Fan service is a hard thing to nail. When dealing with a beloved classic like 1984’s Ghostbusters, there’s a very thin line between using fan service just to make a movie good and encapsulating the nostalgia which made the original such a cultural phenomenon. 2016’s Ghostbusters directed by Paul Feig undoubtedly leans more into the latter than the former. It focuses too much on attempting to pander for fans of the original than creating an original story which pays appropriate homage to the original when necessary. This year’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife however is a triumphant love letter for fans of the original. It provides an engaging original story with new, likeable characters, and provides appropriate plot links to the 1984 original rather than bombarding the audience with pure fan service.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife takes place 32 years after the events of Ghostbusters II, effectively acting as a ‘Ghostbusters III’. It follows single mother Callie (Carrie Coon) and her two children Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace) as they move into an old house in a small town in rural America with an unusual link to the original Ghostbusters. The film is of course littered with references to the original, but unlike the 2016 Ghostbusters film, they’re actually more relevant to the story and feel ‘earned’ in a sense. It is directed by Jason Reitman, the son of the original director Ivan Reitman. Interestingly there’s a few horror elements thrown into Afterlife which perhaps distinguishes the directorial style between father and son, as the original focused primarily on comedy. Nevertheless, the laughs of Afterlife consist of McKenna Grace’s endearingly dry dad jokes, Podcast’s (Logan Kim) running commentary on the supernatural events, and of course Paul Rudd being Paul Rudd. As soon as I heard they were doing a new Ghostbusters film featuring Paul Rudd and Finn Wolfhard – I was in.
Interestingly I only watched the original Ghostbusters for the first time a couple of years ago, so I wouldn’t have experienced the same level of nostalgic throwback watching Afterlife than some of the OG fans. The original is such a loveably unique film, and I could appreciate how Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson made it an instant cult classic. The 70s and 80s gave rise to several of the classic supernatural horror films such as The Exorcist and Poltergeist. So naturally a film about about a group of paranormal enthusiasts forming what was effectively a ghost pest control service was probably exactly what audiences needed. Also, I can’t write about Ghostbusters without mentioning Rick Moranis. I think he quite possibly makes not only the first film for me, but also the 1989 sequel. For me, Ghostbusters took a very fearfully daunting concept and made it something audiences could laugh at. It showed that even the darkest concepts can be made light of, and that what we perceive as scary is very often determined by Hollywood and pop culture. Now whenever a supernatural film freaks me out to the point where I’m paranoid over the smallest sounds during the night, I just think of Rick Moranis walking out of the NYC firehouse in his Ghostbuster get-up to the sound of Ray Parker Jr’s titular track.
In a world where reboots, remakes and re-imaginings are abundant in cinema, it was nice to have what felt like a legitimate follow-up to a cult classic. I recently wrote about the latest edition to the Halloween franchise, Halloween Kills, in a previous blog, which similarly acts as a direct follow-up to the original decades later and also pays appropriate homage when due. Revitalising a classic franchise by producing a sequel set decades later in real time has become more and more common in the past decade or so. There are many examples of this which have done what I have come to refer to as ‘Force Awakening‘ a franchise; including Jurassic World, Tron, Star Wars of course, and the upcoming Matrix: Resurrections. Whilst I think this is generally the right way to go about revitalising beloved classics, it is a very tricky thing to do right, not only by the franchise but by simply producing an enjoyable film in its own right. Providing a modern day perspective on events of a classic can provide new generations of audiences (such as yours truly) with an appreciation for the by-gone ages of cinema. It is for these reasons I believe that Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a fan service film done right. It nails the nostalgia without pandering too much for the fans, and provides an entertaining new story for old and new generations of audiences. There are also some surprises along the way which I was not expecting, and are undoubtedly best experienced by watching the film first-hand.
G does Films 