The Big Picture
Ghostbusters
was a comedy that focused on chemistry between its characters and humor over spectacle.
The franchise doesn’t warrant expanded lore, and ends up trading laughs for MacGuffins.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
is a legacy sequel that lacks originality and relies too much on nostalgia.
If the box office tells us anything, it’s that modern audiences are becoming numb to all the sequels, reboots, and spin-offs belonging to franchises and cinematic properties. It has become a cliché to groan at the sight of a new franchise installment and to ask the age-old question, “Is Hollywood out of ideas?” In most cases, this existential crisis washes away upon the release of a crowd-pleasing, blockbuster spectacle — everyone has a good time, and we move on. However, there is one franchise that hasn’t been able to stick that particular landing. It’s easy to complain about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, or The Fast and the Furious, but no franchise needs to be put to rest and sent to the afterlife more thanGhostbusters.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Three parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.
Release Date June 8, 1984
Runtime 105 minutes
‘Ghostbusters’ Was a Phenomenon of the 1980s
Cinema of the 1980s is famous for its comedic prowess. Its talented assortment of actors and writers, including Chevy Chase, John Hughes, Goldie Hawn, Eddie Murphy, and John Candy, often worked alongside each other. Ghostbusters, a peculiar cross between science fiction and goofball comedy, was the dual creation by Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis. With stars Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver, the film, directed by the late Ivan Reitman, was a worldwide phenomenon in 1984, which spawned a sequel five years later and eventually a 2016 remake led by a female cast of Ghostbusters. 40 years later, the series continues to expand upon a cinematic lore unsuspected by the public, as Reitman’s son, Jason Reitman, took over with a legacy sequel in 2021, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Its sequel, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, releases in theaters on March 22.
Today, Ghostbusters operates as a franchise akin to many we see elsewhere, one that features virtuosic special effects and a story that tracks a hero’s journey. In truth, though, the series began as a humble comedy. The original film is in the spirit of star-driven studio comedies like Caddyshack, starring Murray and directed by Ramis, The Blues Brothers, starring and co-written by Aykroyd, and National Lampoon’s Vacation, directed by Ramis. Excluding Caddyshack, which is an expanded and interconnected collection of stand-up sets by its respective stars, these films execute their high concepts by maintaining a tongue-in-cheek attitude. Beyond Murray’s wry sense of humor, Aykroyd’s childlike enthusiasm, and Ramis’ laconic sophistication, Ghostbusters’ overarching joke is that three almost middle-aged city-dwelling scientists with receding hairlines become rockstar-like figures. The film’s dedication to impressive special effects, as well as Aykroyd’s intrigue with supernatural life, shows that it is not a complete work of irony, but it’s ultimately in on the joke.
‘Ghostbusters’ Was About the Comedy and Never About the Spectacle
Since it was the 1980s, many of these culturally resonant comedies received sequels — some later than others, but they never exceeded their scope as fun comedies. Other than serving as a sight gag, Ghostbusters was never about “Slimer,” the most recognizable ghost of the series, or the ghost-busting set pieces. It was about the chemistry between its stars. When watching the original film, the countless witty lines stand out substantially more than the climactic battle versus Gozer. The adage, “Just because a movie made lots of money, it doesn’t mean we want a sequel,” applies to Ghostbusters.
