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[Special Feature] Becoming A Zombie On The Set Of ‘Warm Bodies’… PART ONE!

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In theaters February 1 from Summit Entertainment is Warm Bodies, a new kind of zombie film from All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and 50/50 director Jonathan Levine.

Starring Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, John Malkovich and Analeigh Tipton, “The story centers on an existentially tormented zombie who begins an unlikely friendship with the girlfriend of one of his victims and starts a chain reaction that will transform him and his fellow zombies.

Back in October of 2011 I visited the set in Montreal and really dug what I saw. I’ve been a fan of Levine’s work for some time, but have to admit that I was iffy on this particular concept. But between reading the book and seeing what the cast and crew were up to, I’m very optimistic that this movie will be a lot of fun. Plus, I got to be a zombie (along with several other journalists)!

Head inside for Part One of my set report (if you’ve already read it, here’s Part Two)…
Warm Bodies

Someone asks, “In a vampire story the romance is more obvious, there’s something erotic about biting someone’s neck. Eating brains is less erotic…
 
Nicholas Hoult smiles, “You haven’t seen how I eat brains.

“Cut!”

Directors, of course, say this all the time. After every take of every scene. Nothing unusual. What is unusual is hearing it and knowing that it was you who screwed up.

To be fair, it wasn’t just me who played the scene wrong. Several of my fellow journalists are guilty as well, not to mention most of the army of extras behind us. But we should take it easy on ourselves. After all, we’re zombies. We’re supposed to be slack and slouching, but in this case we’re preparing to fend off a horde of “Boneys” (extra mean and extra dead zombies to be added later in post-production) and we’re not used to this whole business of crouching down to be ready for a fight.

Rob Corddry, who plays ‘M’ in the film, turns around and cracks up at the sight of us. It’s all good though, because we’re being directed by the relaxed and capable Jonathan Levine (50/50, The Wackness, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane). Earlier in the day we’d spent over half an hour with him going over the genesis of the film and his infectiously funny and genuine energy had already seeped in, so we’re in good hands.

Levine approaches his AD, the fellow in charge of corralling us undead, and tentatively reenacts what there was too much of in the last take – and it looks not unlike a slow-motion, vampy crouching ‘jazz hands’. The AD lets us know that we’re free to play it more “realistic” in the next take, and by the third time the camera finishes rolling we’ve gotten close enough to what they need.

But the day’s not over yet (nor has it just begun). Our time in the semi-defunct Montreal stadium will be one long 11 hour blur of makeup, “acting” and talking to the real talent behind Warm Bodies . Based on the surprisingly emotionally engaging and lyrical book by Isaac Marion, the film is understandably being positioned by Summit as the next Twilight. But with the talent involved (and the superior source material), it has the potential to be a lot more.

Nicholas Hoult plays ‘R’, a zombie who falls in love with Theresa Palmer’s ‘Julie’ after consuming the brain of her (very recently deceased) boyfriend ‘Perry’ [Dave Franco]. Corddry plays ‘M’, R’s sidekick and simultaneous “best friend and worst enemy.” The premise sounds a bit ridiculous, no? I thought so too. But after checking out the book and seeing Levine and his actors in action I’m confident that this tonally tricky piece of material could actually emerge as a fun and poignant spin on the zombie genre.

Why Levine? After the critical success of 50/50 why would he be attracted to this almost teen-centric journey inside the mind of the undead? “Summit had the book and I’d wanted to do a movie with them for a while. They were fans of ‘The Wackness’, this was before I did ’50/50’. And so I read the book and I just fell in love with the world and the ideas of it and the characters. It’s not something I ever really imagined myself doing but it was very specific to these characters and specific to this world that there was an opportunity to create something unique that I don’t think you get to do much in movies these days on this scale.”

Or to hear producer Bruna Papandrea tell it, “I love the way Jonathan grounds his humor, which is a super important element. The fact that he’s a brilliant writer is a huge plus, so obviously when he came in and pitched his take, it was kind of a no-brainer.

The morning started with us being shuttled in a van from our hotel to the stadium. From there we were guided into the hands of our makeup artists and through three separate processes – makeup, hair and dirt. I actually found the whole thing rather pleasant. I’d heard horror stories about spending hours upon hours under piles of latex, but here we weren’t doing any prosthetic work. So what could have been an epically miserable experience was instead a quick and efficient 90 minutes or so in the makeup chair (and being pelted on the dirt mat).

