‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Trailer: Who you gonna call? A lame ‘Stranger Things’ rip-off, I guess

This trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife is not great at best. It combines an oddly melancholic tone with an eye-rolling ninjaing of Stranger Things‘ already derivative vibe.

UPROXX:

There is no Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, only Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II.

At least that’s the spirit (no pun intended) of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which is a direct sequel to the first two films, but not the Paul Feig-directed reboot. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts, all of whom are expected to reprise their roles (Harold Ramis passed away in 2014; Rick Moranis retired from acting and probably won’t pull a Joe Pesci), don’t appear in the trailer above, but there are references to their characters sprinkled throughout. There’s a Spengler jacket, and ghost traps, and a collection of “spores, molds, and fungus,” and video footage of the Ghostbusters after what’s now referred to as the Manhattan Crossrip of 1984, when New York was “like The Walking Dead.” No Slimer, though. What a shame.

Here’s the official plot synopsis.

From director Jason Reitman and producer Ivan Reitman, comes the next chapter in the original Ghostbusters universe. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, when a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind. The film is written by Jason Reitman & Gil Kenan.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which also stars Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon (!), and Paul Rudd (!!), comes out on July 10, 2020.