My wife and I were talking the other day about trauma-inducing childhood movies/shows (Courage the Cowardly Dog was a big one) and a number of episodes from RGB & EGB inevitably popped up on my list of horrifying media. I spent a while trying to unsuccessfully get across how genuinely terrifying I found the Grundel (to the point of having nightmares about his freaky ass) and the Bogeyman, but she seemed relatively unfazed by my tales/impressions.
I’m planning to actually show her the EGB episode sometime soon, but it got me thinking about all the other scary moments from both shows - I’m still convinced the Grundel tapping at Jack’s window will forever be the scariest scene from GB history for me, but what do you guys rank as YOUR most frightening, pants-wetting moment from the shows? There’s surely no shortage to choose from.
Cohila (Episode “The Crawler”) - If you have seen Mimic, you may understand how I feel.
Grundel (Episode “Grundelesque”) - Same reasons as you mentioned.
Evil Clowns (Episode “Killjoy”) - They remind me a mix of Killer Clowns from Outer Space and Pennywise
The Vatheks (Episode “Deadliners”) - Cenobites, more or less. Plus, I can’t imagine how traumatize their victims were after the case.
Kahlil (Episode “Casting the Runes”) - Him widening his mouth enough to potentially swallow two whole humans disturbs me.
Wat (Episode “Mrs. Roger’s Neighborhood”) - A demonic T. rex entity that can transform into a 4’10’’ older lady was creepy enough, but the voice?! Stuff of nightmares.
Edit: For some reason, the post autocorrects “W.a.t.” to “what”.
I always thought Wat’s design was really cool - Simple, but creepy, definitely one of my favourite ghost designs from RGB. But yeah, the bit where she’s talking through possessed Peter used to majorly freak me out.
And speaking of cool ghost designs, I feel an honorable mention goes to the Water Elemental from Future Tense, the giant fingers, the screaming, and the general grotesqueness was always super unsettling, but it’s a scare I look upon fondly.
I love Wat’s design! And the voice is just chef’s kiss. The way it shifted when it questioned if Janine had access to the ECU.
There was a guy, whose name I unfortunately can’t recall at the moment, that did more grotesque and frightening versions of the RGB and EGB ghosts as well as Gozer and the gang.
If they really do go through making a ghostbuster cartoon, I hope they bring people in that can do justice to the art and writing. I need smart quips and entities sticks with you.
I remember being spooked by some of the Ghostbusters in Paris skeletal guys, the lady turning round on the platform in Knock Knock and the melting guy in The Hole in the Wall Gang. They pushed the same buttons the library and taxi ghosts did in the original film!
For me it was Wat in “Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood”, I had never seen anything so creepy in animation before. When Peter gets possessed at the climax really creeped me out the first time, I saw this episode and then watching it again when the Fox Family Channel aired The Real Ghostbusters in reruns (since it had been such a long time, it felt like I was watching it for the first time.) The Spectral Ghostbusters from “Citizen Ghost” also made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, when they "woke up’’ and attacked the Ghostbusters at the firehouse. Their voices were really spooky too. The skeleton woman that surprises Peter in “Knock , Knock” also made me jump the first time I saw it. The Grundel was also really scary, to my five-year-old self. His voice, coupled with his unsettling look really made him frightening.
For Extreme Ghostbusters, I would say that the Evil Clowns from “Kill Joys” really got me scared even though I was a high school student when I saw this episode for the first time. The Grundel in “Grundelesque” was just as scary as he was in his namesake Real Ghostbusters episode. Especially in the flashback scene of Kylie and her friend Jack.
-The afore mentioned “Mrs Roger’s neighborhood” The entire episode is unsettling from the trap house itself. The hands coming out of the wall always freaked me out. To Watt’s whole MO his unconventional design and Peter’s possession.
-Knock Knock - A gateway to hell turns the subway evil. The train full of skeletons gave me recurring nightmares for years.
-Flip Side - Being hunted by horrific ghost versions of yourself is spooky.
-The Ghostbusters in Paris - I mean the melting guy and the platform ghosts.
-The Grundle - Nuff said…how many kids became Grundles.
-The Haunting of Heck House - 2436 ghosts in one house nuff said.
-Janine you’ve changed - The Makoveris Lotsabucks was spooky and the fact that it preyed on such vulnerable people and almost took Janine.
From EGB
I mean too many to name EGB really laid into the horror/X-files atmosphere more than any other part of the franchise.
Deadliners - I mean yeah how they got away with this is astounding!
Home is where the Horror is - Another haunted house but this one is more insidious. And the victims.
