The plot of Ghostbusters: Afterlife is strange in the neighborhood. We decided to give the movie aSPOILER treatment in celebration of the movie coming to digital on demand last week. If you were confused about anything, this FAQ may be able to help. Maybe! It is unlikely. The movie is a mess.
Why are you doing this? A lot of people liked Afterlife. They called it nostalgia done right.
They definitely did, didn't they? I can't think of a film that did nostalgia worse than The Rise of Skywalker.
The movie is about a new group of kids learning about the Ghostbusters legacy and taking on the mantle for themselves.
It is not. Not really. The old Ghostbusters showing up to redo the end of the original film is worse than the new set of kids learning about the Ghostbusters legacy.
It's really sad. What is the premise of Afterlife?
Egon Spengler abandoned his wife and daughter at some point in the 90's, which was when Harold Ramis played him. Carrie Coon plays the child who is now a single mother of two children. She and her family were evicted from their apartment and had to move to a dilapidated mansion, which her father left her in his will.
Whoa. What happened to Ghostbusters?
After the business died off, Egon tried to convince them that another apocalypse was on the way. I want you to read it carefully, because it's bananas, and Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Winston Zeddemore didn't believe him.
What? Are you serious?
No. After the events of Ghostbusters one and two, and after Egon repeatedly revealed himself to be the only one who had any clue what was going on with all things supernatural, suddenly these guys don't believe Egon. Egon stole the equipment and everyone went to the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma. Don't forget that he abandons his family in the process.
...
Take a second to process. It is a lot.
Okay. Why does Egon have to leave his family to deal with this?
The plot of the movie requires his granddaughter to be completely ignorant of all things Egon and Ghostbusters so she can slowly learn about them through the movie with help from Egon's ghost.
We will get back to that in a minute. Why don't the Ghostbusters believe in Egon?
The plot requires the remaining three members to be out of sight until the end of the film.
Why would Egon take everyone else's jumpsuits?
The movie wants to have her, her brother, her love interest, and her friend.
Is it a show?
I don't want to talk about it. They dressed as Ghostbusters for the final act of the film.
Is Afterlife a comedy? The premise sounds bleak.
It is not a comedy. There are some jokes, but they are mostly jokes about her social anxiety, and she tells them to diffuse awkward situations.
The first Ghostbusters movie was a comedy. It had a few scares and stakes, but it was definitely a comedy.
I am aware! Comedy stars starred in it.
Ghostbusters is taken so seriously by Afterlife.
The 40-year-old fans who were upset about the movie take it very seriously. I want to talk about how it ends up ruining Afterlife as a movie, because I talk about studios kowtowing to the most entitled-feeling sections of fandoms all the time.
Do tell.
The first 80 percent of the movie is about the kids, and it is pretty good. The actors are good, the dialogue is fun, and they are doing exciting things like discovering the Ghostbusters equipment and then trying to catch a ghost while driving down Main Street in the Ecto-1 in broad daylight and inadvertently tearing up the town. The problem is that the last 20 percent is all about the original Ghostbusters.
How can they be the problem? People like those guys.
In multiple ways. They hijacked the movie from the beginning. Ghostbusters: Afterlife really, really wants to be the first Ghostbusters movie, and it would pit Venkman, Stanz, and Zeddemore against Gozer the Gozerian again. The plot becomes nonsense in order to get them there for the second act.
How so?
The Ghostbusters stop trusting their friend when Egon becomes a terrible person. The rest of the premise makes no sense. There is a secret temple to Gozer hidden in a mountain in Oklahoma, which Egon abandoned everybody to deal with. He wanted to lure the spirit of the second Terror Dog back to his dirt farm, where he would capture it in a giant trap. There is an electrical short, the trap doesn't work, and the spirit of the second dog kills Egon.
Yeesh.
The first Terror Dog spirit, which is powerful enough to murder people, is loose, but then inexplicably does nothing else until Egon opens his ghost trap, which clearly has a ghost in it. Even though she has been portrayed as brilliant, she doesn't know much about Ghostbusters and freeing the ghost could have dire consequences. Egon stuck the trap in a secret hiding place. Why? Is that good for anyone? What is the best outcome if the trap is hidden and not opened?
Maybe it could.
