Somethin’ strange, in your neighbourhood…
Sony are moving ahead with their planned animated Ghostbusters film directed by Fletcher Moules; whom to date has masterminded those inescapable ‘Clash of Clans’ shorts from a few years ago, setting the bar pretty high.
This week the The Hashtag Show reported that the animated Ghostbusters might be a little different from previous films. Instead of focusing on the titular characters doing what they do, shoot at and capture apparitions of the undead (or demons, if it’s a bad day); the film will be from the ghosts perspective. Controversial.
The Ghostbusters have never appeared in an animated big screen feature before but from 1986-1991,The Real Ghostbusters cartoon continued the adventures of Dr Peter Venkman, Dr Egon Spengler, Dr Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore, post-saving NYC from Gozer. Unsurprisingly it was pretty weird: Slimer became the team mascot and essential part of the mythos, a trio of ghosts set-up a rival ghostbusting team (makes sense), the team travelled through time and into parallel dimensions, were invited to their own film premiere in an episode filled with meta-madness, and crossed-over with Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Classic.
It was so good, that The Real Ghostbusters even got a sequel series called Extreme Ghostbusters, which was edgier and ‘cooler’, featuring a punk-inspired remix of the theme tune. Yeah, totally rad. At the start of the series, supernatural activity had hit an all-time low putting the Ghostbusters out of business, and leaving only Egon at the firehouse. Obviously, the quiet didn’t last with Egon recruiting his students to chase ghosts and stick it to the Man.
Even Extreme didn’t get as daring or weird as a story from a ghost’s perspective. A day in the life of Slimer, would just be a hunt for food, so we probably won’t get that. Or get to follow the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on walk through the city, casually destroying everything in his path. Will it be tragic? Imagine an innocent ghost with the whole of their undead life ahead of them going about their day, floating around, haunting Tinder profiles, before being relentlessly chased by armed humans. Terrifying.
Here’s hoping for a zany nostalgia trip in favour of dark revelations about the Ghostbusters we thought we knew.
A release date for the animated Ghostbusters is yet to be announced.
