Flashback Friday: Memphis Ghostbusters pt1 – “Ghostbusters: Afterlife…FINALLY!”

Dec03

by Lin on December 3, 2021 at 10:33 am

Posted In: Blog

Hey, fellow Ghostheads!

Well, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” aka “Ghostbusters 3“ was finally released in theaters (PG13 124 min).

Due to the pandemic it had been pushed back, and back, and back some more, and then shown to audiences at a couple conventions before being available to catch on the big screen for the public.

Nicki and I are still not really comfortable about sitting in a movie theater just yet (and I hate being around folks on their phones), so on Friday, Nov. 19 we decided to head across town to the Malco Summer Quartet Drive-In. It’s where we went to go catch “Black Widow” a little while back, which was the first movie we’d gone out to see since “Birds Of Prey/Harley Quinn”. We’ve either caught others like “Suicide Squad” and “Shang-Chi” on HBO Max, Disney+, or just waited for them to stream elsewhere or be released on DVD/BluRay…which doesn’t take that long of a wait these days!

That Friday night we caught a double feature of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage“. There was a full moon, and a bit chilly out, but perfect weather for a drive-in movie. After seeing Ghostbusters, we had to make a trip up to the concession stand area to use the restroom and stretch our legs. As we left the car the old intermission animation from when we were kids and featured in the movie “Grease” was playing. We couldn’t help doing a duet of song “Sandy“…

Stranded at the drivin’, branded a fool
What will they say Monday at school?

Sandy, can’t you see I’m in misery?
We made a start, now we’re apart
There’s nothing left for me

Love has flown, all alone I sit and wonder why yi-yi-yi
Oh why you left me, oh Sandy, oh Sandy…

Enjoyed GB3 (in spite of some plot holes, unanswered questions, and repetitive story beats) and was happy to finally see the movie on a big screen, and not be too spoiled. I knew the original cast would be in it, had seen the car, mini-pufts, Muncher the ghost, and a few other things I’d either seen as toys/products or in the couple trailers I watched online (avoided the final one).

These days it’s so hard to avoid spoilers or accidentally spoil it for others, especially when a movie not only gets pushed back as much as this one, or has been seen as much before release. Some folks want to know everything before they see it, others want to go in blind and be surprised.

I’m more of the latter, and tend to love seeing ‘art of’ books, magazine articles, or behind the scenes bonus features after I watch the movie. Even track names on a soundtrack or toy packaging can give away spoilers, or the worst are headlines on social media posts…ugh.

Kevin L. Williams went to see the movie a couple times over the weekend- that Friday in IMAX at the Malco Paradiso out east, and on Sunday at the new Malco Powerhouse theater downtown.

On Saturday, Nov.20, Nicki and I drove over to the Olive Branch Malco Theatre to meet up with Kev and our fellow Memphis Ghostbusters.

Kevin brought along his Slimer puppet. Kevin’s a lifelong puppeteer.

We were joined by father and son Anakin (L) and Martheus Antone Wade.

Stacy Young (far left) also joined us for his first appearance with the group. I’ve known Stacy for years now, and we both worked together at the art store in the Mall of Memphis back in the late ’80s.

We had great weather for the event. We were there to help promote the new flick by hanging out around the front of the theater from noon-2pm and take pics with movie goers.

There were several that showed up to see Ghostbusters, and some even wore some Ghostbuters tees- but lots of the kids and parents we talked to were there to see “Clifford, The Big Red Dog“.

Many of the kids that showed up at the theater were there for a Ghostbusters themed birthday party and private screening of the new movie. We popped into the party, gave the birthday boy a MemGB patch, and sang happy birthday with his guests. Thankfully nobody was disappointed we weren’t He-Man..!

After the Olive Branch appearance, I caught a ride with Kevin back to his place where we watched the Ghostbusters documentary, “Cleaning Up The Town“.

Later that night we got to see Ray Parker, Jr. perform live at The Halloran Centre downton- but that’s a story for another blog post.

The following day- Saturday, Nov. 21, was the late Harold Ramis‘ birthday.

Harold passed away at age 69 on February 24, 2014. “Egon, but not forgotten.”

I’m still not sure how I feel about the way Egon was handled in the movie, but glad that they dealt with Harold’s death in real life, and that what happens to the character in the movie is on-screen and not off screen and/or just a passing mention. I did like his cameo in the “Ghostbusters: Answer The Call” movie.

Oh, and on Halloween I suited up to go into work for an hour or two at Area 51. Had to cover for a coworker for a bit who was going to be late coming in. My Ghostbusters jumpsuit is one of my few costumes that I could wear while scooping ice cream.

After he got to work I then came home to hand out candy to any trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. I stayed out front so the knocking and doorbell wouldn’t freak out our cats.

Only had about 20 or so folks stop by our house, and many seemed to not actually be from the neighborhood- which is strange since we have a lot of kids around us. I’m cool with kids driving over- the more the merrier, but many kids walked down the other side of the street and never came back up our side. Did have Nicki take a few pics of me suited up.

I’ve been meaning to do more of a Halloween display in our yard, but always let the time slip up on me. Hopefully next year things will work out better.

While I was out front I played some Ghostbusters soundtracks and had my new Memphis Ghostbusters LED light on display. Kevin had given me one, and it changes colors- pretty cool!

Speaking of Kev- he, DaMarco Randle, and Janet & Antone Wade were out at the Crosstown Concourse for Trick-Or-Treating. We’ve always thought that the old Sears building looked a bit like Dana’s apartment building in the movie.