From there we are loaded onto golf carts and herded down to set. Jonathan Levine is about an 1/8th of a mile down the concourse directing Nicholas Hoult and Theresa Palmer through a small, quiet moment that leads up to the bigger scene we’re doing later in the day. We’re settled in sort of a secondary makeshift video village and, before I can really get a bead on what’s happening on the monitors, a small twenty-something makeup girl sits in front of me and starts re-touching my makeup. Apparently there has been a slight communication issue with some of the new makeup artists brought on set to handle all of the extra zombies and I have way too much blood oozing from my nose. Zombies don’t bleed so this needs to be fixed.

ROB CORDDRY

After watching Levine work for a bit we are guided into our makeshift press room for the day – a small ticketing booth right off the stadium’s interior concourse. It is here that we are greeted by a zombified Rob Corddry for the first time, looking vaguely normal in slacks and a sports coat but most definitely dead. Even though they’re a month deep into shooting he seems to be in high spirits.

He enters remarking, “It smells like marketing in here. Clever marketing.

It is indeed an unusual situation. A corpse being interviewed by a group of corpses. It looks and feels weird, to say the least. But we all proceed as if it’s business as usual. What makes it especially unusual for me is that my temporary personal makeup artist has followed me into the interview. Many of the journalists on the trip will be right in front of the camera and it seems as though my veins lack camera-ready nuance. If you’ve never been a part of an undead roundtable while having makeup applied, well… it’s bizarre.

So what’s his character’s trajectory in the story? “I play ‘M’ and like most best friends in movies, he is the guy that is there to at first to be sort of the foil to the main character. To support him and yet also be his worst enemy. To remind him that there is a ticking clock and we have to get to the 3rd act. And generally act as the opposite to the main character. The only difference is, in this movie, I mainly do that mostly with grunts.”

The whole concept that Zombies have best friends and personal relationships, we’ve never explored that before. “Yeah! The way I wrapped my head around that was I guess because ‘R’ and I, ‘R’ is like the most advanced zombie, are sort of coming out of it. And I’m sort of in the next wave, that we must have some kind of feeling for that kind of thing instinctively. But also in the book, my character is a sex fiend. He tries to have sex with women in a bathroom and like just bumps up against them naked. You’re definitely going to want to put that in your [piece]. Summit’s gonna love that. It’s not in the movie. So they do, they don’t remember, but they have some kind of gut instinct for what it’s like to be human. Ultimately it’s frustrating for them. They don’t really remember what it is, but they do follow these patterns. For instance, I don’t know if we’re going to do this but I suggested to Jonathan that when we first meet my character, he’s just standing and staring at the airport bar. Because he just knows that this is somehow very significant to him at some point in time. So he just sits there and stares and tries to figure it out. We haven’t shot that scene yet, Jonathan goes ‘That’s a great idea. It’s probably about a $25,000 idea’. Because we have to build the bar. So we’ll see exactly how much he liked it.”

What’s the physicality of ‘M’? Is he shambling? Is he running? Is he limber? Is he falling to pieces? “It’s interesting because you, and you guys will be faced with this later today, you don’t want to be the George Romero Zombie with their arms out and they can’t bend their knees. But also don’t want to be the ’28 Days Later’ rage virus zombies because they’re just like wild animals. It’s sort of somewhere in between. It’s really like, they don’t feel pain, right? They don’t feel really anything. So just imagine what your body would feel like if you couldn’t feel anything. You’re not going to spend too much time, we spend so much time holding up our shoulders and making sure that we’re breathing. We don’t even do it consciously. So they’re just pretty slack, everything’s kind of slack in the face. And, if anything, the two choices I made – one is motivated, one is not – because I tend to walk duck-footed in life, I just made ‘M’ very pigeon-toed and that alone changes my entire kind of body language. So that was kind of enough.

Did you go through any major effects or makeup besides what you have on now? “No, not really. See because this is a move and I’m so godd*mn pretty. I’m so pretty that they wanted to retain this. Because this right here is the money [he points to his face]. You can’t scratch it up because the girls will be like “nuh-uh. No. Where’s the Rob Cordry we’ve come to be slightly repulsed by?”

