Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

[Brian G Turner]

I think I would like to watch this - surely it can't be all that bad if they're bringing back the original cast?

 

[CupofJoe]

I liked Afterlife. It wasn't perfect but better than other films in the franchise. I hope this carries on.
I think Film Execs have learnt [if only a little and in a hard way] that they have to satisfy the core fanbase as well as bringing in new characters and new fans.
Cameo appearances by the old guard won't cut it any more. We The fans want Peter, Ray and Winston back in the jumpsuits!
And I've just read that James Acaster is in the film...

 

[paranoid marvin]

Honestly? I was happy with thevone movie. The second wss good and didn't disappoint, and in some ways was better than the original.

But we didn't need a third, or fourth, or more.

 

[BAYLOR]

Honestly? I was happy with thevone movie. The second wss good and didn't disappoint, and in some ways was better than the original.

But we didn't need a third, or fourth, or more.

I did like the two animated tv seres The Real GhostBusters and GhostBusters Extreme.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I think what could work (or at least would interest me) would be a movie (or even tv series) about the Ghostbusters before the events of the first movie.

They're obviously all friends, and interested in the paranormal, so we could have some funny, interesting stories about how they first met, or the hijinks they got up to before they became Ghostbusters.

Obviously it would require the use of younger actors to reprise their roles (I don't think that even the best de-aging CGI would work here) but it could be fun for the original actors to come back as their fathers, uncles and/or grandfathers.

 

[ctg]

surely it can't be all that bad if they're bringing back the original cast?

The original cast said they are there for a reason, and they want to see this 'series' succeed as the continuation for the first two movies.

 

[BAYLOR]

This film looks a whole lot darker than the prior films.

 

[ctg]

This film looks a whole lot darker than the prior films.

It was the same in the last one as well. Dark and brooding, but there was some light-hearted comedy, just like in this one.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Which is a shame, because what made the first two movies great was the comedy, not the ghosts.

 

[ctg]

Which is a shame, because what made the first two movies great was the comedy, not the ghosts.

Is that how you feel about Stranger Things?

 

[paranoid marvin]

Is that how you feel about Stranger Things?

I've only evercwatched the first couple of episodes, but it's on my list.

In my opinion the success of GB 1 and 2 weren't spookiness or the ghosts, it was the humour. They could gave been pursuing giant insects, it would still have bern funny. Dark and brooding they definitely weren't, which makes it kind of odd that that is the route they are now pursuing with Afterlife and number 4.

 

[ctg]

I've only evercwatched the first couple of episodes, but it's on my list.

In my opinion the success of GB 1 and 2 weren't spookiness or the ghosts, it was the humour. They could gave been pursuing giant insects, it would still have bern funny. Dark and brooding they definitely weren't, which makes it kind of odd that that is the route they are now pursuing with Afterlife and number 4.

Did you watched the ones were they went overly comical, including one with girls and Chris Hemsworth?

 

[paranoid marvin]

Did you watched the ones were they went overly comical, including one with girls and Chris Hemsworth?

No, but it's in my list of things to watch.

One of the reasons I stopped after only watching a bit was that it seemed to he trying too hard to say 'this is the 80s!'.

I don't know what it was like for a kid growing up in the USA in the 80s, but in the UK a lot of the 80s was still like living in the 70s, mainly because we didn't have yhe cash to buy all that cool 80s gear.

 

[ctg]

No, but it's in my list of things to watch.

One of the reasons I stopped after only watching a bit was that it seemed to he trying too hard to say 'this is the 80s!'.

I don't know what it was like for a kid growing up in the USA in the 80s, but in the UK a lot of the 80s was still like living in the 70s, mainly because we didn't have yhe cash to buy all that cool 80s gear.

Well, the last movie, the first film in this series, it wasn't in my mind going back to 80s but utilizing the whole concept and include some young cast. Maybe the idea is to take it forward another 3 to 4 decades and have a quality ghostbusting movies.

 

[BAYLOR]

Well, the last movie, the first film in this series, it wasn't in my mind going back to 80s but utilizing the whole concept and include some young cast. Maybe the idea is to take it forward another 3 to 4 decades and have a quality ghostbusting movies.

Frozen Empire, hm, I wonder how long it has t be in the microwave to thaw .

 

[ctg]

You can now find Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire in the web. At the moment it's in the Amazon Prime platform, but you can be assured that it's making the rounds, and soon it will appear on the other ones too. To be honest, I wanted to go to see in the cinema but as always doing it alone didn't appeal to me as I knew that it would make it to the interwebs soon enough.

Maybe the wait was needed, because the beginning of this one isn't the strongest possible. It most certainly don't compare to the original and it's certainly not as good as the last one, but as the film goes along it gets better. The most noticeable thing in the beginning is the lack of skill in the young actors, which gets expanded as the story progresses, and it gets best when the old ones interact with the young cast.

