Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer analysis: How the new movie connects to the original

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Family mysteries

Columbia Pictures

In the opening moments of the first trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Finn Wolfhard's teenager Trevor explains to a contemporary played by Celeste O'Connor that his family is "completely broke." The only thing they own? "This creepy old farmhouse my grandfather left us in the middle of nowhere," says Trevor. We also meet the rest of his fam: sister Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and mom Callie (Carrie Coon). But who is this mysterious grandather???

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What lies beneath?

Columbia Pictures

When there's something strange in...the ground? We see a mysterious green entity shoot out of a mine shaft. And in the world of Ghostbusters, green things are rarely good news.

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Earth mover

Columbia Pictures

We meet Paul Rudd's school teacher Mr. Grooberson, who explains the problem of the family's new home. "Somehow, a town that isn't anywhere near a tectonic plate, that has no fault lines, no fracking, no loud music even, is shaking on a daily basis," he says.

Continued on next slide.

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Stranger things

Columbia Pictures

During one such alarming disturbance, Phoebe, Callie, and Trevor seek safety under a piece of furniture. "Hey, remember that one summer we died under a table?" deadpans the latter.

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Ghost trap

Columbia Pictures

The mystery deepens as Phoebe solves a puzzle and finds what Grooberson initially believes to be a "killer replica" of a ghost trap, the device which the original Ghostbusters — played by Bill Murray, Day Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and the late Harold Ramis — used to collect and confine ghoulies in the first movie.

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The walking dead

Columbia Pictures

Rudd's character explains to Phoebe — and to the trailer's viewers — that there "hasn't been a ghost-sighting in 30 years." Then, while Phoebe watches footage of the original Ghostbusters, the teacher explains, "New York in the '80s? It was like The Walking Dead."

Continued on next slide.

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Appetite for destruction

Columbia Pictures

Phoebe explores what appears to be the secret underground workshop of her late relative holding a P.K.E. Meter, the device invented by Ramis' Dr. Egon Spengler to detect supernatural activity. "My grandfather died," Phoebe says in voiceover. "My Mom says we're just here to pick through the rubble of his life."

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Minute man

Columbia Pictures

"Wait a minute!"

Rudd's teacher discovers that the ghost trap isn't a replica. "Who are you?" Grooberson asks, probably of Phoebe.

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Suiting up

Columbia Pictures

The identity of Trevor and Phoebe's grandfather is finally revealed as the latter discovers a Ghostbusters outfit which once belonged to Spengler.

Continued on next slide.

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Enemy mine?

Columbia Pictures

We see Phoebe entering an area of the countryside owned — or once owned, anyway — by the Shandor Mining Co. The name Shandor ring a bell? It should. In the original Ghostbusters, we learned it was a sinister architect named Ivo Shandor who designed the supernatural activity-attracting building in which Sigourney Weaver's Dana Barrett lives.

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Blast from the past

Columbia Pictures

As Trevor finds a car-sized object hidden under sheets in a garage we hear Bill Murray from the original Ghostbusters intoning, "Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma. I believe that everything happens for a reason."

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Heel turn

Columbia Pictures

All hell breaks loose — literally, perhaps — as some force obliterates the windows on a school bus and a creature's outsized foot slams down on the hood of a car occupied by Rudd's character. Is that creature a Terror Dog, as seen in the first film? We believe it is!

Continued on next slide.

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Car-maggedon

Columbia Pictures

"Come on darling!"

In the trailer's closing moments, we get a good look at the Ghostbusters' preferred mode of transport, the Ecto-1. "It has a gunner seat?" Yes. Yes, it does.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife will arrive in theaters on July 10.

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Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer decoded: How the new movie connects to the original

1 of 13

Family mysteries

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What lies beneath?

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Earth mover

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Stranger things

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Ghost trap

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The walking dead

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Appetite for destruction

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Minute man

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Suiting up

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Enemy mine?

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Blast from the past

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Heel turn

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Car-maggedon

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