Ghostbusters: Afterlife Repeats The First Sequel’s Dumbest Mistake

Ghostbusters: Afterlife has been a hit at the box office, yet it actually repeats the same mistake as the original sequel. Following on from the event’s of the 80’s classic, Egon’s estranged family and their offbeat friends take over the mantle from him and his old friends Peter, Winston and Ray. They move to the same small town where Egon spent his final years and find something ghoulish lurking there. Ghostbusters: Afterlife takes from its original predecessor the good humor, eccentricity and whole-heartedness, but it unfortunately also rehashed the original sequel’s dumbest mistake.

The success of the original Ghostbusters put it in line for a sequel, with Ghostbusters 2 being released in 1989. In the sequel, set five years later, the lovable band of Ghostbusters had sadly broken away from each other after their business had collapsed. It was revealed that they were sued by New York for damages, despite saving the city from the terrifying god Gozer, and were forced to close up shop for good. The Ghostbusters went their separate ways. Ray went on to own his own occult shop, and he and Winston worked for children’s parties on the side, dressing up in their original Ghostbusters gear. Peter took Dana’s comment from the original film concerning his acting like a talk show host seriously and proceeded to host a show about psychics, and Egon worked in a laboratory. So, in only five years, the entirety of New York had either forgotten, or chosen to dismiss as a hoax, a giant Stay Puft marshmallow man terrifying the city, accusing the Ghostbusters as nothing more than menacing fraudsters.

This same thing is true of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, as Egon returns to the screen yet he is originally dismissed as “the dirt farmer“, and Mr Grooberson is the only person who seems to have any prior memory of the Ghostbusters. Not only once, but twice, was there near irrefutable proof of ghosts and the supernatural, as well as huge attacks on New York, yet people barely remember them in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Egon’s exploits as a savior of New York are also forgotten about, and he’s not known as a Ghostbuster but only as “the dirt farmer“. Something as huge as the events that transpire in the original Ghostbusters films would surely be remembered.

Considering there already stands the original Ghostbusters films and the Ghostbusters 2016 reboot before Ghostbusters: Afterlife, it just seems incomprehensible that people either don’t remember or don’t know of these supernatural attacks by now. It could be explained away in Ghostbusters: Afterlife that Summerville is a fairly small town and the events happened over 30 years ago. Though, to counter this, Egon’s granddaughter Phoebe quite easily finds a video online of the original Ghostbusters advertisement, so their exploits were at least documented. Yet, despite this, there is no wider acceptance of the supernatural.

This repeated plotline of ghosts and the Ghostbusters being forgotten myths seems out of touch with all that has come before in the franchise. However, it does not infringe on the fact that Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a heartfelt homage to the original films and the late Harold Ramis, and a touching signifier of continuing the Ghostbusters franchise and passing on the torch to the next generation. Nevertheless, many fans will hope that the next generation will actually remember that giant marshmallow man.

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