Now that's out of the way, the story is interesting, so in my mind there's no question in my mind for why the old guys approved this production to be to include all living members of the original movie. The whole thing begins straight at that New Yorks main location at the former firestation, that has now been converted to a family home. It is the biggest change, but also understandable because they got the whole cast together under the same roof. One thing that has been consistent throughout the series is that Slimer has moved in there too, and you can find him living in the attic, looking more grotesque than before.

The thing that bugs me in the beginning is the lack of writing, because to me it feels as if they edited stuff out, and the film is considerably longer or than something was cocked up as the opening is super strong, and mostly mysterious. But that is because the GhostBusters most certainly live in the Alt Universe, where the Old Gods are the real thing and so are the paranormal things, from demons to forgotten ghosts. They also expand the lore by making one of them being part of the cast.

Her name is Melody, and she died on a house fire, which is why you see ethereal flames licking all over her form. She is wickedly smart to rival Phoebe Springler in the role, and she also explains to her that life is possible in the astral form. Although Melody doesn't go in the details, leaving it to the audience to deduce the cool bits, because it all kind of explains why their world is full of ghostly figures doing nasty thing. You just have to believe that their world is more alive than ours, and it incorporates the immaterial forms. Some that becomes material when the Old Gods materialize into their universe.

The question is if the souls can live in immaterial forms, then are the other things like for example werewolves and fairies or even trolls (living under the bridge) real too?

You see your mind starts to bubble, because you're not just entertained through ghostly comedy that sometimes crosses to dark comedy in places, but you're presented a universe that is comparable to the BuffyVerse. Just unlike in the Buffy in GhostbusterVerse the immaterial people are more front and centre than the other things. At least in theory, because we don't have strong evidence from the other beings.

It also a way for the writers to open up things through mythology as their toolbox is expanded. Ghostbusters after all is a franchise, as it is a series of movies that has for a long time struggled to capture what it really is because it never got the opportunity like Buffy. It only has films and an animated series that run its length under Cartoon Network. And a short run on comics under the old school Marvel in the late eighties.

But the strongest piece of evidence of the other beings is the relic.

You see it in the hands of an 'ancient ghostbuster.' The relic itself is equivalent to the capture traps that the gang use to hold immaterial beings on their way to the storage unit. One that has been in operation since the eighties, and nobody has bothered to think about what's going to happen when it reaches its limit. And that is also one of the funnies lines that gets repeated as an explanation for why things are happening, when the old 'tank' cannot hold it any more.

The problem is the relic, because Springlers storage unit sounded pretty scify, and it still does in the modern day. But in the reality its nearing the end of its life, hence the Ghostbuster patron Winston has devised a plan with his 'people' to upgrade it to a better one. That is also larger than the old unit in the fire house. Not only that, but he has also financed the whole paranormal research team to capture and store spirits. Ones that are snatched from the possessed items through technological means.

I don't have to explain on how shaky ground that of the science is, but it is also kind of funny that it's a fringe science that the cast acknowledges in their roles. Dr Venkman after all is still doing rounds on the psychosocial testing after all these years, and it's not every so often when he comes across a specimen that posses 'abilities.' Yet, it happens, just like the relic ends up being the thing that broke the machine, because it is holding inside it an immense power in the form of an old god.

You see where I'm leading you? In the last film, the big baddie was captured by a secret society that made the prison inside the mountain, and it happened to be that the leader of that cult was the same architect that made the 'original temple' at top of the Empire State building in Manhattan. In the second film, the possessed spirit lived inside a painted canvas. But the fact is that the bread crump trail all connects up and especially in this case, the carvings also hint about the mythological beings being reality in the GhostBusterVerse.

So it is no wonder why the old cast gave their blessings for the film, and they all got involved in the Frozen Empire. They want the franchise to live and have more life in the future now that they've found a way to make sense in this world. It's just it takes them about half of the time to get there, and the film runtime is only 1 hour and 55 minutes.

If you read the watcher reviews, the people struggle with the film because of the bad writing or then the editing department cocked things up in their final release version. They also feel the pain in the acting as the young ones pale in comparison what the old school actor like Dan Ackroyd, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murrey, John Rothman and heck even William Atheron in his role as the NY's Mayor Walter Peck bring to the table.

It's just unlike in Netflix's Stranger Days, the young cast just isn't good enough to elevate the film to 9's during the course, hence the IMDB score is standing under 7. But I'd like to give it a solid 8 because the latter half of the movie is much better than the beginning. You even get moments like this...

Boo! And...

While the beginning made me to cringe, the ending made to giggle most of the time. So, if you have a chance, check it out when you are relaxed, because this is a feel good one cult classic that didn't warm up the original film audience.