Reviews
‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Review – The Nostalgia Tank Is Running on Empty in Familiar Ghostbusting Tale
It’s been almost forty years since Ghostbusters introduced the plucky foursome fumbling their way through spectral encounters, using a now iconic Manhattan firehouse as their operations base. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, set two years after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, further entrenches the Spengler family and newcomers into the franchise by returning to where it all began: New York City. Frozen Empire offers familiar set pieces, references, and easter eggs aplenty, but the nostalgia tank is now running on empty.
Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), mom Callie (Carrie Coon), and stepdad Gary (Paul Rudd) have adjusted well to life as Ghostbusters in the rundown yet classic firehouse. So well, in fact, that their latest paranormal capture caused enough city damage to put them in the crosshairs of Walter “Dickless” Peck (William Atherton). That’s not the only source of trouble for the new team; the firehouse’s containment unit is at capacity and struggling. Then there’s the matter of an ancient artifact that happens to act as the prison for a malevolent deity, Garraka, that intends to plunge the world into an icy apocalypse.
Sewer Dragon Ghost being chased through New York in Columbia Pictures GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE.
Afterlife co-writers Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan (Monster House, 2015’s Poltergeist) once again share writing duties, with Kenan taking over as director of Frozen Empire. Kenan has the unenviable task of corralling both the new generation of Ghostbusters and originals into one cohesive story, and it quickly proves to be an insurmountable hurdle to clear. Uniting the Spengler family with Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), and Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) is seamless enough, thanks to the legwork in Afterlife. But Frozen Empire quickly struggles with incorporating Afterlife characters Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O’Connor). That’s before the introduction of Kumail Nanjiani’s Nadeem, Emily Alyn Lind’s Melody, Winston’s engineer Lars (James Acaster), and a slew of cameos.
Stretched far too thin in trying to give every character a moment to shine, whether through humor, callbacks, or ghostbusting heroics, Frozen Empire takes a long while to lay the groundwork. The throughline is Afterlife’s heroine, Phoebe, but poor Phoebe spends the bulk of the movie struggling with growing pains and teen angst. McKenna Grace does what she can and ultimately retains rooting interest through sheer will and empathy, but Frozen Empire throws every contrivance possible in her way to prolong the story’s central ghost problem.
And it has a big ghost problem, just not in the way the story presents.
(L to R) Callie (Carrie Coon), Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), Gary (Paul Rudd), Janine (Annie Potts), Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), Podcast (Logan Kim), Ray (Dan Aykroyd), Lars (James Acaster) and Lucky (Celeste OConnor) in Columbia Pictures GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE.
With marketing leaning so heavily into the frozen aspect of its title, there’s very little in the way of a frozen empire or ghostly apocalypse. The movie spends the bulk of its runtime scattering its overcrowded cast to various corners, each separately discovering vital clues or puzzle pieces, with a cute but scant scattering of new encounters or familiar specters to tickle the nostalgia bone. When it comes to the film’s big bad, Frozen Empire prefers to tell audiences, rather than show, what terrible beast is poised to unleash hell on New York City. By the time he does come into full power, the climax feels far too abrupt and uneventful compared to the lengthy setup promising an epic showdown.
As polished as this entry may be, the stakes feel at the franchise’s lowest.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire can’t decide between nostalgia, humor, or heart. So, it opts for a scattershot version of all three. Whereas Afterlife grappled with family legacy, Frozen Empire isn’t sure of itself beyond addressing the shift from old guard to new. But it’s still far too reliant on nostalgia to serve as the next step in the franchise’s evolution, and that also includes the formula, right down to updated lines like “Are you the flame master?” It winds up a series of charming moments cast adrift amidst an overly simplistic, familiar story.
That may be enough for some, especially when Frozen Empire pulls out some deep-cut nods. But by the time the mid-credit scene kicks in, solely designed to inspire merchandising sales, it’s more likely to leave you ready for the Ghostbusters to retire in peace.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire arrives in theaters on March 22.
Movies
‘Recluse’ Review – Harrowing Haunted House Horror With Lots Of Skeletons In Its Closet [Tribeca 2026]
A haunted house story is tense, terrifying storytelling when it’s properly executed. There’s been a growing tendency in horror to blend together harrowing haunted house stories with traumatic homecomings. A family member’s illness or death triggers a return to something dark that was intentionally left behind. Recluse hits all the tropes that one expects to find in this type of horror film, yet it manages to push this story in a daring, disturbing new direction that uses sound as a superpower.
