Susan Granger’s review of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” (Columbia Pictures/Sony)
If you chose not to risk Omicron by going to the theater, now you can stream “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” as a new generation battles the spirit world.
Directed by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman who directed the first two 1980s movies, it’s a continuation of the story from “Ghostbusters” and “Ghostbusters II,” including original cast members, including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver.
This time the franchise focus is on teenage Trevor (Finn Wolfhard of “Stranger Things”) and his younger, science-loving sister Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) who have moved with their single mom (Carrie Coon) to a spooky farm in Summerville, Oklahoma, that was owned by their eccentric, gadget-wielding grandfather, Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis).
When Trevor geta a job at the local drive-in burger joint and develops a crush on Lucky (Celeste O’Connor), Phoebe enrolls in a summer school course taught by amateur seismologist Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd). There, she befriends Podcast (Logan Kim), so-named because he documents every moment of his life.
And when their goofball adventures – capturing demonic Muncher after razing the nearby town – result in them winding up in jail, Phoebe requests to make one phone call, reaching out to Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) at Ray’s Occult Books.
Once again, the young protagonists must face the forces of the ageless demonic deity known as Gozer (embodied by Olivia Wilde), along with the Gate Keeper and Key Master.
As co-writer with Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman inserts several nostalgic nods to his dad – like having the town’s movie theater playing “Cannibal Girls,” the first independent horror picture his dad Ivan ever directed.
Reitman reinstates Ray Parker Jr.’s iconic theme song, and the VFX department has duly recreated Terror Dogs and the minion-like Mini-Pufts, referencing the original Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, along with metal-gobbling Muncher, replacing Slimer.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is a blandly familiar 5, ghoulishly streaming on Amazon Prime, Vudu and YouTube.
