Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
Film and Plot Synopsis
Thirty-two years after the events in Ghostbusters II, ghostbusting has fallen out of fashion and the Ghostbusters are no longer needed. That is until Egon Spengler is killed fighting some mysterious apparitions in the small town of Summerville, Oklahoma. Egon’s adult daughter and her two children soon arrive to settle his estate and find themselves entwined with mysterious, spiritual forces. Now, it is up to the next generation of Ghostbusters to fight off an old threat hellbent on taking over the world. But if they can’t handle it, who are they going to call?
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Movie Summary
In 2021, Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) has adopted a hermit lifestyle away from his family and friends and now lives in Summerville, Oklahoma. As the film opens, Egon has captured a spirit in a ghost trap from one of occultist Ivo Shandor’s mines outside of Summerville. Egon uses the spirit to lure another spiritual creature back to his farm where Egon has created an elaborate trap for the creature. However, the underground trap fails, so Egon hides the ghost trap inside his house before he is attacked by the mysterious creature and dies from a heart attack.
A few weeks later, Egon’s estranged daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) inherits Egon’s dilapidated farm and house. Financially strapped, Callie is disappointed that her father’s land will not help her financially and that she is now encumbered with even more debt. Nevertheless, she and her two children, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), move into the farmhouse after they are evicted from their Chicago apartment. Callie and Trevor are eager to leave Summerville, but socially awkward Phoebe enrolls in a summer science class taught by seismologist Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd). At the same time, Trevor becomes infatuated with fellow student and occasional carhop Lucky Domingo (Celeste O’Connor).
Phoebe begins exploring the farm and suspects that the farmhouse is haunted after she begins seeing items moved around the house. The ghost leads her to the ghost trap hidden in the floor. Phoebe takes the trap to school and shows it to her friend Podcast (Logan Kim) and Grooberson. Grooberson is a fan of the Ghostbusters and immediately recognizes the trap, although he is still shocked to learn that it is real. Phoebe, Podcast, and Grooberson begin messing with the trap and accidentally release the spirit inside, one of Gozer the Gozerian’s sentinel dogs. The spirit flees and returns to a nearby abandoned mine.
Not long after, Phoebe is lead to Egon’s underground laboratory by the mysterious farm ghost. Phoebe realizes the farm ghost is the spirit of her grandfather. Phoebe begins making repairs to the Ghostbusters’ equipment that she finds in the lab with the help of her grandfather’s spirit. At the same time, Trevor begins repairing the engine of the Ecto-1 which was gathering dust in the barn. A brief time later, Phoebe and Podcast take a restored proton pack to test it near an abandoned foundry. The duo encounters a metal eating ghost in the foundry that they name Muncher (Josh Gad) and attempt to capture it using the proton pack. The duo, joined by Trevor and the Ecto-1, chase the ghost into town. The kids cause damage throughout the town but ultimately capture the ghost. However, they are arrested by Sheriff Sherman Domingo (Bokeem Woodbine), Lucky’s father, who seizes all their equipment.
Using her one jail phone call, Phoebe calls the Ghostbusters’ phone number in New York. She reaches Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) who is once again working in the occult bookstore. Ray informs Phoebe of what became of the Ghostbusters following their last mission and how they ultimately disbanded. Ray tells Phoebe that Egon took all the Ghostbusters’ equipment and moved to Summerville to stop an unspecified threat. Ray expresses his anger over the entire affair, and Phoebe informs Ray that Egon has died. A short time later, Callie cuts her date short with Grooberson to free her children from jail. Phoebe becomes frustrated that no one believes her that there is a threat to the town. Once back at home, Callie is lead to the underground lab by the ghost who shows her a wall of detailed notes and pictures that Egon kept of his daughter’s life. Callie realizes that her father cared more about her than she thought after believing her whole life that Egon abandoned her and her mother.
Meanwhile, Phoebe and Trevor sneak out of their house and meet up with Podcast and Lucky. The kids enter the abandoned mine and find a Gozerian temple inside. Inside the temple, the kids discover a casket that contains the still alive body of Ivo Shandor (J.K. Simmons) and a series of automated proton cannons installed by Egon that prevent Gozer from crossing over into their world. The kids flee the mine to warn the adults. At the same time, the dog spirits of Zuul and Vinz Clortho possess the human bodies of Callie and Grooberson. Zuul and Vinz destroy Egon’s automated proton cannons which allows Gozer (Olivia Wilde) to crossover to Earth. Shandor awakes and pledges his loyalty to Gozer, but she kills him anyways.
Hey, remember that summer, when we all died under a table? Trevor Spengler (Finn Wolfhard)
Back at the farmhouse, the children discover that Egon setup a ghost trap field around his former home. While the town is distracted by the out-of-control ghosts, the kids break into Sheriff Domingo’s impound and recover their seized equipment. Lucky returns to the farmhouse to activate the trap while Trevor, Phoebe, and Podcast take Ecto-1 back to the mine. Once there, Phoebe distracts Gozer so Podcast can capture Zuul in a ghost trap. The process frees Callie from supernatural control and weakens Gozer. The trio of kids and their mother race back to the farmhouse pursued by Vinz and Gozer.
Once back at the farmhouse, the kids lure Gozer into the middle of the trap field. However, the field malfunctions and Gozer frees Zuul from the ghost trap. Zuul possesses Lucky, and Gozer returns to her full power. Suddenly, Ray, Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), and Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) arrive at the farm armed with their proton packs. Gozer ignores Ray’s orders to leave their dimensional plane and seeks her revenge against the men who stopped her conquest of the Earth in 1984. Gozer appears to get the upper hand on the elder Ghostbusters, but Phoebe intervenes using her grandfather’s proton pack to fight Gozer. The original Ghostbusters join her with their proton packs, and the ghost of Egon appears along the side of his granddaughter to join his friends in crossing the streams. The Ghostbusters force Gozer back into the heart of the trap field. Trevor repowers the traps and Callie activates the field, capturing Gozer and all her minions. In the aftermath, Egon silently reconciles with Callie, Phoebe, and his Ghostbuster friends before disappearing into the afterlife forever.
In a mid-credits scene, Peter is seen participating in the same psychic/electro-shock experiment that he was administering to students in the first film. However, this time the test is being administered by Peter’s wife, Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), on Peter himself.
In a post-credits scene, Winston, who is now a wealthy businessman, is visited the Ghostbusters’ former secretary Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts). Winston tells Janine that despite his success in business, he will always be a Ghostbuster. He is later shown returning the Ecto-1 to the Ghostbusters’ old firehouse. The camera pans to the basement of the firehouse and shows the light on Egon’s ecto-containment unit flashing red, implying that new challenges may await the Ghostbusters in the future.
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Sony Pictures Releasing released Ghostbusters: Afterlife on November 19, 2021. Jason Reitman directed the film starring Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, and Finn Wolfhard.