More noteworthy than its direct sequel, the cartoon series and prominent merchandising that followed in its wake left an invaluable impact on kids of the ’80s and early ’90s. Similar to the fervor that manifested among the most passionate fan bases of Marvel, Star Wars, and the like, Ghostbusters became a sacred brand prone to gatekeeping, which was poisonously evident by the bad-faith backlash over the female-led Ghostbusters in 2016. Because Peter Venkman (Murray), Ray Stantz (Aykroyd), Egon Spengler (Ramis), and Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson), were blue-collar “nerds” who lacked traditional movie star physicality, they were destined to be idolized by young boys and adolescents. They couldn’t be Superman, but they could be Egon, and still save the city from destruction.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which follows the daughter of Egon, Callie (Carrie Coon), who moves to an Oklahoma farm inherited from her father with her two children, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), is a film, through its concept and execution, that treats the Ghostbusters as a sacred text. Phoebe enrolls in a summer science class taught by Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd), who is a Ghostbuster fanatic, ostensibly making him an audience avatar. Once he learns that his student has a lineage to one of the original Ghostbusters, he vows to teach Phoebe about the team’s lore. When Grooberson unveils the ghost trap used in the original film, he inadvertently releases the ghost of Gozer. Along the way, Phoebe, beside her brother and friends, form the next generation of Ghostbusters, who encounter not so much a series of ghostly combatants, but a trip down memory lane for audiences. They drive the famous Ghostbusters Cadillac, team up with Venkman, Stantz, and Zeddmore, and weaponize the spirit of the deceased Spengler.
Baiting for nostalgic reactions from viewers is one thing, but Ghostbusters: Afterlife misses the central value of the original’s thematic text. In doing so, the film validates the vitriolic reaction to the 2016 reboot by affirming Ghostbusters as a property with lore. This is a legacy sequel that takes the “legacy” aspect far too literally, as it haphazardly champions the events of the first two movies as something that can be shared as folklore among an estranged family. While there are attempts at humor in Afterlife, thegravitas and self-importance of its text undermine what people loved most about the original film, mainly the humor and unforgettable chemistry between its cast. Direct callbacks to the original’s indelible one-liners often come off as an artistic corruption of Reitman’s film. Even more so than the most derivative and placeholder entries in the MCU, Afterlife seems to quest for unoriginality.
Related Hell (AKA New York City) Freezes Over in Final ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Trailer The latest title to come from the franchise stars Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and more.
‘Ghostbusters’ Does Not Warrant a Franchise With an Expanded Lore
The 1984 Ghostbusters is a one-note premise. This is not meant as a pejorative, as the Ivan Reitman film succeeds with its ingenious concept. Expanding upon the mythos of the Ghostbusters universe is an unfortunate example of recent franchise filmmaking trends — the epitome of the recent boom of expanded universes. Under careful examination, a Ghostbusters sequel could explore the psychological undertakings of the afterlife, but it is so caught up in its nostalgia trip that the film has nothing to mull over. The casting of Finn Wolfhard, a cast member of the hit ’80s throwback extravaganza, Stranger Things, can come off as an effort to cash in on ’80s nostalgia trips that remain in vogue. The core group of kids in the Netflix series even dress up as the original Ghostbusters for Halloween.
The roots of Ghostbusters as a goofy comedy by alumni of Saturday Night Live are easy to lose sight of, especially when the current reboot series is indistinguishable from the batch of franchise CGI-fests that audiences have seemed to grow weary of, based on box office results in 2023. These action set pieces seem purposefully interchangeable from the rest of the market. Where the ghosts and apparitions in the original are played for laughs, they serve as MacGuffins in Afterlife, once again elevating the thematic importance of these figures. At the end of the day, the story elements and characterization take a backseat to cameos and fan service, which is routinely the worst habit of any franchise.
In the case of Ghostbusters as an expanded franchise, there seems little more to cling to than nostalgia pandering. So far, the series offers nothing substantial to reinvent the original film’s catchy premise. If we’re so committed to following in the footsteps of Ghostbusters, shaping a legacy sequel around family heritage and the importance of STEM in society seems a glaring misread of the 1984 film, which was an entertaining and savvy comedy, and that’s all that it aspired to be. Since the film was a product of the 1980s, a decade which continues to be valorized in contemporary culture 40 years later thanks to the prevalence of merchandising in the era, there will always be some form of marginal demand for Ghostbusters — just through brand recognition alone. For a series centered around ghosts, it’s perhaps not too surprising that it refuses to die.
Ghostbusters is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S.
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