While much has been made in the media regarding the new Ghostbusters team, less is known about the other, important, half of the equation: the ghosts. Director Paul Feig has now opened up with some details on who will be getting busted in the new film. While most of the ghosts in the original movies were very focused on comedy, it turns out these new additions come from a much darker place.
Between the trailers and other information we've been able to dig up, we know a little something about Rowan, the big bad of the new Ghostbusters movie. We know that the influx of ghosts to New York City will be due to him using a device that amplifies paranormal energy. However, in a new interview with IGN, director Paul Feig, now gives us a bit of detail on exactly who all these ghosts are that are being created. He said:
Several of our ghosts are murderers and bad people who have a very strong energy that was negative that they've brought back. Like the one that shoots the ectoplasm on Kristen [Wiig] in the trailers. You'll find out that's Gertrude Aldrich, who murdered all these servants, and her family -- instead of turning her into the police -- locked her in the basement of their mansion. So that ghost comes back and escapes. Then there's another ghost they meet in the subway that's a guy that was electrocuted in the electric chair and who is clearly, like a murderer.
So, that's pretty dark. While the original Ghostbusters had plenty of scary moments and spooky ghosts, the backstory on them was never really something that the original film dealt with, beyond the history of Gozer. We never learn where the specter in the library came from, who is one of the few humanoid ghosts in the first film. The sequel did include the ghosts of the Scolari Brothers, who were a pair of executed murders, but that's as far as the original group ever went down this road. The reboot looks to be focusing a great deal on the ghosts of dead people who were pretty evil in life.
Of course, the most famous ghost in the original Ghostbusters was Slimer, who will be returning for the reboot. While we don't get any sort of backstory on him either, the fact that he's not human seems to imply that he came from someplace else. Paul Feig assures us that the new movie will have its share of non-humanoid ghosts as well. He continued:
We've got a lot of humanoid ghosts that way but then I also wanted to have other creatures because my feeling was like the more he [the film's villain] is energising stuff, he's pulling weird stuff in from other places too. So we have one in this rock concert scene that's a bit more kind of a demon-ish, alien-ish kind of creature. Because I didn't want it all to be humanoid because I wanted to have fun with different things.
We've seen the rock concert ghost in the trailers. If we're going to know where these human ghosts come from, it will be interesting if we'll also get details on these non-human creatures. It may not be necessary, in the grand scheme of things, but as it's an area the original movie never touched, it at least gives the reboot something new to do.
What do you think of the ghosts in the new Ghostbusters? Let us know in the comments below!