It’s a unique lens to experience a familiar story about family secrets, generational trauma, unresolved grief, and the importance of not just legacy, but preservation. It’s a hell of a directorial debut from Henry Chaisson that’s guaranteed to get under the audience’s skin as they’re dragged through this painful, toxic tale.
Recluse is a gothic haunted house story where an isolated audio engineer, Joan (Sasha Frolova), returns to her family’s estate to check in on her father after he suffers a terrible accident. Joan suddenly discovers something much more sinister that paints her family’s tragedies in a very different light. Chaisson’s debut functions as a fascinating companion piece to this year’s undertone, which does a lot of the same things.
These two films make for a fascinating case of parallel thinking that tackles comparable subject matter through a similar lens, albeit in a bigger, less claustrophobic story in Recluse’s case. In fact, it’s the perfect horror film for anyone who was let down by undertone and didn’t feel like it brought enough to the table. It’s a considerably more conventional horror film, but this isn’t meant to denigrate its high quality. Recluse may hit some familiar notes, but it’s a scary, well-crafted haunted house horror story that goes for the jugular.
A gripping mystery that involves the tragic, unresolved circumstances that surround Joan’s mother teases a chilling connection to the recent horrors that have afflicted her father. Joan desperately tries to put these pieces together and give her family some sense of grander peace before she’s pulled under and becomes another victim of this festering curse that’s systematically worked its way through the Wyatt family. By doing so, Recluse digs into some deeper commentary on collective trauma, a very literal look at the “sins of the father” adage, and how one selfish decision can ripple through generations and fracture off into different dilemmas. By the end, Recluse has brilliantly flipped the powerful concept of legacy on its head by illustrating the horrors and sense of entitlement that can be born out of this idea.
A legacy is just another name for a curse under the right context.
”Listen” is a simple but powerful command from Joan’s father that she briefly obsesses over. In a way, it becomes Recluse’s grander mission statement, whether it’s in response to Joan listening to the people in her life, the signals that her body and mind are telling her, or the world’s greater whims. It’s important to reconnect with these grounding pillars, especially when it feels like control is slipping away.
Recluse excels with how audio and soundscapes can create entire universes that are full of rich details that transport individuals to these environments. There’s also a level of objectivity when it comes to audio recordings and the evergreen permanence that they’re able to provide. Joan’s career as an audio engineer makes sense for someone who wants to cling to hard evidence and proof of existence. It provides great insight into Joan without ever getting lost in contrived exposition.
Joan’s entire life is built around audio engineering, and so it makes sense that Recluse features excellent sound design that really goes above and beyond with its production elements. All of the sound design is expertly handled and turns the film into something special. These auditory elements intuitively keep the audience on edge so that they’re more susceptible to the actual scares that eventually strike. The smallest sound effect gets turned into a crushing, cacophonous assault. It’s a really effective way to build terror. Writer/Director Chaisson also handles the film’s music, which achieves a sublime, unnerving dissonance that further heightens the free-floating anxiety.
The story at the center of Recluse is slightly generic in some respects, but the film’s visual language and tone make it feel distinctly memorable. It also doesn’t hurt that the home that Joan returns to is basically an eerie art studio that’s full of contorted paintings. Recluse never struggles to generate mounting dread and terror that pump through every scene. Powerful, thoughtful cinematography consistently reinforces the film’s themes. Joan is constantly reflected in different surfaces or viewed through mirrors. She’s also often confined to tight, constricting framing that all speaks to her refracted identity during this moment of loss and her attempts to regain agency and control by making sense of something that’s seemingly unexplainable.
Recluse is full of truly disturbing visuals that make it seem like Joan is lost in a dream that turns out to be an extended nightmare. It’s a surreal journey reminiscent of invasive psychological horror like Silent Hill, with a touch of Sinister and Hereditary thrown in for good measure. There are so many individual frames that could endlessly fuel urban legends and creepypastas.
It does a great job with how it presents Joan’s fragile state of mind, where chilling flashes of the past sneak up on her and unresolved trauma manifests into unsettling imagery. There are endless shots that are obscured in darkness, or shadow is creeping in from the corners of frames like a suffocating force of nature. It’s very rare that a scene is fully lit. It leads to a very lonely, isolating atmosphere that’s easy to get lost in.
Chaisson’s debut stands out from the many other high-minded haunted house horror films without succumbing to the same pretensions that often drag down these stories. It’s a grief-stricken character study that’s full of upsetting visuals that scratch at something visceral and raw. The horror elements connect, and the answers to its grander mystery provide an appropriate and believable sense of closure. Those who are looking for an atmospheric horror film that isn’t afraid to be different while still channeling something real will appreciate Recluse.
Recluse made its world premiere at Tribeca; release info TBD.
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