Is ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ scary?

The Ghostbusters franchise has never been completely free of scary moments, but the trailer for the new ice-cold installment Frozen Empire has parents worried about whether it’s safe to bring their kids to a screening of the blast-from-the-past reboot.

Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, and Celeste O’Connor return for this sequel to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which sees the Spengler family join the original squad of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts at the iconic New York City firehouse to protect the world from a second Ice Age brought on by a haunted ancient artifact. The big bad Garraka has the power to freeze its opponents to death, which Aykroyd’s Dr. Ray Stantz aptly and creepily nicknames the “Death Chill.” That definitely did not just send a chill down our own spines.

How scary is the new Ghostbusters movie?

There is good news and bad news. Let’s start with the bad first (well, “bad” depending only on how big of a horror fan you are, that is). According to Frozen Empire director Gil Kenan, the new entry into the Ghostbusters canon leans heavier into horror than any of its predecessors. Speaking to Rue Morgue, Kenan agreed that the film is the scariest in the franchise and that he took the opportunity to tap into and flesh out the scarier elements that have always been present in Ghostbusters movies.

Stars Patton Oswalt and Kumail Nanjiani also warn fans that the “scary stuff is genuinely scary” this time around. Garraka, of course, will be the main source of spookiness in Frozen Empire, with the character design and CGI already looking mighty promising and eerily creepy in the trailers and teasers made available so far.

The good news is that comedy is still a major part of the movie, just like it has always been since the first film in 1984. Kenan has already proved he can join the worlds of family-friendly laughs and spine-chilling scares in his 2006 animated ghost story Monster House, and as he himself has pointed out, the essence of Frozen Empire’s brand of scary is entirely borrowed from its 80s precursors. Scenes like the librarian ghost in the first film or the decapitated heads in the second should prepare audiences for what’s to come in the ‘busters’ fourth outing.

“A lot of it involved tapping into the inherent potential of Ghostbusters to genuinely scare an audience. I don’t know what your experience was with the first film in 1984, but I think people went in with an expectation based on it starring four of the most well-known comedians, and right away, that movie shows you it’s not goofing around, with the library ghost. So there was already that DNA in the film series, but we felt we had an opportunity with Frozen Empire to lean into the suspense and the horror a bit more. I’m really proud of this being a scary Ghostbusters film that’s also funny.”

The choice to make Frozen Empire significantly scarier than the Jason Reitman-directed Afterlife came from Kenan’s genuine adoration for the original films which he felt respected its audiences enough to know they could handle “the dark side of the universe.” That’s why stepping into the director chair after co-writing the 2021 film was such a great opportunity for Kenan to express his kid-friendly vision for fantasy horror. “I’m proud of the ability to tell a story that I believe in my bones is entertaining for an entire audience, but that can actually scare you.”

With that said, it’s worth keeping in mind that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is rated PG-13 for supernatural action/violence, language, and suggestive references. Still, it does sound like Kenan and everyone involved were not trying to alienate young audiences, but rather present them with material that pushes the boundaries of the type of family-friendly entertainment that’s defined the last decade, just like the original films did 40 years ago.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is in theaters starting March 22, 2024.