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GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE

Egon but not forgotten

The gang spot Richard Osman on the horizon.

COURTESY ALAMY

RELEASED 31 JANUARY (download out now) 2021 | 12 | Blu-ray (4K/standard)/DVD/ download

►Director Jason Reitman

►Cast Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace

→Nearly four decades after Messrs Spengler, Stantz, Venkman and Zeddemore first strapped on their proton packs, bustin’ still has the capacity to make us feel good. Invoking the same spirit as The Force Awakens, Afterlife is precision-engineered for nostalgia. But it’s also a smart reinvention of the franchise, borrowing as much from The Goonies and Stranger Things as from the original film.

As well as bringing something strange to another neighbourhood (small-town America takes over from NYC), this sequel shifts the focus from entrepreneurial academics to kids discovering ghosts for the first time. As the grandchildren of Egon Spengler, however, they’re no ordinary adolescents, and the mystery of the OG Ghostbuster’s relocation to Nowheresville, Oklahoma provides a clever throughline back to the mythology of the 1984 movie.

Director Jason Reitman – son of original shot-caller Ivan – walks a tricky tightrope between adventures on the spirit plane and giving grown-ups warm-andfuzzies with memories of their youth. The non-stop barrage of references ranges from the obvious (tiny marshmallow men) to the obscure (Egon’s collection of spores, moulds and fungus), but Reitman Jr uses them wisely, unleashing in-jokes alongside iconic sound effects and ghouls with a pleasing retro charm.

And while there’s no denying that the spooky threat is, at times, over-familiar, replacing the original’s snarky sense of humour with a wider-eyed innocence keeps things fresh. A joyous love letter to an ’80s classic.

+ Extras Fans should prioritise “We Got One!” (eight minutes) – its tour through Afterlife’s Easter eggs isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a good opportunity to catch the nods to Ghostbusters history you missed. We particularly enjoyed the cameo by Bug-Eye from the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters.

Beyond that, the featurettes cover an impressive amount of ground, albeit in a slightly rushed, shallow and back-slapping way. “Summoning The Spirit” (19 minutes, and the only extra on the DVD) gives a decent overview of the production, but there’s more fun to be had in shorter docs on recreating the Ecto-1 (five minutes), ghost-hunting gadgets (six minutes) and the spooks themselves (six minutes). (Spoilers ahead!) There’s not nearly enough on the movie’s flawless CG resurrection of late Ghostbusters star Harold Ramis, though.

“Precisionengineered for nostalgia, but it’s also a smart reinvention„

While Jason Reitman and the new cast make numerous appearances throughout the extras – particularly in “A Look Ahead” (four minutes) – franchise veterans Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Ivan Reitman are the star attraction. Their anecdotes about shooting the first two movies make “Ghostbusters: A Look Back” a highlight of the disc, but the brief 10-minute running time suggests that some killer stories may have been left on the cutting room floor. The biggest omission, however, is the disc’s failure to acknowledge the existence of the 2016 reboot; it feels like a major part of Ghostbusters lore has been written out of history.

Richard Edwards

iAlso out: a three-film set with new extras on the ’80s films, such as a Ghostbusters work print and Dana audition tapes.

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

London Calling

►RELEASED 31 JANUARY (download out now) 2021 | 18 | Blu-ray (4K/standard)/DVD/ download

►Director Edgar Wright

►Cast Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg

→ Continuing his tour of film genres, Edgar Wright arrives at psychological thriller with a dash of horror. This story of fashion student Eloise Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) discovering the darkness at the heart of her obsession with ’60s Soho and the tragic past of similar wannabe Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) blends his trademark stylish camera work and attention to detail with a dread-inducing tale that keeps you guessing.

He’s helped by visual panache courtesy of cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung and slick snipping by regular editor Paul Machliss. Yet it’s composer Steven Price who really shines, layering in vocal tracks and Mellotrons for an unnerving score.

On the performance front, Thomasin McKenzie draws the focus in the modern-day sequences with a committed portrayal of a young woman slowly unravelling, while Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp bring world-weary, we-were-there energy in support of her tale. Back in the past, meanwhile, Anya Taylor-Joy has movie star shine and emotional depth, while Matt Smith offers scummy charm.

As the terror level ramps up, the final act doesn’t quite keep the plot threading tight, yet it still works as a complete tapestry. It’s one step beyond for Wright, a director who had already shown off impressive filmmaking chops in the past.

“Don’t look, I haven’t got me face on yet!”

+Extras Five featurettes – “Meet Eloise” (10 minutes), “Dreaming Of Sandie” (nine minutes), “Smoke And Mirrors” (13 minutes), “On The Streets Of Soho” (nine minutes) and “Time Travelling” (11 minutes) – discuss various elements and boast some interesting tidbits (top marks for how the sequences showing Eloise as Sandie’s mirror reflection were pulled off ). Nine minutes of deleted scenes range from longer versions of existing moments to footage that clearly deserved to be chopped so as not to telegraph narrative points. Animatics and various costume/VFX tests are more for completists/film students, though there are some fun facts to be found regarding how the sinister shadow figures were realised.