Notable director and all-round comic book nerd Kevin Smith took to Twitter recently to sing the praises of the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer, which was released earlier this week.
In the post, the Dogma and Jay & Silent Bob writer and director congratulated Jason Reitman (son of the original Ghostbusters director, Ivan Reitman) for filling him with a sense of nostalgia, saying how it reminded him of the original classic from when he was a child.
Bravo, @JasonReitman! I’m feeling a similar sense of discovery that I had as a kid when I saw the original #Ghostbusters! And Egon as the door is a huge homage to Harold Ramis! You’re doing the Lord’s work, Son! https://t.co/ovV2p9ZnSC
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) December 9, 2019
Despite Smith being very happy with the trailer, some naysayers have dubbed it a rip-off of Stranger Things. People began taking to social media soon after it debuted, immediately drawing comparisons between Afterlife and the hit Netflix show. The fact that they both star Finn Wolfhard (seriously, is that not the coolest surname ever?) may have something to do with it.
But this hasn’t deterred Kevin Smith from giving kudos to the trailer. Maybe to some it might not feel like a true Ghostbusters flick, but the sight of ECTO-1 (along with its trademark siren sound), the ghost trap and the green glow seen in the preview is certainly enough to make it feel like a callback to the original.
From what we saw in the footage, Ghostbusters: Afterlife takes place in a small town and follows the lives of three children (the trailer implies they may be the grandkids of Egon Spengler – a truly fitting tribute to the late Harold Ramis). Reitman has said he’ll be splicing in discarded footage from the previous films to build a stronger connection, too.
So far, it seems like the director certainly has a handle on things, but we’ll have to wait until July 2020 to see the result. At the very least, we’re pretty confident it’ll be a whole lot better than Paul Feig’s effort from 2016.