Please allow me to continue. The Terror Dog spirit allows both dogs to manifest in the real world. They have the only two adults in the film, Callie and Gary Grooberson, who free Gozer from a trap built by Egon. Egon had a plan to lure Gozer back to his farm with the captured dog as bait, and then trap the god in his giant trap. Do you see the problem?
It is sort of a disagreement.
That was not Egon's plan. The plan was to lure the second Terror Dog spirit into the giant trap that was made for Gozer. The film shows that Gozer is trapped until the Keymaster and Gatekeeper arrive. Egon built all of the traps. He would have had to let Gozer out of the first trap if he wanted to trap him. Gozer couldn't enter the real world without both Terror Dogs being free. The original Ghostbusters can steal the movie because none of it makes sense.
What do you mean by stealing the movie?
After Gozer is freed, everyone hightails it to Egon's farm to execute his plan. The original trio shows up in time to save everyone else from Gozer. It has been revealed that she is being assisted by the blue Force ghost of Egon, so it is just the original four. Carrie Coon pulls a lever, but it is just the original four doing the same thing you saw them do in the first movie, but worse.
I don't think there is a problem with this.
Okay. Imagine you watched Ghostbusters for the first time in 1984. The Ghostbusters failed to stop Gozer this time. The rest of the movie becomes all about the three other Ghostbusters who show up out of nowhere, like Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck, and Burt Lancaster, at which point the rest of the movie becomes about them.
That doesn't sound good.
If you didn't grow up with the first movie, then you're watching three men hijack the film, at least one of whom doesn't want to be there The other characters disappear once the old Ghostbusters show up. There is a big farewell to Egon's ghost, then you see the Ecto-1 drive into New York City. Peter and Dana are playing with the cards and shocking machine Peter used to hit on college girls in the first movie. The old firehouse is still used as a ghost containment unit in the second. All of it is meaningless to anyone who isn't a fan.
I am a fan of it. Is that okay?
Ivan and his son made it for you, so why not? The movie makes the movie very boring because it is made for you to enjoy. We don't know what happens to the kids after the battle. Do they stay in Oklahoma? Are they still poor? Does their experience affect them? It is basic story telling. They should have fought off Gozer. If I could have watched these kids succeed, I would have forgiven a lot of these plotholes.
But...
Okay. Imagine if you will, that Obi-Wan kills Darth Vader in Star Wars: A New Hope, instead of the other way around. It is worse than that. Imagine Obi-Wan shows up to kill Vader and leave, as well as the other two survivors of the Death Star attack. There is no character development.
None at all?
Callie is the only character in the movie that has a character arcs. She can have a hug with Egon's ghost at the end, but the stupid movie gets this wrong.
You are ruining the movie for me.
Look, blame Egon. Callie decided her deadbeat dad was now wonderful and loving because he had a collection of photos she had secretly taken of her throughout her life. Isn't that wonderful?
I think you will say this isn't great.
Egon abandons his wife and daughter to go to Oklahoma with her. Callie grows up without a father, but it turns out he was taking creeps on her when he could. Why? Why wouldn't he do that? Was he worried that ghosts would use his daughter to hurt him? Ghosts are not like that.
How do ghosts work in the Ghostbusters universe? Does Egon look like a demon or something? Are they evil humans?
There are so many questions to be asked about how the actual afterlife works in Ghostbusters that I am emotionally spent and I am sorry to cut you off again. We don't know any of the rules yet.
Are you taking this movie too seriously?
Ghostbusters is being treated by Afterlife.
Touché.
For further discussion.
Why is the car covered in dust below a tattered sheet that was placed on top of it?
Why did Egon take the Ecto-1 if he wasn't going to use it?
Why would a smart girl call the old Ghostbusters helpline instead of her mom? Only one of the two could pick her up from jail, while the other could be called at any time.
Was the sheriff going to be killed by Phoebe? It seemed like it!
Why didn't Gary get a sexy outfit like Callie did?
Why are the Mini-Pufts so eager to die?
Why did Egon install a firepole in his underground lab? Firefighters use one because they need to get out of the firehouse quickly to respond to emergencies, so why would Egon need one to get into his lab so quickly? The floor is small. If people had to climb up the pole to get out, how much time could a firepole save? Is Egon just installing it for sentimental value? It's really bad.
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