They ain't afraid of no ghost! Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig take on the paranormal in first Ghostbusters reboot trailer... and Slimer is back 

Strap on your Proton Packs and ready the Ecto-1 - the first trailer for the hotly anticipated Ghostbusters reboot is here.

The clip was released online on Thursday, and viewers are no doubt going to be pleased that director and writer Paul Feig has brought back many fan favourite aspects of the original movie.

While much of the film is still shrouded in mystery, we finally get a glimpse of our heroines Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig), Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) and Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) at work. 

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Who you gonna call?: The first trailer for the all-female Ghostbusters reboot was released online on Thursday

The two-and-a-half-minute long clip showed fans that everyone's favourite ghost Slimer will be back, and he is joined by many friends.

What's more, the ghosts in the film can possess a human form, and we get to see one of them enter Abby's body, until Patty slaps her with all her might, shouting: 'Oh hell no, the devil is a liar! Get out of my friend, ghost!'

After Abby is back to normal, Patty still continues to hit her around the face, yelling: 'The power of Patty compels you!' 

There's also plenty of ectoplasm, silly one-liners, the Ecto-1 vehicle and those grey jumpsuits.

Look who it is!: Slimer, everyone's favourite ghost from the original movie. makes a brief appearance in the clip

Hotly anticipated: The trailer sees Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones take on the paranormal in New York City - and one moment sees 1970s posters for Taxi Driver and Isle Of Snake People crop up in Times Square

'That stuff went everywhere, by the way. In every crack': Kristen's character Erin Gilbert got hit by some ectoplasm

The trailer begins with Abby, Erin and Jillian viewing a 'class four apparition', who shoots green slime all over Erin after she mistakenly thinks the ghost is 'peaceful'.

'That stuff went everywhere, by the way. In every crack. Very hard to wash off,' Erin complains afterwards.

The movie is made as if the events of the 1984 original never happened, meaning that the city of New York is extremely skeptical about the presence of ghosts, leaving the unlikely foursome of Ghostbusters to fight them alone.

She misjudged that situation: Erin got hit after mistakenly thinking that a 'class four apparition' was 'peaceful'

Armed and dangerous: The paranormal exterminators are seen strapping on their Proton Packs

And there's more: Kate plays an engineer named Jillian Holtzmann, who comes up with some wacky inventions

Erin is a highly intelligent physics professor, while Jillian is a 'brilliant engineer' - meaning that we are going to see the paranormal exterminators armed with more than just Proton Packs.

Abby is the ringleader who is passionate about paranormal activity, while Patty joins the team because she knows the city better than anyone, and spotted a ghost while working at a subway station.

She also provides the team with a car - but it's not exactly what they were expecting.

'You didn’t disclose that the vehicle was going to be a hearse,' Abby tells an excited Patty, who fires back: 'It's a Cadillac!' 

Did you catch it?: There's a reference to the first film in the Times Square scene, with an advert showing the words 'That's a big...' and then a picture of a Twinkie

Slimer brought some friends: Viewers get to see an array of different ghosts in the clip

Eye candy: There is also a brief appearance by Chris Hemsworth, who plays Kevin the receptionist

As viewers see the team take on an array of ghosts with their Proton Packs, we also learn a little more about the plot. 

Erin says: 'Someone is creating a device that amplifies paranormal activity. And we might be the only ones that can stop it.'

Abby adds: 'There’s a bigger picture at hand here. These ghosts can possess the human form.'

We also catch a brief glimpse of Chris Hemsworth, who plays Kevin the receptionist. And if that wasn't enough, a couple of versions of the Ghostbusters song are heard throughout the trailer. 

Paying homage to the original: The exterminators are seen with grey suits and the vehicle Ecto-1

'It's a Cadillac!': Patty can't contain her delight as she shows off the car that she borrowed from her uncle

'You didn’t disclose that the vehicle was going to be a hearse': Abby isn't exactly convinced by the car at first

A new twist: Ecto-1 is an update on the car that featured in the original 1984 movie

BuzzFeed also pointed out a reference to the first film in a scene where the group are battling ghosts in Times Square, with an advert showing the words 'that's a big' and then a picture of a Twinkie.

