The Aztec Death Whistle[1] was a trinket owned by Egon Spengler, but it was later taken by Podcast.
History[]
Primary Canon History[]
Ghostbusters: Afterlife[]
Podcast discovered Egon's Aztec Death Whistle during his first visit to the Farmhouse. Gary Grooberson instantly recognized it and noted it was designed to ward off evil spirits. Before he could tell them about the horrifying sound it made, Podcast blew into it and generated the aformentioned horrifying sound. Phoebe covered her ears. Callie walked into the room to see what the noise was. Podcast stopped and Callie what the hell that was. Podcast informed her it was an Aztec Death Whistle then asked if he could keep it. Callie gave her permission as long as he didn't use it again in the house.
The next day, Phoebe and Podcast found Muncher in the Summerville Foundry. After they got close enough and hid behind a pipe, Podcast got the Aztec Death Whistle. He claimed to have a plan and used the whistle. It failed to ward off Muncher. Instead, he retaliated and spit metal projectiles at them. Phoebe wrangled him with her Particle Thrower, but Podcast failed to trap him in time and he fled the foundry.
Development[]
Early into writing the script, Jason Reitman reached out to Adam Savage, whom he is friends with, and asked for help in making one of the props for Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Savage suggested the Aztec Death Whistle and it was approved.[2] François Audouy sent Savage a design for the Death Whistle then he sculpted it in Sculpey polymer clay.[3] Production called for the Death Whistle props to look like "rotted stone."[4] In 2019, over a couple of days, Adam Savage worked on seven Death Whistle props with Mythbusters Junior co-host Allie Weber. Three props are the hero version, two are for background shots, and two are for stunts.[5][6] He secretly signed them "A A" for "Adam and Allie." The poured urethane plastic into the mold and used a type of resin called instacast.[7][8][9] Savage used Forstner bits to drill out two holes in the whistle end, one in each eye, and one under the jaw of each prop.[10] They used a Dremel tool to round out the rough edges.[11] They used a simple spray nozzle and blow drier as they lightly dusted coats on the base tan color and applying washes. For the look of rotted stone, they created they weathered look from using brown shoe polish, a black and burnt umber wash for browns, and a little bit of oil paint then some acrylic washes.[12][13] A pounce bag consisting of jersey t-shirt material filled with Fuller's earth was used to dirty up the props.[14] Savage used a special orange case made for the props and hand delivered them to Jason Reitman at the exterior Farmhouse set in Canada during principal photography.
Trivia[]
- The Aztec Death Whistle is based on a real life artifact. Its purpose is still in debate, ranging from intimidation tactic during war to ceremonial object for human sacrifice. In 1999, a 20-year-old sacrificial victim was discovered by archaeologists, clutching a death whistle in his hands inside a temple in Tlatelolco dedicated to the wind god Ehecatl.[15]
- The Aztech Death Whistle is included in the Clue Ghostbusters: Afterlife Edition and as an accessory for Podcast's Plasma Series action figure.
- In Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, there is an Aztec Death Whistle on the counter in Ray's Occult Books.
- After Patch 1.3.0., the whistle was removed temporarily due to a bug.
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References[]
- ↑ Gary Grooberson (2022). Ghostbusters: Afterlife Chapter 6 (2021) (Blu-Ray ts. 36:16-36:21). Sony Pictures. Gary Grooberson says: "Aztec Death Whistle. It's designed to ward off evil spirits. It's actually got a really horrifying sound--"
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 00:20-00:31 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "And they needed something that was about this big and they took my suggestion of an Aztec Death Whistle which is an actual thing. And reader, I got to build it for the film."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 30:58-31:09 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "Francois gave me a beautiful design. I sculpted it in Sculpey, cast it in resin and then Allie Weber, my co-host on Mythbusters Jr. and I spent a day finishing and refining these and we gave you seven."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 14:02-14:06 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "The look that production wants is a kind of rotted stone."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 00:36-00:53 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "To do this build, I actually commandeered the help of friend, my colleague, and my co-Mythbuster, the amazing Allie Weber, who visited the Cave in 2019 and assisted me for a couple of days as we painted and finished and packed up a full compliment of Aztec Death Whistles that I hand delivered to the set."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 08:07-08:12 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "Three heroes, two backgrounds, and two stunts. Seven total."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 01:01-01:04 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "I secretly signed it "A A" for Adam and Allie."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 01:27-01:39 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "As the urethane plastic that we're pouring, that is basically his stuff, this is what it looks like, as it leeches some of the silicone out so it makes the silicone weaker."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 02:26-02:29 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "So the types of resin we're using is called instacast."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 08:52-09:00 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "So what I did was, I used the Forstner bit to drill out two holes down there, one hole in each eye, and one hole under the jaw."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 09:06-09:37 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "What I need you to do is take this Dremel. It's got a rough bit on the end of it. First thing first, you see how in here my drill bit has left this kind of edge? I want to get rid of that."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 14:07-14:17 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "So, we are gonna start with a brown shoe polish then we're gonna hit it with a black and burnt umber wash and then we might end up hitting it with a little bit of an oil paint."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 21:44-22:07 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "But now I want to move on to the next stage. It involves some acrylic washes so to stop the-that process, we're gonna give it a matte clear. And then we're gonna let that dry and go over that with acrylic."
- ↑ Tested YouTube "Adam Savage's One Day Builds: Ghostbusters: Afterlife Hand Prop!" 27:03-27:27 11/18/2021 Adam Savage says: "This is, let's see, where do I begin? This is a bit of jersey t-shirt material filled with a powder so we would call this a pounce bag and in mold making. I'd use one full of corn starch to dust my mold to help the plastic go everywhere. This one though is a pounce bag full of diatomaceous earth otherwise known as fuller's earth otherwise known as dust in the movies."
- ↑ Discovery "The Aztec Death Whistle Makes One of the Scariest Sounds You'll Ever Hear" 8/1/2019
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