Fourth Is Best: The Ghostbusters Films, Ranked by Number

The best Ghostbusters film is the fourth one. That is the finding, and the rest of this page is the paperwork.

The ruling

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021). PG-13, “for supernatural action and some suggestive references.” It is the third film in the main line and the fourth overall. I counted both ways and kept the one that puts it on top.

Every other film in the franchise is about a removal firm and its storage problem. This one is about the thing the firm removes. A scientist dies on an Oklahoma farm with the job unfinished, and he does not leave until his granddaughter has finished it. It is a ghost story that the ghost is in charge of.

The rest, in the order they came out

That is the only order nobody argues with.

Ghostbusters (1984). PG. No reason on the certificate. The firm, the firehouse, and a containment unit nobody inspects until a regulator switches it off.

Ghostbusters II (1989). PG. Also no reason given. The firm is barred from the trade, two of the partners are working children’s parties, and the case is won when the evidence gets up and makes the argument itself.

Ghostbusters (2016). PG-13, “for supernatural action and some crude humor.” Certified under the working title “Flapjack,” which is the best thing the board has ever been asked to sign.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024). PG-13, “for supernatural action/violence, language and suggestive references.” Back in the firehouse, where the containment unit is nearly full again. Nobody has ever emptied the cupboard on purpose.

The cartoons

The Real Ghostbusters (1986 to 1991). ABC, five years, with Slimer as the office mascot. “The Real” was added to the title after a dispute with Filmation, whose own Ghost Busters got there first. Even the name needed a removal.

Extreme Ghostbusters (1997). Forty episodes in which Egon leads a team of college students. The board does not rate television, so both cartoons go uncertified.

Ratings are the Motion Picture Association’s, from its register at filmratings.com. Each film links to its card on the ghost register. Afterlife’s working title was “Rust City.” It is still number four.