I sometimes see some debate as to whether or not the GB films are truly Horror or just strictly Comedy, and I'm curious to see what the general conscensus on this is among the fans.

For me, I've always considered the GB films to be a hybrid of Comedy, Horror and Sci-Fi all in one. By default, they pretty much are partly Horror with the aspects of ghosts, the supernatural/paranormal, hauntings, etc. and then there's the Sci-Fi aspect with the equipment the GBs use, and of course the Comedy element is obvious. I always felt the GB property as a whole did a seamless job merging these three genres into one.

I've always championed this notion…they are a mixture of all three, science fiction , comedy , and horror …

Not to mention in alot of his interviews about the films Ivan was adamant about having wanted a fine line between the “superbly silly and truely scary” when filming…

The reason that most people readily dismiss the “horror” part is that that's what they've been lumped under for the better half of the last 25 years …Movie rental stores, on demand, imdb, you name it…Drilled into their heads ad nauseum, and they come to wholeheartedly believe that it's “just a comedy”…“Ghost Dad” they're not…

And some people believe that if “it don't have tits, blood, and gore, it ain't horror”…

GB had a ton of “jump out of your seat” parts, and a TON of genuine suspense, not to mention the subject matter itself…GBII the same, only to a much lesser extent…To deny that they are part horror is to deny most of the movies themselves…

Ectofiend;159820
GB had a ton of “jump out of your seat” parts, and a TON of genuine suspense, not to mention the subject matter itself…GBII the same, only to a much lesser extent…To deny that they are part horror is to deny most of the movies themselves…

I always felt GB2 was the scarier of the two movies, personally. GB1 had spooky moments but most of it's scary scenes were played for laughs. GB2 has even more frightening Horror movie moments in it, like the heads on the sticks in the tunnel (which always frightened me as a kid to the point where I'd leave the room until it passed), the slime in the bathtub threatening Oscar, the opening scene with the baby carriage in the streets, Ghost Janosz abducting Oscar from the edge of the ledge outside the apartment, the Vigo pictures burning in the lab, the first discovery of the ROS, etc. all of Vigo's scenes are very dark and frightening too, especially when he possesses Ray. GB2 also had more of an overall serious tone to it, which kind of amplified the suspense factor of the scary parts for me.

GB1 definitely had a lot of eerie parts too though, such as the librarien ghost's transformation (which quickly becomes a funny scene with the GBs' reaction to her), the monster arms grabbing Dana in the chair, a lot of the Terror Dogs scenes, etc. Both movies have scenes far spookier than many R-rated Horror films I've seen. I always felt by default they were definitely partly Horror.

A supernatural comedy with a dash of horror. Kind of like Beetlejuice was.

Ponyboy;159831
A supernatural comedy with a dash of horror. Kind of like Beetlejuice was.

Ditto, the films have had their scary aspects, but never to the point of seriously inducing nightmares.

I credit Ghostbusters, along with a short lived UK horror comic called ‘SCREAM!’ that also came out in '84 as being the things that got me interested in horror in the first place.

Though I watched it when I was 6 years old, it didn´t scared me… but I know some scenes are totally from an horror movie, and at that age I didn´t catch the gags or jokes… but I agreed with the supernatural comedy with a dash of horror concept.

Anybody that said Yes or Maybe, you're wrong. Just letting you know.

ToastDuster;159841
I credit Ghostbusters, along with a short lived UK horror comic called ‘SCREAM!’ that also came out in '84 as being the things that got me interested in horror in the first place.

Same. GB was a huge influence in me getting into Horror, along with the other endless Horror films I watched non-stop as a kid.

I'm with most of y'all. While GB itself wasn't what is normally though as “horror” it sure got me into it. (And honestly, as a kid, those terror dogs were pretty scary)