Let's talk GHOSTS.

Ghostbusters Discussion Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016)
1

Is it just me, or are there seldom topics on these here forums devoted to the ghosts themselves?

My favorite aspect of Ghostbusters has always been its creature designs. Back when the first movie came out, the word “ghost” never brought to mind something as bizarre and monstrous as Slimer, and the cartoons, toy lines and comics just kept bending those rules. Ghostbusters pretty much redefined what a “spirit” could be like in pop culture, hearkening back to the more bizarre ghouls and specters of classical mythology.

So, ghost design was one of the things I knew I’d be most critical of in the new film…and while I loved the movie as a whole, this area WAS something of a mixed bag, and the one thing I wish had been done a bit differently.

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Case in point: even some of the “human” ghosts in the original two films had an exaggerated, cartoon-like look to them. Not only was this visually interesting, but I honestly always found it quite a bit scarier than just a floating, human corpse. It was as though a person’s ghost wasn’t just a direct representation of themselves, but a twisted caricature. A distorted reflection. Something losing its grip on its humanity…or maybe I’m overanalyzing.

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We also got some glimpses of completely weird monstrosities in the previous films, resembling no human or animal. I especially hoped we would get something like this in GB16.

Instead, a majority of ghosts in this film are simply human-proportioned, zombie-like ghouls. They’re colorful, which I do like (boy am I sick of grey and brown movie monsters).

Slimer is an exception of course, but only because he’s a series staple.

The Mayhem ghost at least showed us that this new setting can have nonhumanoid specters, but it was admittedly kind of a generic flying demon design.

What really felt like classic GB material were the parade floats. There were many more of them than just you-know-who-if-you’ve-seen-it, and they had wonderfully creepy, Burtonesque designs to them.

The stilt-walker or “uncle sam” ghost was another good one; he wasn’t just the ghost of a guy on stilts, but really had elongated, creepy anatomy.

Other ghosts have appeared only in the toys and merch, like the cockroach ghost and the split ghost. They looked amazing from the toys, and I was really hoping they were actually in the film. Perhaps they were scripted, or just designs that got scrapped? It’ll be amazing when conceptual art starts to leak.

Of course there’s also the final form taken by Rowan, and I did enjoy that quite a bit. What I REALLY found cool was when he initially takes the form of the logo ghost as a 2-d, Disneyesque cartoon. I kinda thought this was even creepier and would have loved to see more of it.

2

I’m glad someone made this because I wanted to discuss some of the physics behind the busting in this film.

[spoiler]We see them capture Mayhem like most of the original busts. However in the climax we see them blasting and tossing ghosts around and not using the traps. I’ve come up with an idea based on other ideas tossed around here.

Basically we see ghost bodies and other things strewn about after the fight, plus Mayhem gets chopped. I assume these methods did not “kill” the ghosts. The proton streams have always weakened spirits to capture them, so in this case they weakened them to the point of not being able to fight anymore. Mayhem likely will reform in time. But the whole point was to depower them to get to Rowan. The portal itself was reversed to become a big trap back to the spirit world anyway, so they weren’t out, nor did they have the means, to trap all the ghosts overrunning the city.[/spoiler]

3

The parade balloons were my favorite. I’m like Patty, I love Old New York, lol, and they looked exactly like the Macy’s parade balloons from the 20s and 30s. Except those were unintentionally scary, lol.

4

I didn’t understand why all of the ghosts were humanoid with blue glow. Everything had a blue glow, but left behind green slime? “Mayhem” was purple and Slimer was green of course, but the humanoids were all glowing blue. It was kind of a bland eye sore. I loved the ghosts from the originals because you knew they weren’t from this world and were horrifying.

5

Mayhem was purple!? Think I need to get my eyes checked. He seemed pretty green to me.

6

I hope in the future films they really try to focus on some cooler ghosts. I would LOVE to see a live action version of Samhain, Boogeyman, or Sandman.

7

I think the color depends on the class type. Humanoïde are blue, animals and otherworldy seem green. (The ghost rats are green as well).

Does not hold up for slimer perhaps, but was it ever explained if he is a demon or a human? I know he was a homage to Belushi, but that does not automatically mean he was meant to be human in his past life.

Regarding ghost rules:

In the new movie there are seems to be proof of full protonic reversal, like referenced in GB84 when Gozer disappears, and the book mentions ectoplasm gives mass to an entity, and without it it becomes harmless until it can grow it back.

Interesting stuff!

8

Feig in an interview with Wired confirmed that rumored gangster origin. So, was a human but became malformed later.

9

Interesting! Is it still considered canon though? Because if the GB ‘created’ slimer body, how did miss slimer form?

10

Mentioned in another thread but was surprised to discover when looking at vintage Macys Day photos that the parade ghosts were all based on actual floats + acts, here’s a few I found, there were a few more I found but I’d have to check the film again to see if they match

popped the images in spoiler tags just so the page views better when scrolling

Uncle Sam Ghost

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Balloon Ghosts

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11

Jesus, those are terrifying…

12

What happened to the flapper ghost party? Was hoping for a scene with them as depicted in the trailers! I feel like this movie could have had a few more scenes where there were random ghost sightings and scenarios of civilians being “pestered” by the dead.

13

I enjoyed the ghosts and often prefer more humanoid types, although I do like the odd creature here and there. The balloon ghosts were great, particularly when you saw the one in the procession disappear behind a building and then suddenly look back

That said, Id love some Terror Dogs in the next one, ultimately my fave ghost from the original :slight_smile:

14

On second viewing I think Slimer might have a bigger role in the 17 minutes Feig kept for the DVD release.

It feels like some bits are missing when he drives the car through the stall, and when he tries to jump the portal, but it could be me.

15

I love the fact that Slimer kind of saved the day with his failed portal jump lol

16

Personally, I’ve always liked the idea that ghosts are predominately human spirits, who then get warped by their negative aspects into slightly cartoony ghost versions of themselves (the Scoleri brothers are a perfect example of this). I really liked the brightly colored yet *human *ghosts largely on display in GB16, especially Gertrude and Sparky, who were explicitly called out with a historical reason to be anchored to where they manifested.

The ghosts being stark blue but all the ectoplasm being bright green bothered me on a nitpicky level. I did appreciate that in the wider “chaotic” shots the ghosts were more greenish/teal to reflect this.

17

I guess now you can enjoy more female Slimer. :mrgreen:

18

Exactly. We’ll see. Hopefully he’ll talk about it more in depth at some point.

Cool find! Did you find an exact year for these floats?

19

Can’t seem to pin down a date for all of them as some list them as 1920s others 30s. The “Nantucket Sea Serpent” however was definitely 1937 and has quite a cool history as it was created for a big publicity stunt by a curiosity shop owner. Found this article that’s worth a look as it reads like a discarded plot of an RGB episode!

http://mashable.com/2016/02/25/nantucket-sea-serpent/#wSgJ6DaREkqh

Wonder if history buff Patty originally had any lines about it?

also just for fun…here’s one I took of the Pillsbury Dough Boy channeling Mr Staypuft outside Danas Apt at the 2015 parade. I’ve always wondered if the image of the giant cute mascot floating through New York Upper West Side was the inspiration for the 84 Marshmallow Man scene. We know the doughboy was himself but would love to get the chance to ask Ivan or Dan at some point.

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20

Thanks for the link!

True, Patty would recognize them…Hmm.