Ghostbusters: Afterlife

 Year:  2021

Director:  Jason Reitman

Screenplay:  Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman, based on Ghostbusters written by Dan Ackroyd and Harold Ramis

Starring:  Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Logan Kim, Celeste O'Connor, Annie Potts, Ernie Hudson

Running Time:  124 minutes

Genre:  Fantasy, comedy

Single mother Callie (Coon) and her two children, teenager Trevor (Wolfhard) and precocious 12 year old Phoebe (Grace), inherit a lonely farmhouse from Callie's estranged father.  After being evicted from their Chicago apartment, the family move in to the house, which Phoebe quickly realises is haunted.  As she investigates she realises that her grandfather, who she never met, was a Ghostbuster.  Soon the nearby town and the area around it become plagued with strange supernatural activity  and Phoebe and Trevor dust off and repair their grandfather's old equipment and, along with some of their new friends, set out to do some ghostbusting of their own.

The 1984 film Ghostbusters remains one of the most beloved films of the 1980s.  A sequel, Ghostbusters II, was released in 1989, and a controversial remake of the first film was released in 2016.  Ghostbusters: Afterlife follows on from the first two films, and has no connection to the 2016 Ghostbusters.  Despite the trappings of the present day, there is a character called Podcast, people watch YouTube videos and use Google etc. this could almost be a 1980s kids movie.  And for the most part, the film seems to be heading in it's own direction, albeit one heavily influence by the films of the 1980s.  This is emphasised by the casting of Finn Wolfhard (star of 1980s-set science-fiction show Stranger Things (2016- ))in a lead role.  Towards the end however it settles into a heavily sentimentalised  retread of the end of Ghostbusters.  However, for all the film's flaws, it has a real charm to it.  Personally, I sat down to it not expecting much, but by the end it had won me over.  Similar to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), the film breathes life into the franchise with new characters and a new set-up, while still providing enough cameos and call-backs to the first film to satisfy anyone's nostalgia cravings.  Finn Wolfhard is good as the teenager trying to impress local girl Celeste O'Connor.  Logan Kim is funny as an aspiring podcaster, and Mckenna Grace is very good as the scientifically minded Phoebe.  Among the adults, Carrie Coon grounds the film as the struggling single mother, trying to deal with her long standing resentment of her father for abandoning the family, and Paul Rudd is funny as the nerdy geology teacher who shows the kids horror movies such as Cujo (1983) and Child's Play (1988) on VHS, and develops a crush on Callie.  Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman who produced and directed the first Ghostbusters, directs with obvious affection for the material, and there is a sweet tribute to the late Harold Ramis, who co-wrote and starred in the first two films.  The film is tonally uneven, some of the humour is a little too broad and silly, and, of course, it lacks Bill Murray, although he does appear in a cameo.  Another thing is that some of the fan service, and references to the earlier films are pretty heavy handed.  For the most part, however, it is a very enjoyable, light-hearted family adventure, which should appeal both to children and nostalgic adults.    It's no masterpiece, but it is a good piece of entertainment.

Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace and Logan Kim in Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Freaky

  Year of Release:  2020

Director:   Christopher Landon

Screenplay:  Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon

Starring:  Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran, Celeste O'Connor, Misha Osherovich,  Dana Drori, Alan Ruck

Running Time:  101 minutes

Genre:  Horror, comedy

The American town of Blissfield is targeted by a brutal serial killer known as "The Butcher" (Vaughn).  One night, the killer attacks bullied teenager Millie (Newton), and stabs her with a cursed dagger.  however, he is interrupted by the police before he can kill her.  The Butcher escapes, but the dagger's power causes them to swap bodies.  Millie finds herself in the body of a middle-aged male serial killer who happens to be the most wanted person in town.  The Butcher, however, is in the body of a high school girl.  Millie has just 24 hours to find the Butcher and stop the carnage, before the exchange becomes permanent.

Director Christopher Landon had previously made comedy-horror film Happy Death Day (2017) and it's sequel Happy Death Day 2U (2019) and this has a similar kind of high concept premise.  Despite being set in the present day, it hearkens back to the 1980s with those two great '80s subgenres the slasher film and the body-swap comedy.  The title is an obvious reference to one of the definitive body-swap books Freaky Friday (1972) which has itself been filmed several times.  Vince Vaughn is hilarious as the serial killer turned teenage girl, and it is funny seeing him channel the mannerisms of a teenager.  Kathryn Newton is engaging as Millie, but manages to be genuinely chilling and effective as the cold-blooded dead eyes killer, who of course is able to wreck so much carnage because who would suspect her?  The film opens as a traditional slasher, where four obnoxious teenagers are gruesomely and amusingly offed by the killer, but it really improves as it goes along and ultimately is a hugely funny look back at the high school slasher film and body swap comedy, and it manages to mix nostalgia with a real contemporary feel.  Celeste O'Connor and Misha Osherovich play Millie's friends, and there is real chemistry between the trio, even when Millie is being played by Vince Vaughn.  There is also some emotion, with Katie Finneran as Millies' alcoholic mother, who is still consumed by the death of Millie's father a year previously, and dana Droir plays Millie's caring but brutal police officer sister who is increasingly estranged from their mother.  The killings are satisfactorily gory (the scenes where Alan Ruck's bullying teacher gets what's coming to him is deeply satisfying), the jokes are funny, and the whole thing is a really entertaining experience.  It's the kind of film that you put on late on a Friday or Saturday night and you're going to be entertained.

Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton in Freaky