Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Rebooting Ghostbusters was always going to be tough – don’t mention the recent 2016 movie. The original set the groundwork for lots of contemporary visual feasts such as; Stranger Things and even the new IT movies. Director Jason Reitman obviously loved the original Ghostbusters, and it shows. Afterlife doesn’t try too hard to be the same which incidentally was made by his father, Ivan Reitman. Instead, it uses its own version of goofy buddy comedy and funhouse scariness. It’s not quite the same as the Ghostbusters, but it feels like Ghostbusters.
Callie is the daughter of Egon Spengler, the smartest Ghostbuster. He abandoned her when she was a child and went to live in an old house on the edge of a sleepy town. Summerville is stuck in the past . . . where the town’s main social hub is a drive-in diner. The local school uses VHS, and the local cinema is showing 1973 horror Cannibal Girls, directed by Ivan Reitman. It all gives the film a sense of place with some fun nostalgia.
There’s plenty of fun to be had when the ghosts appear, with Phoebe and her friend Podcast running loose around town, playing with proton packs, forging a friendship based on mutual oddness. But when the real ghostly action kicks in, you can feel the thrill in it. He uses the same simple directing style as his father with a few flashy shots. The effects have an 80s-style simplicity about them, which works well.
As the plot unfolds, it’s packed with stuff for the fans, but the new characters keep it going . . . all perfectly cast with great chemistry. There was a lot of love in room for this film, some people even clapped at the end. Great potential here as the film firmly establishes its own new generation – Ghostbusters still has plenty of life left in it . . .
The film opened last week and is available everywhere.
