Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
We did it, you guys. We as a society that uses the internet have managed to survive the Ghostbusters 2016 remake. It was touch and go for a while. The remake’s brilliant cast was attacked, no one more than the highly talented and inspiring Leslie Jones. People, whose names I will not generate traffic for in this article, had their social media accounts justifiably deleted. There was a lot of aggressive and confusing hatred for a movie that never tried to be anything other than fun. But we did it. We cleared this nostalgia hurdle, and most of us were treated to a highly entertaining blockbuster and a stellar performance from Kate McKinnon.
All of this Ghostbusters talk has probably left you with a ghost-shaped hole in your heart. You’ve already watched the original and sequel more times than you can remember, have spent too much money at the theaters. What other ghost-related watches are left? I have one suggestion for you: Ghostheads.
Ghostheads is to Ghostbusters what Back in Time is to Back to the Future. It’s a highly detailed documentary that explores the ever-nerdy quirks and extremes of the Ghostbusters fandom. The movie includes interviews from Dan Aykroyd, Ivan Reitman, Ernie Hudson, and more Ghostbusters fanatics than you can count as they try to explain why this odd paranormal comedy has had such a large effect on pop culture for three decades. Like with every fan-focused documentary, this one will leave you speechless as you watch the painstaking efforts some people take to prove their devotion to the Ghostbusters universe. However, what sets Ghostheads apart is the movie’s surprisingly humanizing stories.
Watching documentaries about obsessive fans is one of my guilty pleasures, but there’s a vulnerability to the stories in Ghostheads you wouldn’t expect a comedy movie to produce. One fan in particular, Abigail Gardner, shares how the movie helped her alcoholism. It’s uplifting to see how a movie most people have seen and loved has been used to genuinely help someone’s life. Another documentary subject, clinical psychologist Dr. Andrea Letamendi, wonderfully explains the benefits of the often-confusing phenomenon that is cosplaying. Ghostheads doesn’t take great pains to put its subjects on a pedestal, nor does it rebuke them. Rather, the documentary shows an assortment of people who have used a bit of pop culture to help them through life, and those moments are beautiful.
There are some problems with the documentary. The subjects are almost overwhelmingly white and male, a detail that feels even more jarring when you consider the “criticism” (read: largely sexist and racist complaints) the 2016 remake has received. But in the wake of all these Ghostbusters controversies, it’s nice to watch a movie that reminds you that not every Ghostbusters fan is cruel. Most of them are just really passionate about a classic Bill Murray comedy and want to share that passion with you.
