This fourth issue in the franchise takes a long time to come good as it goes all over the place trying to establish a connection between Ghostbuster Harold Ramis’ deceased grandfather character and Coon’s estranged daughter who would rather wipe out the past Ghostbuster history - but Callie did not reckon with her children’s innate curiosity to learn about their grandfather and is caught unawares by the volcanic reawakening of Ghosts that lay dormant for several years. To spice up the narrative screenwriters Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman have Trevor crushing on the slightly older Lucky (Celeste O’Connor) and science whiz Phoebe bonding with two people namely, a self-assured podcasting kid (Logan Kim), and the other, a teacher, Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) who moonlights as a seismologist and appears to have amicable feelings for Callie.

The long-drawn exposition includes clips from the original film in the form of YouTube videos that Phoebe watches as part of her research on the New York City hauntings of the ’80s. Afterlife doesn’t appear to have much life going into the climax. The defanged ghosts lack spirit and the dry wit fails to bring on the smiles. The shape-shifting Sumerian deity Gozer, the chief villain of the original tale rises again but we don’t get to know why? Logic is suspect and the pseudoscience feels more like nonsense. Even the F/x fails to rouse up affection. But for the able sound design, Rob Simonsen’s injective orchestral score, François Audouy’s inspiring production design,  Eric Steelberg’s visually atmospheric cinematography, and the leading actors’ charismatic presence, this movie would have been just as forgettable as the earlier reboot.