Film

Ghost

Name: Ghost
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Thriller
Released: 1990
Cast: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Vincent Schiavelli

Ghost is the one where a murdered man refuses to leave, using a fraudulent psychic to protect the woman he loves. It's equal parts supernatural thriller, weepy romance and unlikely comedy, anchored by Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar-winning scene-stealing. Sincere rather than ironic, it wants you to cry at the pottery wheel and gasp at the subway villain in the same ninety minutes — and mostly it works.

TMDb rating

7.2

If you liked this

The Sixth Sense1999

Shyamalan's ghost story swaps romance for dread but keeps the same ache of unfinished business between the living and the dead, and the reveal remakes everything you just watched.

But The twist is now so famous that most people know it before pressing play, which drains a lot of the film's power.

Truly Madly Deeply1991

Alan Rickman's ghost cellist returns to comfort his grieving partner in this British answer to Ghost — funnier, sadder, and far more honest about what mourning actually feels like.

But It's slower and more talky than Ghost, with grief handled unglamorously — don't expect big supernatural set pieces.

City of Angels1998

An angel falls for the doctor he's watching over in this soapy, gorgeous melodrama that asks the same question Ghost does: what would you give up to stay with someone you love?

But It leans hard into 90s melodrama and a very earnest Nicolas Cage — sincerity levels are extremely high.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Ghost Story2017

Same core idea as Ghost — a spirit who stays behind for love — stripped of plot, comedy and thriller mechanics until only the ache remains.

A man dies and lingers in a bedsheet to watch over his wife, in this near-wordless, achingly patient arthouse take on the exact same impulse that drives Sam Wheat — refusing to let go.

But It's slow almost to the point of stillness, with long unbroken shots and barely any dialogue — not a film for a Friday-night mood.

Just Like Heaven2005no page yet

Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo do the lighter, romcom version of Ghost's premise — a woman who doesn't know she's a spirit, and the stranger who can somehow see her.

But It's fluffier and safer than Ghost, with none of the thriller stakes or grief underneath the charm.

Always1989

Spielberg's own ghost-romance has Richard Dreyfuss returning as a spirit to guide the woman he loved toward her next chapter — tender, unfashionable, and a clear cousin to Ghost.

But It's sentimental even by Spielberg standards, and its old-fashioned firefighter-pilot heroics have aged in a very particular way.

A Matter of Life and Death1946

Powell and Pressburger's afterlife courtroom romance did the ghostly-love-versus-death bureaucracy thing decades before Ghost, in glorious Technicolor-versus-monochrome heaven imagery that still looks like nothing else.

But It's a 1940s British film with theatrical pacing and dialogue — patience for classic cinema helps a lot here.

Heaven Can Wait1978no page yet

Warren Beatty plays a man sent back to earth in someone else's body, love interest and all — a lighter, funnier cousin to Ghost's afterlife-interference plot.

But The comedy is gentle and dated rather than sharp, and the football subplot will mean little to non-fans.

The Others2001

Nicole Kidman anchors this eerie ghost story about a mother and her children isolated in a fog-bound house — atmospheric dread that rewards the same patience Ghost's slower stretches do.

But There's no romance here at all, just slow-building horror — a genuinely different mood despite the shared ghost-story bones.

Dirty Dancing1987

Before Ghost, there was this — Swayze at his most charismatic, proving exactly why audiences fell so hard for him as a romantic lead three years later.

But It has zero supernatural element — this is pure earthbound romance, so go in expecting dance floors, not the afterlife.

Portrait of Jennie1948no page yet

Ghost's mix of fated love and something supernatural pulling the lovers apart isn't new — this is Old Hollywood doing the same trick with time instead of death.

A struggling painter falls for a young woman who seems to be aging backwards through time, and the mystery of what she actually is unfolds with the same dreamy, doomed-romance logic Ghost runs on, four decades earlier.

But It's a black-and-white 1940s melodrama with a slow build and stagey performances — this asks a lot of patience upfront.

The Frighteners1996

Take Oda Mae Brown's scam-artist-turned-real-psychic arc, strip out the earnestness, and push it toward horror-comedy excess — that's basically this film's whole premise.

Peter Jackson's gonzo horror-comedy follows a man who can see and talk to ghosts and uses them to run small-time cons — same psychic-communing-with-the-dead engine as Ghost, cranked up into gleeful, gory chaos.

But It's much trashier and more grotesque than Ghost, with body horror and slapstick standing in for romance and tears.