Most car brands use Halloween as an excuse for a pumpkin on the dashboard. Rivian has gone and licensed an entire franchise. The Rivian Ghostbusters Halloween Mode commercial, posted on Rivian’s verified YouTube channel on October 8, 2026, puts Bill Murray back in the beige jumpsuit as Dr. Peter Venkman. It sends him to a suburban house to deal with Slimer at the wheel of a custom electric Ecto-1. It runs 1:11, comes from a genuine Ghostbusters filmmaker, and sells something unusual for a car ad: a free, temporary software update.
That last part is what makes the spot interesting. Rivian is not pushing a new model or a lease deal here. It is advertising the fact that its cars can be reprogrammed overnight, and it is using the most famous ghost in cinema to make the point.
WHAT HAPPENS ON SCREEN
We open on a dark suburban street on Halloween eve, a wisp of green smoke curling over the rooftops. Inside, the chandelier flickers and Slimer has his head in the fridge, gorging on whatever is left. Then fog, headlights and a familiar siren: a white Rivian R1S dressed as the Ecto-R1, No-Ghost logo on the hood, red stripe down the side, roof rack loaded with lights, rolls up outside.
Murray, slumped in the driver’s seat, leans out of the window and plays it like a delivery driver at the wrong door: “Hiya. I’ve got an order for a Hawaiian pizza. And I think you said something about… no onions.” Slimer presses his face against the front window. Murray flips a big red Halloween Mode switch on the center screen and taps the “Ghost Trap” button. “Look who’s coming to dinner. It’s little Chunky. Come on to Papa!” Slimer bursts through the glass and is reeled into the car in a crackle of light. Murray climbs out, pats the hood like a full stomach – “Had a little bit of an appetite, did we? Night-night” – and the super lands over the dashboard: “Ghostbusters Halloween mode. Only from Rivian.” The theme song kicks in as the logo closes it out.
CREDITS
Brand: Rivian, in a collaboration with Sony Pictures. Film: “Rivian Halloween mode | Ghostbusters ft. Bill Murray,” 1:11, on Rivian’s verified YouTube channel. Director: Gil Kenan, co-writer of Ghostbusters: Afterlife and director and co-writer of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Production company: Bob Industries. Talent: Bill Murray as Peter Venkman. Vehicle: the Ecto-R1, a custom R1S built by Rivian’s Special Projects team. Rivian Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid is quoted on the project. Not credited in any of these: a creative or media agency (none is named, and Rivian’s materials do not say whether the idea came in-house), the writer, cinematographer, editor, VFX house and music credits beyond the use of the Ghostbusters theme.
THE EXECUTION
Hiring Gil Kenan is the decision that makes the film work. This does not look like a brand borrowing a logo; it looks like a deleted scene. The fog, the sodium-lit street, the practical-feeling Slimer and the warm, slightly grubby interiors all match the tone of the recent sequels, and the Ecto-R1 is introduced exactly the way the original car was: siren first, silhouette second.
Murray, meanwhile, does what Murray does. He underplays everything. The pizza-order bit is pure Venkman, a man who treats the supernatural as a minor inconvenience, and “It’s little Chunky” lands because he sounds like he is talking to a dog. He is never asked to run or fire a proton pack; the car does the work, which is the actual product message.
WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T
What works: the product is the hero without the film feeling like a demo. The red toggle, the Ghost Trap button and the dashboard super are the same features owners will see after the over-the-air update, so the gag and the sales pitch are the same thing. It is a smart way to dramatize Rivian’s vertically integrated software, a point most EV brands make with charts.
What doesn’t: the story is thin even by 70-second standards. Slimer is defeated by a button press, there is no real threat and no real reversal, and the film leans almost entirely on goodwill toward a 42-year-old franchise. If you are not already fond of Ghostbusters, this is a man in a jumpsuit pressing a screen. The ad also never explains that the mode is free, temporary (it runs only into early November) and limited to people who already own a Rivian. For a non-owner the call to action is essentially “visit a store,” and the end card does not carry enough information to make that feel urgent. And the closing patch of Murray clowning in the driveway runs a few beats longer than it needs to.
VERDICT
Rivian’s Ghostbusters spot is a well-made, genuinely charming bit of franchise nostalgia, and the most credible use of a film license in a car ad this season, thanks to Kenan behind the camera and Murray barely trying in the best possible way. As storytelling it is slight, and it is really a love letter to existing owners rather than a reason to buy. But as a demonstration of what a software-defined car can do, it is clever and memorable. Rating: 4 out of 5.
