31 years after the events of Ghostbusters II

The Ghostbusters once again find themselves disbanded due to a lack of business (they clearly did TOO good of a job eliminating the ghost threat that had plagued New York, not once, but twice.) The core team of Venkman, Stantz, Spengler, Zeddemore, along with Dana Barrett, Louis Tully & Janine Melnitz have all gone their separate ways.

For the first time in years, our “heroes” are brought back together for the funeral of their good friend Dr. Egon Spengler. They all attend the funeral in upstate New York, where Egon had married and had children. At the funeral & after, the team catches up a bit and chat’s with Egon’s wife about the weird circumstances surrounding his death. She is unsure just what happened to Egon, but hints at the fact that he had been “researching” the paranormal for years on his own and that he had been increasingly excited as of late.

Stantz & Zeddmore decide to investigate Egon’s passing and convince Venkman that he should join them. Tully (who has been reading and studying the occult and researching ghosts for years now) joins the team, even though they try to discourage it. They start at Egon’s house, in his barn/research facility. It is clear by the photos and red string (MOVIE LAW) that Egon has been researching a phenomenon that has appeared not only in New York, but around the world.

Egon’s research (as found and recapped vocally by the team) had continued to focus on human emotions & how the paranormal could affect or be affected by them. Graphs and charts on the walls of his research barn clearly showed that the anger levels around the world had been increasing over the last 3 decades and he had found a link to the paranormal. One common thread was the internet and Egon was convinced that a singular spirit/entity was somehow using the world wide web to slowly increase the hostility and anger of people all over the world. His studies often involved interviews with the angriest of them all – internet trolls.

During their own research and investigation, a ghost (unseen by the team, but definitely seen by the viewers of the film) helps to nudge Tully towards some clues, moving objects, hitting keys on the keyboard, whispering in his ear, etc.

The team eventually finds that the “hottest” spots to investigate are internet exchange points around the world (where the majority of internet traffic goes through) and they head to the CoreSite Any2 facility in good ol’ New York to investigate.

At the facility, the team finds that the employees there are all a little “off,” and especially angry. Even for native New Yorkers, the behavior of these employees seems a bit much.  Through a series of events, mishaps and plenty of colorful banter from Venkman, they determine that spirits have started to take over the employees there and at other exchange points around the world. Their snooping and discovery leads the big bad (a BTVS term) of the movie to reveal him/herself.

Fast forward. How do you fight a ghost that has taken over the internet? You go into the internet. The team goes into a Ghostbusters video game, created almost ten years before and takes control of their digital selves, using VR to fight the big bad. Tully takes over the Egon character and fights alongside the team. Of course, not being video game players, the team has some early mishaps, but eventually they figure it out. While in the game, they recruit other players (and even some ghosts – hello Slimer cameo) to help them in their struggle and eventually go head-to-head with the big bad – an actual, giant TROLL doll, complete with huge brightly colored hair. (shout out to merchandising)

The team puts up the fight of their lives and, of course, comes out on top. The big bad is trapped and harnessed in a digital containment unit, courtesy of Egon’s son who was helping from outside the video game and walking the team through some of the finer points of video game play.

Upon exiting the game, the team celebrates their victory, but something is off. Tully, who is always weird enough, seems really out of it and doesn’t remember much of what happened during the events of their epic struggle against the giant Troll. They all comment about what an amazing job he did as Egon, but he just can’t piece it together. A quick shot at the end shows the spirit of Egon rising up out of Tully’s body, only seen by the audience.

The Ghostbusters save the world again, but this go-round was a little different. This time the events were live streamed via sites like Twitch, Mixer & YouTube to every corner of the globe. The world (now void of the extra negativity forced on it by these spirits) becomes a happier place and an entire generation of fans are armed with the knowledge and ability to fight the ghosts, should they… I mean WHEN THEY eventually reappear.