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The second full Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer is packed with new villains, ghosts, and ghouls for the title characters to take down, so what are the monsters seen in this recent teaser? Ghostbusters: Afterlife has not had an easy journey to the big screen. The original Ghostbusters, released in 1984, was a massive success that won over both critics and audiences with its unique combination of sardonic wit and genuinely creepy horror elements.
The film’s first sequel, Ghostbusters II, was released in 1989 and could not match the outsized success of its predecessor, resulting in a long and messy road for any prospective third installment. In 2016, a reboot of the series was met with critical division and commercial failure, further stalling the possibility of a return to the original franchise. Director Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife hopes to bring back the horror/comedy balance of the original Ghostbusters for a new generation, but the project has repeatedly fallen afoul of delays.
Originally intended to be released in July 2020, Ghostbusters: Afterlife was soon pushed back to March 2021, then to June 2021, and now finally until November 2021. However, these repeated delays are not necessarily a cause for concern among the franchise’s fandom. The global COVID-19 pandemic has pushed back the release dates of countless blockbusters, meaning there’s no reason to assume that Ghostbusters: Afterlife is any more uniquely troubled or flawed than the James Bond outing No Time to Die, the Marvel Cinematic Universe outing Black Widow, or the similarly retro horror trilogy Fear Street. These delays do however mean that fans are desperate to see some footage from the film, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s second trailer has delivered in this regard with a plethora of new villains and monsters for viewers to start speculating about.
Ghost Werewolf
Seen terrorizing a floored Paul Rudd, the ghost werewolf briefly appears in front of the terrified teacher before going on to blow out the windows of a school bus in its brief trailer appearance. Judging by the little that viewers can see of the beast, it is comprised of a werewolf’s upper torso but has a hazy, ghostly bottom half. Otherwise, the monster’s face is strikingly similar to the werewolf seen in 2015’s RL Stine adaptation Goosebumps, meaning Ghostbusters: Afterlife may be able to offer the same critically acclaimed combination of PG-rated laughs and scares that earlier nostalgia-based reboot managed.
Demon
The demon that reaches out of what looks like the bowels of Hell is the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer’s least-visible monster, with its entire appearance taking up a half-second of screen time. In that time, viewers can see a gnarled hand and a floppy head of hair, but beyond those sparse detail, the appearance of this apparition is anyone’s guess. The original Ghostbusters worked hard to balance scares with its relatively family-friendly tone, and while most of the monsters in this teaser are not the type that would keep younger audiences awake at night, this particular demonic entity could be proof that the reboot will still feature villains as authentically scary as the original movie’s library ghost.
Diner Zombie
Another 2021 movie, Army of the Dead, seemingly exhausted the countless types of zombies for viewers to pore over, but without an R-rating, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a little more limited when it comes to depicting the shambling undead. That said, the diner zombie is a creepy creation and one of few monsters who receives a proper appearance in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer, sitting across from a diner proprietor and staring into his coffee as an offscreen character ironically intones that “It’s like The Walking Dead out there.” In terms of appearance, this ghoul looks similar to the infamously spooky zombie cab driver seen in the original Ghostbusters. He is not the only nod to the original canon seen in the trailer, though…
Mini-Pufts
Originally featured in Ghostbusters comic books, these tiny terrors are the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man’s poop according to the series canon, although the trailer does mercifully spare viewers the sight of where they hail from. The Mini-Pufts can be seen terrorizing Paul Rudd’s hapless hero (a recurring theme throughout this trailer’s action) as he attempts to shop in a grocery store. This sequence was previously released as a standalone teaser and seems to occur early on in the action of Ghostbusters: Afterlife before all Hell has quite literally broken loose.
Terror Dog
For fans of the original Ghostbusters, maybe the most exciting sight in this trailer is one that is both out-of-focus and confined to a corner of the screen. When Paul Rudd is sent running from a store once again near the trailer’s end, he is pursued by a barely-glimpsed monster that series fans will immediately recognize. The cameo-ing Ghostbusters villain is a Terror Dog, one of the hell hounds that make up the original movie’s main antagonists. Could it be Zuul, the terror dog that possessed Dana in the first film in service of Gozer? Or possibly Vinz Clortho, the less infamous terror dog who did the same to poor Louis Tully? For now, viewers have no way of knowing, as the trailer only shows the terror dog skidding across a car park, but the sight is still good news for fans of the original series and further proof that the reboot hopes to bring back the atmosphere and mythos of Ghostbusters.
Muncher
By now, Muncher likely needs no introduction, as the blue six-limbed blobby ghost was first unveiled to mixed responses from fans earlier this year. Much ink has been spilled over Muncher’s resemblance to Slimer, his bizarre appearance, and, according to some commentators, his status as a pertinent embodiment of the current cultural moment. As such, the new trailer’s glimpse of the ghost in action does not bring with it much in the way of new Muncher content. Still, the sight of the ghost being apprehended (however temporarily) by a new generation of Ghostbusters will be an exciting sight for fans of the franchise, and Muncher’s appearance diverges enough from that of Slimer for this Ghostbusters: Afterlife foe to feel more like an affectionate homage than a knockoff.
Key Release Dates
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife/Ghostbusters 3 (2021)Release date: Nov 11, 2021
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