The second trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife arrived this week—it’s been well over year since the first (which we also did a breakdown on [link below])…This second course hit the palate like a shot of thirty-five-year-old whiskey you bought at an occult shop. It’s become clear that Jason Reitman, son of Ivan, looks to pay homage to the franchise his father started while bringing proton packs to the generation obsessed with Stranger Things.
This new trailer shows Egon Spengler’s (Harold Ramis) grandchildren deal with some familiar faces, deep lore, and probably, maybe, potentially, a less-likable Paul Rudd. If you’re wondering who to call, this trailer may not have been for you. Here are our 11 takeaways from the epic new Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer.
Cover Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment
The First One: 12 Things We Didn’t Expect to See in the ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Trailer
RANKED: Our 13 Favorite Spooky Movies in Anticipation of ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’
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Ghostbusters Afterlife
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Goodbye New York
The Ghostbusters franchise has been synonymous with New York City, the first shot of the trailer establishes one very important thing: no longer. Pack your bags Spenglers because we’re visiting the American West. Farmland, oil fields, and town’s named after seasons, oh my.
Single mother of two, Callie (Carrie Coon) is the daughter of Egon Spengler. After presumably losing everything, the family moves to Summerville to live in a farmhouse left to Callie by her father. That said, Egon is dead and appears to left all sorts of Ghostbusting stuff in Oklahoma.
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They Have Chips, She Has Family.
Taking a cue from F9: The Fast Saga, Afterlife is all about family and nerdy outsider, Phoebe (Grace McKenna) and her Spengler-esque look are here to prove it. Clearly, Egon didn’t pass down his Ghostbusting knowledge as Phoebe stumbles his equipment, ghost trap, and PKE meter. What kid doesn’t want to find a puzzle in their house?
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Nostalgia Overload
At one point in the trailer, we’re shown a black and white photo of the original Ghostbusters: Egon, Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) standing in front of that old firehouse. Afterlife not only looks to dive into the aftermath (or afterlife) of the first two films. Even though the gang saved the world from a giant marshmallow god in Ghostbusters 2, the world appears to have been neuralyzed. Eye-witnesses aside, the Ghostbusters are considered frauds. The trailer makes this abundantly clear when Afterlife’s characters watch YouTube videos/old Ghostbusters commercials with only thousands of views, hundreds of likes, and with a related videos side-bar filled with conspiracy videos.
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The Return Of Janine Melnitz
Annie Potts returns as Janine, the Ghostbusters’ OG secretary. She and her specs handled Egon’s affairs as she’s the one informing Callie of her inheritance in the trailer. Despite Janine being historically into Egon, she’s definitely not Callie’s mother in this scene. Hopefully, this isn’t just a cameo and we get to find out much more about Janine in the film? Did she marry Rick Moranis after Ghostbusters II? Or did his inability to take a punch unravel their relationship?
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Paul Rudd, Villain?
Callie confides in Rudd’s school teacher, Mr. Grooberson, at the being of the trailer. Who wouldn’t? Later in the trailer, Grooberson talks about how Summerville has been experiencing earthquakes despite not sitting on any fault lines. According to the internet, Grooberson is a seismologist investigating the phenomenon who took a teaching job to facilitate his research. He’s clearly a fan of the Ghostbusters...and probably a Gozer fanatic who’s going to make some really dumb decisions.
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Gozer
The original Afterlife trailer already showed off a mine owned by Shandor Mining Co. Ivo Shandor lead a cult that worshipped Gozer, the Sumerian shape-shifting god of destruction, in the first film. In this new trailer. Phoebe, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), and their friends head down into the mine and find an underground temple. Cue ominous clouds and familiar lighting strikes. In the temple, Phoebe looks into a hole emitting an orange glow. Phoebe then says “something’s coming” and we get a brief look at Gozer’s form. So, looks like Egon moved to Summerville to try and stop Shandor from opening the same can of worms that was opened in 1984.
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Stay Puft Men Are Even More Terrifying
Arguably the most terrifying part of the trailer involves the return of Stay Puft—the host for Gozer in the original film. After all hell breaks loose, Mr. Grooberson (Rudd) sees a bunch of Mini-Pufts turning each other into s’mores in Walmart.
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Demon Dogs
The face of the above spirit is that of a Demon Dog, a loyal companion of Gozer. Following a glimpse at this new take on the creature, we see Grooberson being chased from Walmart by the more classic take. Afterlife: pro Walmart or anti?
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The Walking Dead
Since the gang’s getting back together might as well throw in a zombie. In the original film, a zombie taxi driver appeared New York City. Here, a deteriorated miner gets himself a cup of Joe.
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Not Slimer, Muncher.
Wolfhard’s Trevor fixes up Ecto-1 early on in the trailer and, by the end, we see him and Phoebe well, Ghostbusting. The hearse has gotten multiple upgrades by Egon over the years, including a little Star Wars-esque repair droid turned ghost catcher. The kids are shown chasing “Muncher” a ghost presumably of the same species as Slimer from the first movie.
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We're Closed.
The end of the trailer sees our heroes watching one of those old Ghostbusters commercials advertising a phone number. Cut to a ringing phone at “Occult Books.” Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) not so famously owned a book shop called Ray’s Occult back in the day. We don’t get to see Ray’s face but we do see a bible verse tattooed on his forearm (a reference to a discussion he and Winston have in the first film) and hear him answer the phone by saying, “we’re closed.” Of course, the way to get the actual Ghostbusters in Afterlife would be to call them.
