Ghostbusters: Afterlife finally hit theaters this week and, sadly, reception has been mixed. After the dreadful 2016 reboot, fans had been hoping for a true continuation of the original story. The film delivered on that, albeit a bit too successfully. Critics have described the strip-mining of the original movie’s iconography, dialogue, and props as overly worshipful, saying that it relies far too much on nostalgia rather than telling its own story.
However, if you’re a die-hard Ghostbusters fan, this stuff is probably catnip to you — especially the excellent credits scenes and what they mean for the future of the franchise.
Spoilers follow.
The mid-credits scene reunites Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman and Sigourney Weaver’s Dana Barrett for a touching recreation of one of the first movie’s key scenes. The pair recreate the ESP card parapsychology test, with Dana realizing that Peter was cheating all along. The scenes in the 1984 movie play a little differently to modern eyes, so it’s nice that Afterlife also allows Peter to apologize for the way he treated his female subjects.
But the big sequel hook comes in the post-credits scene. Here, Winston returns ECTO-1 to the iconic Manhattan firehouse that served as the Ghostbusters base in the first movies (and is now a real-life NY tourist destination). It’s abandoned and dusty, though there’s still a spark of life in the old place, especially given that the containment unit is ominously flashing red.
The firehouse scene is a bit of a headscratcher though, particularly as Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz said earlier in the movie it was now a Starbucks. But, judging by this, he was obviously mistaken. So, who’s up for an Afterlife sequel moving back into the firehouse and taking the supernatural action back to New York City?
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is in theaters now.