Was there any type of zombie training camp or school? “Yeah actually. Nick and I spent an afternoon with this guy from Cirque Du Soleil and we kind of bounced around a room about this size for a couple hours and then went outside and ran. Because zombies can run. When we’re looking for food, they run. He actually helped me a lot. He had us lean up against a wall and sort of put all our weight on the wall and then sort of pull yourself slooowwly off the wall, [French accent] ‘As if the wall is giving birth to you”. It really appealed to my pretentious college theater training. And then we just walked around, stared at each other and grunted for a few hours.

You seem pretty well informed about the Romero zombies and the ‘28 Days Later’ zombies. Are you a zombie guy? “Very much. Very much so. Before I even got this movie I was very fond of saying I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad zombie movie. And, really I’m hard pressed to think of one. Even the bad ones are pretty great I like all the ‘…Of The Dead’ movies. I like all of them. Even the worst George Romero one is the one that’s like in the 70’s with the army. It’s ‘Day Of The Dead’ and even ‘Day Of The Dead’ it’s like, ‘bright’. It’s daytime. It’s not his best but it’s still great. Oh and I’d have to say I think that the first ones I ever saw were those mid-80’s kind of comedic, campy zombie movies –

Return Of The Living Dead?’Return Of The Living Dead’.

Jonathan Levine has some comedy chops and obviously you’re a comedian, how comical does this film get? “It’s less of a comedy than I thought it was, to tell you the truth. Like any good script it has its funny moments so it’s not just a dirge all the time. Dirge and romance. And my character is largely I guess at times the comedic relief. But that’s being very generous to say. I would say that it’s only funny in the way that a lot of these kinds of movies are. Like, young kind of romance. That’s what it is. Young romance with this kind of elemet to it.

In the book ‘M’ was a sex fiend. Do zombies get boners? “Do I think zombies can get boners? Uh, no. Absolutely not. But I think that towards the end of then movie when they start becoming more human, I think ‘M’ is probably the first to experience one.

What about the scene we’re doing today? What’s ‘M’s role in that? “Yeah, this is sort of my action badass scene. Which I love. I’ve got a couple of those, [Eastwood voice] ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll go get ‘em” type of lines! And, ‘Take care of the girl I’m gonna go kick some ass”! I’ve got a couple of those lines in the movie and today I’ve got two of them. So that’s what I’m doing today. I’m being a badass zombie.

JONATHAN LEVINE: PART ONE

After Corddry and before our belated lunch, we are ushered back onto set for an extended chat with Jonathan Levine. After watching him work for a few hours it’s readily apparent that he’s having a great time. He’s engaged with the material and is doing a good job of hiding the stress and strain that come hand in hand with helming his largest project yet. As we start talking about the film and wriggling around the various thematic elements that differentiate it from standard zombie fare we’ve begun to learn that it’s a rather unique love story as well.

I like the love stuff, man. I like zombie movies and I like genre movies a lot. To watch. Less so to make, I think. But I grew up on that stuff. I would just grow up watching a lot of horror movies, a lot of slasher movies and then zombie movies.

What was it about Nicholas especially [for this part]? “You’ll see. If Nick didn’t work, the whole movie’s preposterous. With every line he has to find what it means to be a talking zombie. There’s not that many historical references for talking zombies so he’s essentially creating it. He was interested in the role and he came in, and I really liked him from “Skins”, so we essentially did a workshop session together. It wasn’t so much an audition as much as it was trying to get it up on its feet and see whether it sucked or not. And he was just really really good right off the bat. Which is remarkable because the degree of difficulty of what he’s doing is incredibly high. And he immediately had a take on it that was great.

Levine is asked about removing himself from video village while shooting earlier in the day and setting up camp against a pole, cross legged on the ground. Is that his style? Very laid back and chill? “I guess? People tell me I’m pretty mellow but I’m super stressed out the whole time. I mean sometimes I just go with a handheld and just like, sit. It’s nice because around here there’s 2,4,6,8,10 chairs. It’s nice to kind of get away from it. I like a pretty relaxed, fun set. Everyone knows they can bring whoever they want and hang out. That’s something I sort of learned from Seth and Evan on ’50/50’, because it was always kind of a party there and it shows onscreen when people are having a nice time. So yeah, it’s certainly laid back. I don’t know if you guys were here before lunch but we had to f*cking move and we made sure we did. But in between those kind of things it’s pretty mellow.

