Before I start in on why I refuse to support the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot, I would first like to discuss why I’m such a huge fan of the franchise. I didn’t actually see the original movie in theaters, because it came it out in 1984, and I was only a year and a half old. I started watching The Real Ghostbusters cartoon on Saturdays when it was on my local Fox station. It was colorful, fun and loud. It was one of the greatest cartoons I ever saw as a kid. No, I caught the movie on TV and subsequent home video rentals. The original Ghostbusters film was and still is one of the best comedies ever made. It combined comedy, action and horror all into one. It was not entirely kid-friendly with some pretty off-color jokes, but it was just so much fun. It had the talents of three of the funniest comic actors in the industry: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. There was so much chemistry between the characters, it was hard to take your eyes off of them. Even when Bill Murray’s character is jabbing at William Atherton’s Walter Peck was brilliant. The writing was super-sharp and the jokes came one right after another, and they were all funny.
The special effects themselves were simply astounding. The proton pack streams were incredibly well-animated. Slimer was just….well….Slimer. It looked like it was actually there. The terror dogs actually gave me nightmares when I was a kid, they were that scary. Even today, those damn dogs give me the creeps. Everything about the movie was incredible. It was funny and exciting all at the same time. It also remains one of the most quotable movies in history:
Well, that clip has quotes from the first two movies, but you know what I’m saying. Speaking of Ghostbusters II, it was not a terrible follow-up. It was essentially more of the same, but not as refined. It felt a little rushed, but it was still a ton of fun, and the characters were still memorable. However, one should always remember this important tip: If someone asks you if you’re a god, you say “yes!”
Unfortunately, Ghostbusters II was met with fairly mixed reviews and lacked the energy and spirit of the original film. Personally, I still loved it, but nothing topped the first Ghostbusters film. The one thing that really tied the both of them together was it’s theme by Ray Parker, Jr.:
It was catchy, it was funny, and it was iconic. After the success of the original Ivan Reitman film, the song was adapted for the cartoon series. It was #1 on the charts for several weeks. The music video even featured the main characters in a dance sequence. It was quite a sight. Even if you haven’t seen the movies, you know the song. It’s a part of pop-culture and is not something that can ever be forgotten.
After Ghostbusters II, there were really no plans for further sequels or entries, despite the franchise’s popularity. There were a couple of games for the NES, but they were pretty terrible. After a while, though, there were grumblings that a third live-action film was possibly in the works. In fact, in the early 2000’s, Dan Aykroyd himself expressed a desire to return to the franchise that helped create. Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson and director Ivan Reitman were surprisingly open to the idea. The problem was that Bill Murray really didn’t want to come back to that role. He’s been on and off again about whether or not he wanted to return. The ideas for Ghostbusters III were many. One iteration had the ‘busters going into Hell itself or an alternate dimension. During the interim, though, Dan Aykroyd managed to convince the others to voice their characters for a full-blown video-game which was released in 2009. It had a fairly positive response. It had the charisma and charm of the original film, while exploring new areas of the franchise. I thought it was awesome, and about as close to a third film was we were going to get. The response to the game actually got people to really start thinking about a new Ghostbusters movie.
In fact, there were plans to do TWO separate films. One of them had an all-female cast, and the other was going to be the original guys, passing the torch to a new generation of Ghostbusters. Sadly, Harold Ramis passed away in early 2014, so any plans for an official sequel were shot. The film with the female cast was allowed to continue. Some people had reservations. I know I did, but you know what, I would give it a chance. Then they announced the cast for the film: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon as the Ghostbusters. These were pretty funny, so it could work. Then, they started releasing pictures from the film, and some people seriously lost their shit. Personally, I was hoping for a little more than this:
It still wasn’t terrible. Then they cast Chris Hemsworth as Kevin, the receptionist. Things are starting to become a little more dubious, but I’m still rolling with it. Then Sony released this:
Can you say, “shitstorm?” The response to the first trailer was extremely negative. Aside from the really awkward vagina joke, most of the jokes really fell flat and just came across as embarrassing. It has become the most disliked movie trailer in YouTube history with nearly 1,000,000 dislikes. Now, understand that while there is a vocal minority that hates the idea of female Ghostbusters anyway, the reason that most of us hated the trailer was because it looked like garbage. It was poorly put together with some really lame in-jokes and pop-culture references. The backlash was IMMEDIATE. So they released a second trailer. The response wasn’t much better.
Oh, things get worse. The film’s director, Paul Feig, along with Sony’s CEO, Tom Rothman, and some of the crew of the film have lashed out at the fans for deriding the trailers and essentially the movie before its release. Let me tell you something: If you’re trying to win fans, you don’t fucking insult them. That’s exactly what’s been happening over the past several weeks. Leslie Jones has actually come out and defended her role in the film, so there’s that, but nobody else has. Paul Feig and Sony have essentially said that people who complain about the movie are misogynists. The massive amount of negative publicity surrounding the film is astonishing. Paul Feig and company deserve it. They’re taking a beloved franchise and ruining it with terrible visual effects and lame jokes. Now, after all that, I was still willing to check out the film to see if it was any good or not. That was before the music group known as Fallout Boy released the “official” theme song of the new film:
I just…I just can’t. Listen to this crap. It’s terrible. Fallout Boy hasn’t been relevant for over a decade, and even then their music wasn’t all that good. The fact that this is a part of the official soundtrack makes me sick. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I can’t support this movie. No chance in hell. Ghostbusters fans should be insulted that this movie was allowed to be green-lit, especially with somebody like Paul Feig at the helm. This moron has no clue as to what makes Ghostbusters so special to so many people. While I’m sure it will make some money on its opening weekend with people curious about the movie, but I can almost guarantee you the drop-off for the following week will be….bad. This movie won’t even open in China, due to their restrictions on anything supernatural-related, so you can bet your bottom dollar that Ghostbusters 2016 will most likely be the biggest flop of the year. It’s going to fail. That much is clear, and Paul Feig deserves to fail. I don’t want the cast to fail, they’re not the problem. The problem is everything and everyone else associated with the movie. I should tell you that Dan Aykroyd has voiced his support for the film on Facebook:
“As originator of the original: Saw test screening of new movie. Apart from brilliant, genuine performances from the cast both female and male, it has more laughs and more scares than the first 2 films plus Bill Murray is in it! As one of millions of man-fans and Ray Stantz, I’m paying to see that and bringing all my friends!”
That’s all well and good, except for one reason, and this was brought up by YouTuber, Mundane Matt: Dan Aykroyd created Ghostbusters, so he has a vested interest in seeing a movie being made. There is definitely some bias involved with his response. I’m not bashing Mr. Aykroyd for having an opinion. I’m not. He’s talented and he’s funny. I’m sure he’s being honest, but his opinion alone shouldn’t be the bar to measure for a movie like the new Ghostbusters.
Because of my love for the franchise, I cannot support a Ghostbusters film that has been made by people who have treated the fans like garbage and continue to insult them. I really wanted another Ghostbusters film, but this isn’t going to be it. I honestly think that the franchise has hit a low-point from which it may not recover. There are a LOT of people out there who share my opinion. While some may still go see it, the rest of us are going to be busy either watching the original film or playing the 2009 video game which are going to be infinitely better regardless. To quote YouTuber Angry Joe: Sony, you done fucked it up.