#ghost heads

For the longest time, I and countless other fans and Ghost Heads alike, have been waiting for this moment. We have been waiting for a third film in the franchise that would live up to the legacy the 1984 original. I have been a massive fan of Ghostbusters my entire life and to this day I still use my favorite line from the second film in almost every situation. I grew up watching the films, The Real Ghostbusters, Extreme Ghostbusters and even the unrelated 1987 Ghostbusters animated series. To me the third Ghostbusters film will always be the amazing video game that was released in 2009. Now after the atrocious attempt of a remake, this film comes along and I have to say my anticipation was Venkman level. I was so skeptic and scared of the film not capturing what made the original film so special. The first 2 films had the perfect blend of comedy, drama, spiritualism, horror and great characters. From the opening scene of this film, I was immediately put at ease. This film truly captures the magic of the original while establishing its own identity as a family film that's also about the legacy you leave behind. It has great mystery elements and an excellent balance between lighthearted and terrifying images. There is a hefty amount of fan service, but it is done in the correct way throughout the film. There are moments where it was pushing you hard past some character moments and a few suffered in their character development time.

The cast across the board was amazing and they all have their moments to shine. Carrie Coon was great as Callie Spengler. She was excellent as the skeptic mother even though she had a legacy to pass on that she only saw as a burden. Mckenna Grace plays her daughter Phoebe Spengler and she was fantastic. The relationship between them was strong and strained, but not stereotypical. I loved that she was straight up the carbon copy of Egon, but she had a great attitude and strong will. Finn Wolfhard was great as her brother Trevor Spengler and I liked that he didn't over take the film. He was the perfect amount of awkward as a 15 year old and I liked the chemistry he had with his sister. Celeste O'Connor was good as his love interest Lucky Domingo, but I felt she got the shortest end of the stick as far as character development goes. Logan Kim was outstanding as Podcast and my second favorite of the film. He was hilarious and I loved his genuine curiosity and fun as everything gets strange in the neighborhood. He is at his best when his is Phoebe and the 2 of them have the best chemistry of the film. Paul Rudd was as great as you'd expect him to be as Gary Grooberson. He is truly having fun in this film and as a scientist himself, he was stocked to find out the reasons behind the quakes in the town. Honestly, Phoebe, Podcast, Trevor and Lucky were basically the next generation of paranormal trappers and excellent parallels to the original cast. Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts all return as the Ray Stanz, Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore and Janine Melnitz. They were in the film for the perfect amount of time and did not overtake the story or take the spotlight from the new kids. They were exactly the way you remember them; charming, funny and heartwarming. There is truly a heartwarming and perfect tribute to Harold Ramis and Egon in the film that I won't spoil here, but you will cry and that's a FACT!

Here's a little thing I learned the other day. When you have a mannequin's head, don't just throw it in your backseat. Because you will get home and decide to bring it inside on the second trip. That second trip will, obviously, never happen because there is an unopened bag of Doritos that will sap you of all energy. 

Later on, after a wonderful evening with friends, you will walk down an eerie road with no streetlights at some time after midnight (when the demons and ghouls come out) and get in your car. As you pull out from the curb, your eyes will catch just the smallest fleck of white from the backseat. You'll glance behind you, and before your brain remembers that you left a mannequin's head back there, you will assume that there is a disembodied head resting on the back seat.

With the instinctual urges of countless millenia, your body will go into fight or flight mode. While your bowels strain to be set free, you will release a scream so loud, and so pre-pubescentally high-pitched that you will be unsure if it was your scream or one that came from this mannequin's head. Soon enough your blood pressure will return to its normal resting beat, but not before you've checked under every seat to make sure that there are no bloody body parts waiting for you. Sure, you survived this time. But eventually your body won't be able to handle the stress.