Nostalgia is a very powerful thing…especially when the previous work is a movie called Ghostbusters. However, when a film leans too hard into nostalgia, it can be overtaken with homage and failing to put forward new ideas. That’s where Ghostbusters: Afterlife finds itself, with a lot of the film being based on the love of the original Ghostbusters instead of being a new story.
That’s the main issue with Afterlife. It places too much of its focus on nostalgia, instead of coming up with an original take on the franchise. Many sequences are clearly rehashes of the first film, and comes with no reason whatsoever as to why the same villain from the 1984 film is in this film.
While this may be interpreted as a love letter to the original, much like Force Awakens was to New Hope, or Matrix Resurrection appears to be to The Matrix, audiences are left to ask why they don’t just watch the first one again instead. The original is the only film in this series to receive praise, with the Ghostbusters 2 and 2016 reboot both being deeply hated.(I actually enjoyed Ghostbusters 2, but I’m the minority)
This film leans much more into the horror theme than comedy. Paul Rudd gives a few laughs here and there, and is the extent of the comedic relief, but that is it. The first film built itself on comedy with the horror being corralled by the humor. That is not the case here. Its void of the same type of humor or goofiness of the first or second.
Slimer does not appear in the movie whatsoever which was a surprise considering this films nostalgia gameplan. It has been noted that director Jason Reitman objected to how he became the series’ mascot. “Something happened to Slimer over the years that people started thinking of him as the dalmatian of the firehouse,” he told in an interview “The original Slimer was an angry dude and very scary.” Slimer is replaced by a new ghost called Muncher who is based on Slimer’s design. and is basically the same exact thing except he does not “slime” things, he eats things.. anything, anything at all. He looks like slimer, floats like Slimer, behaves like Slimer, so it’s very odd that given ALL the unexplained nostalgia, they went this route.
The stand out performances are Mckenna Grace who plays Phoebe, and Logan Kim, who plays Podcast. Phoebe is presented as an unique 12-year-old, with a love for science, but someone who finds it hard to show emotion. Podcast, on the other hand, is the exact opposite, with his love for podcasting and hip phrases taking front and centre. While they can get annoying, for the most part they are enjoyable characters.
Overall, this film leans too much into the nostalgia, to the point where it almost rolls out out the original cast in wheel chairs. They have noticeably aged. But they simply appear out of know where at a pivotal time which begs the question, “Was this scene added in post?”.
A final note is that the film gives a touching tribute to Harold Ramis, giving him a fitting end in a franchise he was pivotal to building, but he eerily never speaks. I get the reason behind it but it just seems odd that his ghosts can only nod and smile and shrug. I feel it was a fitting tribute to Ramis and I know great attention was given to this decision with his family being heavily involved overall in its creation. If they were happy I can be happy.
Overall I was confused and let down by the film. I was hoping for a new movie to love in the franchise but seemed to be given the first film in a shiny new package that simply didnt fit
3 out of 5