PROTON blasters at the ready? Oh yes, the Ghostbusters are back, whether you called them or not. We got another one!

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire marks a fifth entry for the long-running franchise and second legacy sequel to the eighties’ originals. Paul Feig’s all-female 2016 reboot remains a distant relation in the canon, despite being substantially better than all bar the first.

Nonetheless, it is via the close of 2021’s Afterlife that Frozen Empire finds its opening. You may remember - you may not - the string of events that led the original ‘busters to reform in Summerville, Oklahoma for a gutsy rematch with the dastardly Sumerian god Gozer. It was a family affair, with the grandchildren of the late Harold Ramis’ Egon Spengler accidentally releasing Gozer unto the world and proving instrumental in her re-trapping.

Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd and Ernie Hudson took their time in rushing to the rescue but managed to make the final act. As did Ramis, in the form of archival footage and digital reconstruction. The film ended with Peter Venkman (Murray), Ray Stantz (Akroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (Hudson) heading back to New York, where a flashing red light in the Ghostbusters firehouse suggested their work was far from undone.

Fast forward a few years and the remaining Spenglers - Mckenna Grace’s Phoebe, Finn Wolfheard’s Trevor and their mum Carrie, played by Carrie Coon - plus Paul Rudd’s Gary Grooberson are finally ready to make their own return to the Big Apple. Little do they know that an ancient artefact, with the power to bring about a second Ice Age, awaits them.

As with Afterlife, Frozen Empire is a project spearheaded by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman, who passed away in 2022, OG director of the OG Ghostbusters. This time around, Reitman gifts directorial credit to co-writer Gil Keenan but it’s clearly a shared effort.

For all their enthusiasm, truly original thought remains an alien concept to the pair. Indeed, it’s a nostalgia fest attitude that ensures reappearances for Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Why, on that matter, must it always be an ancient artefact?

That said, there is one semi-ancient artefact to be treasured here. Feel the thrill as a fully restored Ecto-1 plunders the Manhattan streets. It’s your childhood come back to haunt you - in a good way.