The Worst Ghostbusters Movie Is On Netflix And It’s Not The Remake
Folks, it’s time to say something I never thought I would say: the 2016 Ghostbusters remake is not the worst Ghostbusters movie. That would be this year’s Frozen Empire. Netflix just picked it up, so you can check it out if you don’t believe me.
Frozen Empire Could’ve Been Great
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire could have been the big one. After Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) pulled a Force Awakens and got all the obligatory nostalgia bate out of the way, Frozen Empire had a clean slate to work with.
Writer Jason Reitman and director Gil Kenan could have made a movie about anything. Instead, they made the worst Ghostbusters movie ever.
New And Old Ghostbusters
Frozen Empire sees the cast of Afterlife now living in New York City and Ghostbusting full-time. New edition to the cast, Kumail Nanjiani shows up with a cursed artifact and accidentally releases Snow Gozer—sorry, Garraka—an evil god that freezes stuff.
The new, old Ghostbusters, led by McKenna Grace’s Phoebe and the old, old Ghostbusters, team up to stop Garraka.
In the end, however, Kumail’s character, who’s secretly a firebender apparently, is the one who has to defeat Frosty the Jerkman.
Written out like that it sounds like more fun than it actually is. Even the return of Slimer and Walter Peck can’t save Frozen Empire from being the worst Ghostbusters movie.
Fire Vs. Ice
Jason Reitman, son of legendary Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, could have gone a million different ways with this movie.
He chose a dumb fire vs. ice plot and had an evil snowman fight that one guy from Eternals. Yawn. Say what you will about Ghostbusters 2016—Answer the Call if you’re nasty—at least it wasn’t boring.
Oh, it was horrible. I’m not arguing that. It was badly paced, the tone was all over the place, etc. But a bad movie at least engages you on some level.
Disgust is still an emotion, after all. What makes Frozen Empire the worst Ghostbusters movie is that it’s boring.
Frozen Empire Had No Soul
Give me a dumpster fire movie over a forgettable, boring one any day. At least I can have fun discussing what makes the dumpster fire movie so bad. Ask my opinion on Frozen Empire, and you’ll get a single-word answer: meh.
Call it mid if you want to get all Gen Z with it, but the point is it was a soulless, meandering snoozefest.
You might walk out of a showing of Ghostbusters 2016, but at least you won’t fall asleep. I can’t say the same for Frozen Empire. Is that enough to make it the worst Ghostbusters movie ever? I think so.
Stream It Now
GFR SCORE
What are the other options? Ghostbusters (1984)? Ghostbusters II (1989)? Some folks might say, yes, Ghostbusters II is the worst in the franchise, but that’s because they’re silly.
The second Ghostbusters is an underrated gem with hilarious lines like “I’d like to run some gynecological tests on the mother,” “Who wouldn’t?” and “We had part of a slinky, but I straightened it.”
Even Ghostbusters: Afterlife, while derivative and pandering, was still a fun time. No, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is definitely the worst movie in the Ghostbusters franchise.
You can stream it on Netflix—and should if you’re a huge Ghostbusters fan. Just don’t be surprised if you go to rest your eyes, and they don’t open again until the credits roll.
That might actually be the best way to watch it.
