On Wednesday June 8, 2016, the United States and Belgium sent their best operatives to Brooklyn to save the world from impending paranormal phenomena. Actually, I think the word I'm looking for is "apocalypse". They came to kick ectoplasm and chew bubble gum...and they were all out of bubble gum. What follows is the report of their encounter.

I should warn you that it is image-intensive, and for the sake of simplicity, it will be posted as one long page, instead of as a multi-page article. The images seen here are only a fraction of what was taken. Check out the supplemental page elsewhere on Spook Central for the full gallery of 100+ images. All photos in this article were taken by me, Paul Rudoff, exclusively for Spook Central (except where otherwise noted). Please do not repost them elsewhere without permission. Thanks.

FYI: The event runs from June 8th through the 11th, so you still have two shows on the 11th you could attend if tickets are still available.

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The movie comes out on July 15th, but all of Simon Spotlight's books based on it are due for release on June 14th, a full month earlier. I opted to read and review the books now, even though that, obviously, spoils the movie for me. I have tried my best to make this review as spoiler-free as possible. If you're interested in buying this book, I would suggest either buying it now and filing it away until after you see the movie, or wait until July and buy it after seeing the movie. The point being: See the movie first, THEN read the book! (Also, images were quickly scanned in by me and any crookedness is not meant to reflect the actual product.)


June 14th sees the release of Who You Gonna Call? by David Lewman, a children's book based on the new Ghostbusters movie. It's part of the Ready-to-Read series (just like Proud To Be A Ghostbuster), classified at Level Three/Megastar Reader, which indicates that it features a "larger, more complex story plot and character development; challenging vocabulary words, and a more difficult sentence structure". The 6"x9" paperback tome is printed with a large font on plain paper stock and is suitable for the 6-8 year old age range (school grades 1-3), so that made for a light and fun breeze through the 40 pages. Released by the Simon and Schuster imprint, Simon Spotlight, this book carries a list price of $3.99, but you can always find it a little cheaper at Amazon, where an eBook version is also available.


Over six chapters, Who You Gonna Call? profiles the Ghostbusters, their equipment, and their history. The prose is written from the perspective of a sales brochure, meant to sell you, the reader, on using the Ghostbusters' services for all of your supernatural needs. The events of the new film have already happened.


One thing I've noticed about the book is that Jillian Holtzmann is never referred to solely by her first name as the other three Busters are. For example, on the profile pages, every one has their first name as the header except for Jillian, who only has her last name. Another example is found on the back cover synopsis (see image above). Kinda weird. Speaking of names, Kevin's last name is never given. not even in his profile. Until we recently spotted a promo photo of him holding up his headshots, we never knew it was "Beckman" because it was never included in any of the press materials so far. Since the last names of all of the ladies are given in the book, I would have expected for his to be, too.

Overall, a nice little book that could be considered the junior version of the Ghostbusters Handbook (to be reviewed here soon). I would surmise this to be the least spoilerific of all of the books based on the new movie. In fact, other than one sentence about Kevin and his possession (which was spoiled in the first trailer), this book is COMPLETELY SPOILER-FREE. For "little kids", this book would be suggestible, but those who want a little more "meat" would be better served by the Handbook.

The movie comes out on July 15th, but all of Simon Spotlight's books based on it are due for release on June 14th, a full month earlier. I opted to read and review the books now, even though that, obviously, spoils the movie for me. I have tried my best to make this review as spoiler-free as possible. If you're interested in buying this book, I would suggest either buying it now and filing it away until after you see the movie, or wait until July and buy it after seeing the movie. The point being: See the movie first, THEN read the book! (Also, images were quickly scanned in by me and any crookedness is not meant to reflect the actual product.)


