Review | Ghostbusters: Afterlife movie review – Jason Reitman breathes new life into supernatural comedy series with family-friendly sequel
- All the familiar gear – ghost traps, proton packs and even a white ’59 Cadillac – is to be found in Jason Reitman’s film, though the action has moved to Oklahoma
- The ghosts and characters are familiar too, and the special effects are thrilling – it’s only the sentimental ending that’s off in this joyous, nostalgic romp
4/5 stars
“There hasn’t been a ghost sighting in 30 years,” says Paul Rudd’s summer-school teacher Gary Grooberson early on in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Fear not, for there soon will be in Jason Reitman’s affectionate return to the series.
The film travels not to New York, where ghosts once ran amok, but Summerville, a dead-end town in Oklahoma where Callie (Carrie Coon) and her children, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), arrive to take over the house owned by her late, estranged father.
The recently deceased owner of the property was Egon Spengler, one of the original spectre-trapping “ghostbusters”, who subsequently split from his old partners and began raving about the apocalypse.
Around his farmstead is all the familiar gear – ghost traps, proton packs and even the white ’59 Cadillac they used to ride around town in. Before long, geeky Phoebe, along with her new nerd friend Podcast (Logan Kim) and even the enthusiastic Grooberson are toying with all this ectoplasmic equipment.
It transpires this Oklahoma town is the epicentre of new paranormal activity, including a metal-munching ghost that makes the green hotdog-quaffing ghoul in the original movie look positively restrained.