How is he able to inject his typical irreverence into a bigger budget film aiming for a PG13 rating? “The PG13 thing is interesting because I’ve only ever done R-rated movies but it’s not a big deal because this movie’s not meant to be ‘R’. It’s not like I wish I could get that one extra ‘F*ck’, you know?. We have our ‘F*ck’ and we know where it is and we’re good with it. Yes, we like to push the envelope with the gore and the violence, but this movie’s about heart. It’s not about the gore and the violence even though we’ve shot some of the most disgusting things you will ever see. Eating the brains is pretty bad. I don’t think it will ever fully make it into the movie because it’s pretty hardcore.

So it’ll have an R-Rated DVD? “R-Rated DVD. Exactly.

In terms of zombie films, is he pulling from anything in particular? “Not really. ’28 Days Later’ to me is like my favorite. We watched both the Snyder ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ and the Romero ‘Dawn Of The Dead’. I watched all of the Romero ones. I watched ‘Return Of The Living Dead’, that one’s cool, man. I like that one. But as far as references it’s more of a ’28 Days Later’ or even ‘I Am Legend’ type reimagining of the mythology. I watched pretty much all I could. ‘Dead Alive… what else did I watch?

You’ve got talking zombies, so Day Of The Dead? “’Day Of The Dead’, yeah that had talking zombies. But also ‘Return Of The Living Dead’ had talking zombies.” He shifts into a zombie voice, “Send more cops.”

That’s it for today. Be sure to check back later for PART 2 of our report, where we finish up the interview with Levine, watch a scene from the movie and have extended chats with Nicholas Hoult and Theresa Palmer.

Editorials

The 10 Scariest Moments in the ‘Ghostbusters’ Movie Franchise

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scariest Ghostbusters

WARNING: The following contains mild spoilers for the Ghostbusters franchise. 

Yes, Ghostbusters is a horror movie – gateway horror to be exact. Setting aside the fact that the title literally contains the word “ghost,” a foundational element of the scariest genre, the franchise follows a group of paranormal researchers who battle entities attacking from beyond the grave. After countless rewatches, the classic films and newer sequels may not scare us much anymore, but how many times have we as genre fans asserted that a film does not have to be “scary” to be considered horror?

Genre classification is nebulous and any film that centers on ghosts has a place in the sprawling house of horror. Yes, it’s true that most viewers over the age of thirteen will find more to laugh about than scream while watching a Ghostbusters film, but each entry contains a handful of terrifying moments. With Gil Kenan’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire uniting three generations of the parascientific warriors, perhaps it’s time to highlight the most frightening moments from each phase of this legendary franchise. 


Ghostbusters (1984)

A Haunted Library

scariest Ghostbusters movie

Ivan Reitman’s original film begins with a campfire tale come to life. We follow an unsuspecting librarian as she ventures deep into the stacks to reshelve a book. With her hair blowing from a spectral breeze, we watch a hardcover float across the aisle to the opposite shelf. A second book follows, but the librarian remains unaware. She finally notices the disturbance when card catalog drawers open on their own spewing cards into the air like literary geysers. She flees through the maze of narrow stacks only to come face to face with a mysterious force who blows her back with a powerful roar. We won’t see the Library Ghost (Ruth Oliver) until a later scene, but this introduction firmly positions the film that follows in the world of horror. On first watch, we can only speculate as to the ghost’s malevolence and whether or not the librarian has survived the encounter. It’s the perfect introduction to a world in which ghosts are not only real, they will pounce on unsuspecting humans at the drop of a … book. 

Shaky Ground

The original finale may not be the film’s most terrifying moment, but it has become the franchise’s most iconic image. When faced with choosing a form for Gozer (Slavitza Jovan), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) inadvertently conjures up an image from his childhood. Moments later, a set of once-cheery eyes peer through the skyscrapers. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man towers over the city, stomping and destroying everything in its path. While there’s definitely something terrifying about a jovial mascot turned deadly killer, what happens moments before is arguably scarier. 

The Ghostbusters arrive at the luxury apartment building to throngs of adoring fans. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) plays into this hero-worship and promises an easy solution to a supernatural problem. But before they can enter the building, lightning strikes the upper floors sending massive chunks of brick and cement raining down on the barricaded street. The ground begins to shake and a giant fissure swallows the entire team. It’s a destabilizing moment made all the more terrifying by its shocking reality. Speculation about the existence of ghosts may vary from person to person, but there’s no doubt that sinkholes are very real. It’s entirely possible that the ground we’re standing on right now could spontaneously begin to crumble, sucking us down into a seemingly bottomless void beneath the earth. 


