Last year, when Ghostbusters fans asked the age-old question, “Who ya gonna call?” it was Jason Reitman and his father, Ivan, who answered. The former made a direct sequel to the latter’s two horror comedies, passing the proton pack to a new generation while also paying sincere homage to the original film. Ghostbusters: Afterlife currently is available on digital to stream, and will be arriving on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on February 1, and in celebration, Sony gave us a delightful exclusive clip on the behind-the-scenes making of an adorable – but malicious – moment in the movie.
There are certain elements that need to be part of any Ghostbusters continuation, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife included them all. We had proton packs and ghost traps, Ecto-1 and the return of Gozer the Gozerian (played by Olivia Wilde). And in a wild scene set in a WalMart, Paul Rudd’s teacher character encountered the resurrected Marshmallow Men, though they looked a lot different than Mr. Stay Puft did in the original. Here’s a look at how they pulled these little terrors off.
I didn’t stop and think about it until now, but the improvement of visual effects (and overall imagination) meant that the mini Stay Puft creatures could operate differently than the lumbering, stiff threat of the original. They move, stretch, bounce, and yes, get destroyed a lot more than the Stay Puft man did in the original Ghostbusters. And they often are responsible for “killing” each other, turning each other into S’mores or dropping friends into a blender. As Ghostbusters: Afterlife director Jason Reitman points out:
It’s not that the mini-marshmallow men are mean. They’re just curious, and want to watch the world burn. Because it delights them.
Still, the exclusive Ghostbusters: Afterlife clip also illustrates the number of practical solutions that the film team used to do things such as shaking a bag of Stay Puft marshmallows on the shelf of the WalMart, or making the bag rip open. It’s cool to see how 3D-printed versions of the mini-men were employed to give Paul Rudd an idea of where to look. And it furthered the notion that Reitman really tried to do as many things practically as he could for Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
In addition to Afterlife, Sony on February 1 will be releasing the Ghostbusters Ultimate Collection 4K Ultra HD Set, which comes with the first Ghostbusters, its sequel Ghostbusters II, and Afterlife, all on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray. The set boasts two discs filled with special features, including more than 20 hours of rare behind-the-scenes footage, the full Preview Cut of the original movie, a full 220-page reprint of the rare 1985 “Making GHOSTBUSTERS” book, and more.