Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night? Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic? Have you or your family ever seen a spook, spectre or ghost? Well, unfortunately, there's very little we can do about any of those things, but if you've been waiting for a brand-new trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife…. We got one!
Yesterday, on July 27, Sony announced that a new trailer for the film would drop within 24 hours, which sent the internet into a state of mass hysteria. But now, the wait is finally over, and the fourth trailer – if you include the original teaser and the more recent MiniPufts snippet) – is finally here, which suddenly makes November seem a lot closer.
Warning: The following trailer contains things that will turn you white!
The original trailer which was released last year gave us plenty to chew on, but this new one looks pretty epic to say the least. StayPuft? Check. Terror Dog? Check. Original ghostbusters, Janine Melnitz and more? Check, check, check. The film also appears to be a happy medium between a coming-of-age, indie-style film-of-sorts and the traditional Hollywood blockbuster, while calling upon many things fans love about the original things but giving us something new at the same time, including a new location and new characters.
So, now that we know a little bit more about the new movie, there's no better time to reflect on the controversial 2016 reboot, which was something of a critical and financial disaster, and also remains widely hated by the fanbase. So it's natural that some fans are now wondering: is Ghostbusters: Afterlife going to be any better? While of course the new film looks infinitely better than the reboot, the latest threequel is still being held in Sony's Ecto-Containment Unit until November, so we're yet to actually see it.
With that said, we're pretty confident that the third entry in the official Ghostbusters series will ‘answer the call' from the fans that the reboot didn't, and with a collection of four trailers for Ghostbusters: Afterlife now to hand, there are many reasons why it's likely to be a lot better.
Before the reboot even hit the theaters, director Paul Feig and a number of cast members took to insulting their target audience. While there were undoubtedly some truly awful comments being hurled towards cast members via Twitter, those people don't represent the fanbase in its entirety, nor does disliking a trailer – or the movie, in fact – make you a terrible person. And so the reboot was shrouded in controversy even before its release, which the filmmakers and cast members to this day use as an excuse for why the film was so poorly received, which gave the film something of a 'bad attitude' from the get-go.
Speaking specifically of the films themselves, it's obvious from the trailers alone, and from everything Jason Reitman has divulged over the past year, that Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a character and plot-driven piece, focusing on ‘family', a theme that echoes the fact that Jason Reitman is the son of Ivan Reitman, director of both of the original films. So the ‘passing of the torch' element is something that exists both on and off the screen.
As for the plot, while very little is known - even with the brand-new trailer now online - the overall premise has long been made clear: the grandchildren of Egon Spengler discover Ghostbusters equipment in the basement of their new home, while something strange is going on in their new neighborhood. And with Spengler being deceased in the film, this is yet another echo, with Harold Ramis having sadly passed away in 2014. Where the reboot is concerned, however, its so-called ‘plot' was nothing more than a cheap carbon copy of that of the original film, and in its imitation was about as subtle as the film's obnoxious humor. The end result was a film that felt like a series of outtakes rather than a well-structured and coherent story.
The characters in Ghostbusters: Afterlife seem very intriguing too, with McKenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard's Phoebe and Trevor portraying the child in all of us, who, back in the heyday of the original films, would have wanted nothing more than to become Ghostbusters. As for the cast, while there's nothing wrong with the choices behind the reboot whatsoever, the new film does boast a pretty stellar one. But perhaps its strongest point is that it doesn't appear to be creating a new ‘line up' of Ghostbusters like the reboot, instead opting for a character-driven story rather than the team 'gimmick'.
When looking at the tone for both of the films, it's fair to say that the reboot lacked any sort of mystery, playing the paranormal activity entirely for jokes, something the original film didn't do relentlessly, instead expertly blending comedy and horror. While Ghostbusters: Afterlife does look less comedy-horror and more drama-horror (though just as family-friendly as the originals), it's apparent that there won't be any room for awkward gags that dominate every single frame of the film. In fact, it's the new film's tone that looks to be what really sets it apart from the 2016 reboot.
And lastly, as for the fact that Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a sequel and not a reboot, this isn't something that necessarily makes the film better. Fans of the original films who hate the reboot should be glad that that film wasn't a sequel, yet many still complain that one of the reboot's flaws was that it wasn't connected. Let's just hope that we don't leave the theaters wishing that Ghostbusters: Afterlife wasn't connected either. We are, however, thrilled to be seeing a continuation of the 1984 classic and its 1989 sequel.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife focuses on Callie and her two children Phoebe and Trevor, whose grandfather is Egon Spengler. With no money to their name, the family moves to Summerville, Oklahoma, to "pick through the rubble" of their grandfather's life, which comes in the form of an old farmhouse that appears to secretly harbor remnants of the Ghostbusters' time in New York during the ‘80s – proton packs, ghost traps, a rusty Ecto-1, and even spores, molds and fungus.
But even though the film takes place in a new location, there's still something strange in the neighborhood. So who ya gonna call? Well, the film stars Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard and Paul Rudd, and even sees the return of beloved cast members from the original two movies, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. But the OG cast aren't the only familiar faces – we now know for sure that the film will also feature several returning villains, such as the StayPuft (though much smaller) and the Terror Dogs.
While we're yet to see whether the movie is going to be any good, we doubt it will be the slime-soaked disaster that is the 2016 reboot. Not only that, but judging by the new trailer alone, the third entry in the franchise looks pretty spectacular. So, call it fate, call it luck, or call it karma – it looks like fans of the original two Ghostbusters movies have finally had their calls answered…
Ghostbusters: Afterlife releases in theaters on November 19, 2021. In the meantime, if you wish to satisfy your Slimer-like hunger for all things Ghostbusters, check out Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which, unless the new film says otherwise, remains canon to the original two films.
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