June 14th sees the release of Proud To Be A Ghostbuster by David Lewman, a children's book based on the new Ghostbusters movie. It's part of the Ready-to-Read series, classified at Level Three/Megastar Reader, which indicates that it features a "larger, more complex story plot and character development; challenging vocabulary words, and a more difficult sentence structure". The 6"x9" paperback tome is printed with a large font on plain paper stock and is suitable for the 6-8 year old age range (school grades 1-3), so that made for a light and fun breeze through the 40 pages. Released by the Simon and Schuster imprint, Simon Spotlight, this book carries a list price of $3.99, but you can always find it a little cheaper at Amazon, where an eBook version is also available.


Over six chapters, Proud To Be A Ghostbuster encapsulates the story of the movie in words and pictures more suitable for younger kids than the junior and adult novelizations from Simon or Tor. Rather than recall the movie in detail, this adaptation focuses more on the friendship between Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), and how it plays out through the course of the Ghostbusters' story. As expected, a lot of story elements and characters are left out, such as the mayor and mayor's aide. There is a positive portrayal of friendship and of being there for each other.


One thing I've noticed about the book is that Jillian Holtzmann is never referred to solely by her first name as the other three Busters are. For example, "Abby, Erin, and Holtzmann were amazed!" Another example is found on the back cover synopsis (see image above). Kinda weird. Speaking of names, Kevin's last name is never given. Until we recently spotted a promo photo of him holding up his headshots, we never knew it was "Beckman" because it was never included in any of the press materials so far. Since the last names of all of the ladies are given in the book, I would have expected for his to be, too.

Overall, a nice little book that could be considered the junior junior novelization. I would recommend Proud To Be A Ghostbuster for little kids who are not ready to read the movie novelizations by Stacia Deutsch (Simon) and Nancy Holder (Tor). Adults would, likely, be better served by the Tor book.

Along with an increase in ghostly activity, a cult favorite of the '80s and '90s is making a haunting return. Hi-C Ecto Cooler, the ghoulish refreshing citrus juice drink, will be back tomorrow, May 30th, in the United States.

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It's been a while since we've done a Shot on Site article here, mainly because most of the Ghostbusters filming locations have already been identified, and what remains may be near impossible to find. Today's location is a Ghostbusters location in another movie, yet is isn't a Ghostbusters location. Thanks to Matthew Jordan, as always, for noticing this.

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I was recently interviewed by Michael Baggs from BBC Online in regards to the new Ghostbusters movie and the overwhelming amount of hatred geared towards it. Michael's piece, entitled Why do lots of Ghostbusters fans already hate the new movie?, was just published, so go check it out.

It's a pretty fair piece, and I hope that I did a good job representing the fans. I actually wrote a lot more than what was quoted in the article. Since I spent a few hours typing it, I thought it would be nice if I copy and pasted my original responses here. I wasn't sure if Michael was looking for lengthy, wordy answers, or something a little more brief, so I did my best to answer these questions without writing the second volume of "War and Peace" :-) Some of my answers could be applicable to more than one question, but I did my best to give each question a unique answer.

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The second International trailer for the new 2016 Ghostbusters reboot movie came out today. It's embedded above, so feel free to watch it before reading on. I'm going to share my thoughts on the trailer in a sort-of running commentary form, though I won't go over every single shot.

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The second U.S. trailer for the new 2016 Ghostbusters reboot movie came out today. It's embedded above, so feel free to watch it before reading on. I'm going to share my thoughts on the trailer in a sort-of running commentary form, though I won't go over every single shot.

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Lookee what I received in the mail today. Yup, it's one of those super-awesome "Ghost Corps Cadet" pins. If I still had any of the 15th anniversary Spook Central patches I had made back in 2011, I would have sent them one in return. I'm looking into getting Spook Central t-shirts made for the site's 20th anniversary this August. I'll definitely send them one for their memorabilia display case, if I can make it a reality. Yes, you read correctly. This Ghostbusters fansite has been "alive" and active for TWO DECADES! It's older than the kids who'll be watching the new movie :-)

You can hit up Ghost Corps on Facebook and check out their Ghostbusters Wiki page to learn more about them.

Warner Bros. Games recently released the Stay Puft & Slimer Fun Packs, which completes the run of Ghostbusters content for Lego Dimensions, and I have the honor of reviewing them for you today.

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