale movie that's cracking too many forced jokes, isn't clear about how ghosts are being combated, and is leaning too heavily on visual effects that don't carry any real weight or threat. While there are plenty of laughs to be had, the story and execution leave plenty to be desired. 

"Ghostbusters II" is a fun but frustrating sequel, and it actually inspired Disney's "Willow" sequel series in many ways. Like many follow-ups, it attempts to tread much of the same territory as the original by bringing in many of the successful elements of the previous movie, such as the slobs versus snobs framework that finds the Ghostbusters clashing with city leaders yet again, and of course the witty dynamic between the original team. While there are some innovative story points, such as finding the Ghostbusters being labeled as frauds and failures (at least for the first act) and Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) being estranged from Peter Venkman, the movie suffers from leaning into more cartoonish elements. It's similar to what happened with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze," which veered into more family-friendly territory due to the success of that franchise's animated series, and "Ghostbusters" also had an animated show by this point in the form of "The Real Ghostbusters."

Amusing supporting characters who were funny without being over the top in the original, such as Annie Potts as receptionist Janine Melnitz and Rick Moranis as Louis Tully, are turned into caricatures. Similarly, while Peter MacNicol puts in a quirky and commendable performance as Janosz, the eccentric museum curator turned lackey to the haunted painting of Vigo the Carpathian, the film's ultimate antagonist never feels as threatening as the ghosts and gods of the original "Ghostbusters." Finally, it's one thing to see a giant marshmallow man wreaking havoc on the city before being roasted, toasted, and exploded into marshmallow fluff, but turning the Statue of Liberty into a remote-controlled vehicle to clumsily get across town just feels a little too ridiculous. But the movie still turns out to be mostly entertaining, largely thanks to the talents of Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson. After all, at the end of the day, sometimes, s*** happens, someone has to deal with it, and who ya gonna call?

Despite the attempts to bring back "Ghostbusters" at various points across three decades, the long wait might have actually worked in favor of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife." More than 30 years of nostalgia and anticipation had built up among "Ghostbusters" fans, and the hunger for seeing the original cast back together only increased after "Answer the Call" didn't quite quench their thirst. After all, even fans like myself who didn't walk away hating Paul Feig's movie still had unfulfilled dreams of seeing the original cast back together.

However, that long wait also brought many imitators who attempted to capture the high concept and hilarious hybrid tone of "Ghostbusters" without even coming close. "Men in Black" is the only movie that hits the same kind of sweet spot that blends the genuine excitement and adventure of sci-fi with truly sharp wit. That's largely why the Amblin-style approach of "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" mostly succeeds in its wake, because it doesn't try to replicate the original movie's style, but it evolves into new territory. Combine that with the film being in the hands of director Jason Reitman, son of the late great Ivan Reitman, reconciling his own history with the franchise by picking up the baton passed down by his father, and we've got a "Ghostbusters" movie with "Force Awakens" vibes throughout, and it packs a lot of heart.

Although it might lean a little too heavily and dramatically on nostalgia, there's still some movie magic here that offers a nice entrypoint into the franchise for new fans, and a lovely tribute to the original for longtime devotees. Unfortunately, the film's ending feels rather ghoulish, both literally and figuratively, with visual effects bringing back Harold Ramis as the ghost of Egon Spengler. While its heart is in the right place with all the right clearances and permissions from family and friends, there's something that still feels wrong about Egon's spectral cameo, no matter how good the digital re-creation of Ramis might be. 

"Hello, Ghostbusters ... Yes, of course they're serious." Did you really expect any other outcome? "Ghostbusters" was a gamechanger for both comedies and blockbusters. Sure, we had buddy comedies for years before this movie came along, but "Ghostbusters" offers something completely different. Grounded science fiction makes the story engaging. Terrifying spooks, specters, ghosts, a massive marshmallow man, and a vengeful god offer up some scares and dazzling visual effects. And jokes from the finest comedic minds of Second City and "Saturday Night Live" deliver laughs that still resonate today. Did you know that Bill Murray even introduced the slang use of the word toast in this movie?

The beauty of "Ghostbusters" lies in its simplicity. You've got three scientists just trying to figure out how to track and capture ghosts in order to start a business that makes them some money. It's not built as an adventure movie from the get-go, but it slowly becomes one as the trio eventually gets in over their heads, learning about this world as they go along, all while making it feel tangible, believable, and exciting. Ernie Hudson adds a fun new wrinkle as your average blue collar guy just looking for a paycheck, and just like the audience, he ends up buying into all of it without a doubt. He sees s*** that will turn you white!

On top of that, you've got a pair of two very different villains that create a clever combination of conflicts, one in the form of a weasel from the government and the other a Sumerian god trying to unleash terrifying paranormal forces, which also weaves a compelling mystery throughout the movie that keeps the crowd engaged in the story. This is a perfect example of how to slow roll a villainous reveal without making the movie feel like it's crawling at a snail's pace, and "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" should have taken more notes on that. All blockbusters should take more notes from "Ghostbusters," but there's a reason it's been so hard to replicate the movie's formula over the years, even within the franchise itself. It's basically perfect.