I was one of those kids who was scared of his own shadow. I didn’t like the dark. I didn’t like scary movies. Thunder storms sent me running into my parents bedroom. I didn’t even like being alone in a pool.
Ghostbusters helped me with all of that. I duno how I ended up as a GB fan since knowing me as a kid, I shoulda been terrified of these movies. Dana getting possessed by a terror dog? Vigo? These movies have some intense moments. That’s sum scary shit!
But that’s the thing. Somehow bcuz the Ghostbusters used science & realistic looking weapons against the paranormal it made me not afraid. Ghosts could be conquered & defeated not with magic and incantations but with science! Not only that but I had a toy version of their weapon!
I knew I could never be Luke Skywalker. Or Indiana Jones. But a Ghostbuster? I got my 1st bad mark in school in grade 1 when I put “Ghostbuster” as “what do u want to be when u grow up”. My teacher was all “Ghostbusters aren’t real”. My mom got upset at my teacher since “Ghostbuster” is technically a job. It’s a role in a movie franchise. Check mate!
Did Ghostbusters help any1 else with being afraid? Somehow knowing there was a scientific way(according to the movie) to stop ghosts, it made them see less frightening to me.
For sure. I think seeing ordinary guys like the Ghostbusters somehow prevailing against incredibly bad odds with the adversaries they faced was very empowering.
Between the terror dogs in GB1 and the Boogieman in RGB, Ghostbusters was actually the greatest source of acute fear in my childhood—yet I loved it nonetheless.
Seeing the first film the first time I bolted up the stairs when my babysitter had started watching it with me. A year or two later and RGB cartoon release I watched it and from the cartoon and frankly the ghost trap and proton pack toy being birthday gifts…I certainly felt more empowered with being afraid.
I think from the things that go bump in the night, yeah.
I honestly can’t remember ever being afraid of the dark or the monster under my bed, but I do say that the monster was afraid of me because I was/ am a Ghostbuster.
Ghostbusters was definitely my intro into horror (all be it comedic) and from there my love for horror grew.
I also got in trouble from teachers for wanting to be a Ghostbuster when I grew up and now I am so ner on them.
As for my fear of snakes and sharks… Spielberg didn’t help there.
Did anyone actually use that yellow Foam beam that came with the proton pack? My dog chewed mine up. But I never used it anyways. I just imagined the beam in my head.
What a great toy. I think it came with a PKE meter too right? And an arm band?
I used the foam but only to knock the RGB ghost toys from counters and tables into the ghost trap on the floor below them. Otherwise stream was in my head.
Never used the foam. What I remembered doing was taking toilet paper or party streamers, taping them to the barrel, had a few ballons stuck in a corner, and turned the good ol’ box fan on so the balloons would bounce around and the streamer would staticly cling to them.
In my head, that was as close as I can be to a real Ghostbuster.