The signs are also seen changing to referencfe things from the 1970s, with a poster for Taxi Driver and another for Isle Of Snake People.

Ahead of the release of the first look at the movie, Paul Feig, his co-writer Katie Dippold and producer Ivan Reitzman took part in a Q&A on the studio lot, where they revealed a few details about the film.

Yuck: Ghosts can possess a human form in the movie, and we see Abby get possessed by one

'Get out of my friend, ghost!': Patty springs into action when Abby starts attacking Jillian

A new kind of exorcism: Patty decides to slap the ghost out of Abby

'The devil is a liar!': Patty continues to slap Abby, even after the ghost has left her body

By now, it is well-known that there will be cameos from members of the original cast, including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver.

'When you see the movie there will be a lot of things that you will be happy to see but they will be coming at you in a different way,' Feig said during the talk, according to Press Association. 'Slimer makes an appearance - you can't do Ghostbusters without Slimer.'

He added, according to Entertainment Weekly: 'You know the things you love the most. Let’s just say they show up in one way or another. And hopefully in ways that are surprising.' 

Saving the day: Patty rescues Jillian after she is almost flung out of the window

Explaining his choice: Director Paul Feig said that he wanted the main ghost to be a 'humanoid' so that his actors weren't primarily working with CGI

Here we go: The trailer begins with Jillian, Abby and Erin encountering a ghost

And he also said that there was no way they were going to reboot the franchise without its iconic theme song.

'You will hear the song; you can't do it without it,' Feig explained. 'We are playing with the original and some new versions.' 

Feig, who is behind films like Bridesmaids and Spy, said that the main ghost is 'basically a humanoid', because he didn't want his actors working primarily with CGI.

The real deal: This ghost was actually 'an actor in an LED suit, in that dress, hoisted up', Feig said

Brainy: Kristen's character is a professor of physics at a university

Helping out: Patty works in the subway and joins the group because she knows New York so well

'The woman who plays the first ghost, who ecto-projects all over Kristen, that was an actor in an LED suit, in that dress, hoisted up in this thing that picked her up and pushed her out,' he said, according to EW. 'It was important to me that they have that real ghost quality to them.'

The Wrap reports that he added: 'We’re playing with ghost imagery in a way that hasn’t been done before.' 

Feig is a big fan of the original film, and wanted to pay homage by making the lead characters scientists.

She believes: Leslie's character also encounters a ghost on the train tracks

The inventor: Meanwhile, Kate's character is an engineer, who develops technology for the team

Experimenting: It seems audiences are going to see more than just Proton Packs 

'It was really important to us to make them scientists,' he said. 'That's what I love about the first one, the idea of funny people fighting the paranormal with science.'

He also decided to make a reboot instead of a sequel so that the audience could see the group 'develop' the tools that they needed to fight the ghosts.

'I didn’t like the idea of them being handed technology,' he said. 'I wanted to see it develop. I’m such a tech head. I’m completely geeking out over these proton packs in the front of the theatre.'

The ringleader: Melissa's character Abby is passionate about paranormal activity

'We’re playing with ghost imagery in a way that hasn’t been done before': Feig is mixing it up for the reboot

'I didn’t like the idea of them being handed technology': He also decided to make a reboot instead of a sequel so that the audience could see the group 'develop' the tools that they needed to fight the ghosts

Girl power: The director said that the team 'don't' intend to respond to people who don't like the idea of an all-female cast

Meanwhile, the director and writer addressed the idea of remaking the film with an all-female cast, explaining that the team 'don't' plan to address controversy over the decision.

'I just want the funniest people and the funniest people I happen to know are these women,' he shared. 'It should never be about that. Ghostbusters are for everybody.'

He added: 'When I see pictures of young girls making Ghostbusters costumes it chokes me up, I just like the idea that a new generation will have their own that they will love as much as the original guys.' 

Ghostbusters hits cinemas in the US and UK on July 15. 

'That's what I love about the first one': It was important to Feig to make the group scientists

Ghostbusters headquarters: We get a glimpse of the office that the paranormal exterminators are working out of. The film will be released on July 15

Skeptical: The movie is made as if the events of the 1984 original never happened, meaning that the city of New York is extremely skeptical about the presence of ghosts