It’s hard to tell what exactly to make of Jason Reitman’s forthcoming Ghostbusters sequel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Its earliest images and trailers seemed to boast a markedly more serious tone than we saw in the original movies. But familiar imagery, like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, suggests we won’t veer too far from the established Ghostbusters schematic. Granted, Stay-Puft takes a different form in its own right in the latest promotional material for the movie. Where once he reigned tall, now he stays small. But what he lacks in size, he makes up for in numbers. You’ll see what I mean in the below clip… or tie-in marshmallow ad; it’s kind of hard to tell what this thing actually is.
Even in this quick video, it’s tough to nail down the prospective tone of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. It kicks off with a gloomy and severe facade. But then it gives way to dozens of tiny marshmallow people gallivanting around a grocery store. All while a dynamically bearded Paul Rudd watches with a mix of wonder and woe.
We have until November 10 to speculate on what kind of shtick Ghostbusters: Afterlife will really play with. But the main takeaway from a clip like this is the haunting notion of countless of living marshmallows. While the 1986 Ghostbusters took down the OG Stay-Puft in one fell swoop, an army of tiny Stay-Pufts seems like a tougher nut to crack. And worlds more terrifying. (You’re not going to spend nights awake wondering if a hundred-foot tall monster is lurking beneath your bed. But you may freak out over the question of whether the marshmallows in your cupboard are up to no good.)
Since Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a direct follow-up to the original movies, we have to wonder how the behemoth-of-yore manifested as a community of tiny little demons. Whose mind unblanked in such a fashion? And how will the new generation of Ghostbusters set such a plague to rest? This, and all other ghastly questions, to be answered come fall.