Ghostbusters II (1989)

Runaway Baby

Ivan Reitman’s sequel begins with a sly update on the life of a beloved character as Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) pushes a baby carriage containing her infant son Oscar (Henry and William Deutschendorf). When last we saw the attractive cellist, she was kissing Venkman in the wreckage of Gozer’s demise and the thought of this loveable lady’s man becoming a father may be more nerve-wracking than anything contained in the first film. We never learn much about Oscar’s real father, but we do discover that fate has a sinister plan for the adorable child. While Dana chats with her landlord, Oscar’s carriage rolls a few feet away. Dana reaches for the handle, but the buggy begins speeding down the sidewalk careening through the busy crowds. As if guided by unseen hands, the carriage twists and turns, then abruptly swerves into oncoming traffic. Cars honk and veer out of the way, but the racing carriage marks a collision course with an approaching bus. The wheels screech to a halt moments before what would surely be a deadly crash and Dana rushes to embrace her vulnerable child. This harrowing scene is likely to terrorize any parent who’s experienced the fear of trying to protect a baby in an unpredictable world.  

Sewer Screams

scariest Ghostbusters scene

While investigating the second film’s primary villain, Vigo the Carpathian (Wilhelm von Homburg), three of the Ghostbusters venture into the sewers hoping to find a growing river of slime. Ray, Winston (Ernie Hudson), and Egon (Harold Ramis) trek down an abandoned subway line while speculating about the hordes of cockroaches and rats they hear scurrying behind the walls. These vermin may be scary, but there are more malevolent monsters lurking in the dark. Ray and Egon both amuse themselves with the tunnel’s echo but Winston’s “hello” goes unanswered. Moments later, a demonic voice bellows his name from the dark end of the corridor. Waiting behind him is a severed head floating in the empty tunnel. As he tries to retreat, the team finds themselves surrounded by dozens of ghoulish heads that disappear faster than they materialized. Moments later, a ghostly train hurtles towards them, swallowing Winston in its spectral glow. Egon theorizes that something is trying to keep them from reaching their destination with effective scares designed to frighten the Ghostbusters and audience alike.  


Ghostbusters (2016)

Haunted Basement

Like its predecessor, Paul Feig’s remake opens with a spooky vignette. Garrett (Zach Woods) gives a tour of the Aldridge Mansion, a 19th century manor preserved in the middle of the busy city, and walks visitors through a troubling history of excess and cruelty. Hoping to inject a bit of excitement, he pauses near the basement door and tells the horrifying story of Gertrude Aldridge (Bess Rous), a wealthy heiress who murdered the house’s many servants. Hoping to avoid a public scandal, her family locked her in the basement and her restless spirit can still be heard trying to escape. Garrett triggers a trick candlestick to fly off the shelf, hinting at the spirit’s presence, but a late night incident shows that the deceased murderess may actually be lurking in her ancestral home. While closing up for the night, Garrett hears ominous noises from behind the barricaded door and watches the knob rattle against the heavy locks. An unseen attacker hurls him through the house and eventually drives him down the basement stairs to a sea of green slime pooling on the floor. The stairs crumble leaving the tour guide hanging on to the door frame for dear life as a spectral figure glides toward him with menacing hands outstretched. Once again, we won’t see the fully revealed ghost of Gertrude Aldridge until later in the film, but this terrifying opening sets the stage for a dangerous showdown with an army of the dead.

Mannequin On the Move

The scariest moment of the 2016 remake is arguably the vicious online hatred sparked well before the film’s release. In response to brutal comments posted to the first official trailer, the cast returned to film an additional scene in which they react to dehumanizing negativity. But another sequence may cut closer to the heart of this upsetting experience. The Ghostbusters respond to a call at a concert venue and split up to cover more ground. Patty (Leslie Jones) enters what she calls a “room full of nightmares” and immediately reverses course to avoid a multitude of mannequins stacked haphazardly in the dark. As she walks out the door, one of the faceless creatures turns its head her way. Walking on its own, this sentient prop follows her down the hall, pausing the moment she turns around. Eventually breaking cover, the mannequin chases Patty down the hall to the rest of the team. They unleash their proton packs and make quick work of the gargoyle-like ghost. Though this connection is surely unintentional, it’s a terrifying parallel to a faceless monster sneaking up to attack a woman simply trying to do her job. 


Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

Smoke and Monsters

While Ghostbusters: Afterlife is nowhere near as scary as the horror films playing in the local summer school science class, Jason Reitman’s legacyquel does contain its share of frights. The film opens with a harrowing scene as we join Egon (Oliver Cooper) in the last moments of his life. Racing away from a sinister mountain, Egon’s truck collides with an unseen force and flips upside down in a field of corn. The elderly scientist races back to his crumbling farmhouse with a trap in hand, intent on ensnaring this invisible being. Unfortunately, the power fails and Egon has no choice but to hide the trap under the floorboards and wait. He sits in a comfortable old chair as a horrifying cloud of smoke drifts in behind him, momentarily forming the shape of a fanged beast. Demonic hands grab him from within the chair, likely causing the heart attack that will be listed on his death certificate. But his abandoned PKE meter below the chair activates, reminding us that Egon may be deceased, but he is far from gone.  

The Terror Returns

scariest Ghostbusters moments

Ghostbusters: Afterlife turns out to be a touching tribute to Harold Ramis as his friends and family unite to complete the beloved scientist’s heroic mission. In addition to a tearjerker ending, Reitman also includes a bevy of callbacks to the original film. Not only do the Spenglers square off against the team’s first enemy, Gozer (Emma Portner), the nonbinary entity brings back the Terror Dogs that once possessed Dana Barret and Louis Tully (Rick Moranis). These demonic beasts first rear their ugly heads while Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) stops by Walmart to buy a midnight snack. While the horde of mini marshmallow men are eerie in their gleeful self-destruction, the ghostly canine that chases him through the store is the stuff of nightmares. Early iterations of this fearsome creature are hindered by ’80s-era special effects, but Reitman’s version feels frighteningly real. While Gary frantically tries to find his keys, this Terror Dog snarls at him from atop his car dashboard, leaving the endearing science teacher with no way to escape. 


Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Frozen Dinner 

After a film set in a small mountain town, the opening of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire takes us back to New York circa 1904. We see the fire station in its early years as a horse-drawn carriage responds to a call. Arriving at the scene, a fireman tests the door for heat and watches in horror as his hand instantly freezes. Inside, they find jagged shards of ice surrounding and piercing a frozen dinner party. Guests are posed in various states of ice-covered surprise while an eerie record skips in the corner. A figure covered in brass armor we will come to know as a Fire Master is crouched in the corner clutching a mysterious orb. When the fireman touches this rippling sphere, the frozen diners’ heads begin to explode, an ominous precursor to the chilling threat awaiting the newest Ghostbusting team. 

Lights Out

If Ghostbusters: Afterlife featured the lo-fi gear of the 80s, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire hurls us into the future. Wealthy financier Winston Zeddemore has been surreptitiously building a new containment unit to relieve pressure on the original model along with a secret lab designed to study ghosts and haunted objects. In addition to fancy new gadgets and gear, this facility contains several captured spirits like a fanged Wraith and a speedy Possessor. Lab techs assure the astonished Spengler team that they are perfectly safe, but it seems they’ve overestimated the facility’s security. Lucky (Celeste O’Connor) and Lars (James Acaster) are studying the aforementioned orb when the power goes out, leaving them stranded in the dark with a cache of haunted objects. Not only does the ancient sphere hold a deadly spirit, the proton fields containing the captured ghosts have just been disabled. These terrifying creatures begin to drift through the walls toward the defenseless lab techs, perhaps at the bidding of an evil commander. Thankfully the generator kicks on in the nick of time, drawing the ghosts back into their cells. It’s a tense moment reminding us that no matter how charming the Ghostbusters may be, they still spend their days with evil spirits just waiting for an opportunity to wreak havoc.  


The Ghostbusters franchise excels at mixing humor and fear, practically setting the blueprint for the modern horror comedy. Moments from the original two films terrified a generation of gen-xers and elder millennials and newer iterations are currently scaring their kids. The fifth franchise installment effectively passes the proton pack torch to a new generation of Ghostbusters and we can only hope additional films will continue to induct future generations of Ghostbusters fans into the horror family as well. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is now playing in theaters. Read our review.

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