Do you consider Ghostbusters (1984) a horror movie?

[Riv86672]

Most will agree Ghostbusters is one of the funniest movies of the eighties (if not all time), but, is there an actual horror movie hiding inside all that classic comedy?

[caj]

No, I consider it a comedy.

I will admit that it has a few scares in it though. It's been a long time since I've seen it but I seem to remember a scene where one of the main characters comes across the spirit of an old woman. The spirit seems quite calm and then all of the sudden becomes aggressive and screams at the character and I jumped in my seat.

[LordLeviathan]

a comedy with horror elements

[j9ac9k]

It has a few "scares", *BOO!!* but I wouldn't call it horror. Although one could easily make a horror movie with the same script.

[Alan2099]

It's not a horror movie, but if you were doing some kind of Halloween Horror Movie Marathon, it wouldn't be that out of place.

[WebLurker]

Always saw it as a comedy.

[Jackalope89]

a comedy with horror elements

This. Like Mummy, Mummy Returns, Scooby-Doo, and even Army of Darkness (for me), while it had horror elements, it was more spice on top of the comedy/action than real horror for me.

[Powerboy]

Of course there is the potential for a horror movie but it's a comedy.

To paraphrase Stephen King, the first Alien movie had the potential to be science fiction but it's horror. Star Wars had the potential to be science fiction but it's fantasy. It's all in what the main intent is.

[DrNewGod]

It's as much a horror movie as Blazing Saddles is a Western.

[Riv86672]

It's as much a horror movie as Blazing Saddles is a Western.

Blazing Saddles IS a western, though.

[BeastieRunner]

It is a sci-fi comedy. The comedic elements come from the absurdist nature. The franchise could easily go horror but the ghosts are interdimensional beings and they use speculative science to defeat them. The horror is incidental at best since the sci-fi takes center stage.

The dry humor from their reactions to the absurd nature make it a classic.

[Gaastra]

It's a "scare comedy" like gremlins. But it's listed as a "family film" many times.

The cartoon had some scary parts for kids also but countered it with comedy parts.

The game did this also. Scary one second and funny the next.

[DrNewGod]

Blazing Saddles IS a western, though.

With a pie fight in the studio cafeteria.

[ChrisIII]

Outside of their eventual possession of Louis, Dana, and her transformation into the Stay Puffed Marshmallow man which are mostly played for laughs (Although Sigourney still comes across as somewhat intimidating as Zuul), The demon dogs and Gozer are one of the more unsettling aspects of the film. The first fridge scene for example and when the ghosts drag Dana and her chair towards Zuul for instance.
Also the breakout scene (Which has the film's goriest ghost, the cab driver). The music in particular (Mick Smiley's "Magic", or at least the part they used in the film) works really well.