MovieChat Forums > Ghostbusters (1984) Discussion > Which camp are you in - Taxi Driver Ghos...

Which camp are you in - Taxi Driver Ghost was a ghost or a possessed


taxi driver?

I think the implication is supposed to be that a taxi driver was sitting in the car, a ghost entered through the exhaust pipe, and possessed the driver.

The only time physical non-human beings are seen in the first movie are Gozer, the terror dogs, and the creatures in Dana's chair, all who I assume to be flesh and blood aliens/extra-dimensional beings, and not the spirits of dead people.

reply

As a kid I thought more like zombie, a non-cannibalistic zombie.


But ALSO as a kid when the guy in the cab says 'let's not dawdle', I thought he SAW what the driver looked like and said 'that's not normal', LOL!

reply

But ALSO as a kid when the guy in the cab says 'let's not dawdle', I thought he SAW what the driver looked like and said 'that's not normal', LOL!


That would actually be hilarious for him to say that line that casually.

reply

I've always assumed the taxi driver was a ghost that entered through the exhaust pipe and manifested a physical form. The taxi was empty to begin with (the driver was either on break or ran off in a panic earlier).

reply

it creeped me out because I thought the cab driver was in there and it drained his life force killing him basically.

I think a comedy like this should have nobody get killed it subtracts from the funny aspect.

reply

That could be it. And then the ghost possessed the corpse.

reply

Just assumed it was a ghost that took the form of a zombie. It was just to show the complete chaos the city had descended into. I don't think they would throw in something so disturbingly dark as a taxi driver being killed in such a way, in the middle of a comedy.



http://www.1971-reviewae.com

reply

So maybe the driver was just possessed and not killed.

reply

It's just a ghost--it entered the cab via the tailpipe and manifested as the skeletal cabbie, who in earlier drafts was purported to be a skeletal biker who terrorized upstate New York.

reply

I know it's silly to respond to an old post but I wonder if said skeletal biker was inspiration for the Real Ghostbusters episode where they have the Headless Horseman become the headless motorcyclist?

reply

never silly. I love seeing these old discussions resurface.

reply