Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Chapter 04)

Chapter 04
Type:	Scene
From:	Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Character(s):	Callie Spengler Wertheimer's Hardware Owner Gary Grooberson Phoebe Spengler Trevor Spengler Lucky Domingo Podcast
Run time:	06:29 (19:59 to 26:28)

Chapter 04 explores some of the history of Summerville.

Cast

Listed as they appear in film.

• Callie Spengler
• Wertheimer's Hardware Owner
• Gary Grooberson
• Phoebe Spengler
• Trevor Spengler
• Lucky Domingo
• Podcast

Locations

• Wertheimer's Hardware
• Summerville Middle School
• Spinners Roller Hop
• Summerville

Plot

"Muddy Water" played inside Wertheimer's Hardware. Callie pulled a can of Behr Premium Plus Interior Eggshell Enamel from a shelf. The owner asked her if she was doing some painting. She confirmed. He asked where she was staying. She told him she was at that old apocalyptic ranch off of 99 and added it was her father's place. Callie grabbed two roller brushes. The owner was surprised the Dirt Farmer had a family. Callie started to understand everyone in Summerville called him the Dirt Farmer. Callie got a roller. The owner clarified he meant nothing by it. He explained Egon spent every week working a piece of land but never seeding, never watering, never growing anything. He rang up Callie's stuff. He found it curious behavior but reckoned Egon was a reat customer even thought what he bought was bizarre. Callie thought that sounded like him.

The "Cujo Attacks Car" scene played on the TV. Suddenly, there was an earthquake. The students looked around. Gary went to an instrument and watched it record data. Phoebe walked in and stared at his research on the wall. She asked what it was. Gary stood and tried to sway her to go back to watching "Cujo" in the other room. She asked about the seismic map. He asked her how she knew about that. She replied it was a map of seismic activity and realized he was a seismologist. He asked if that was so hard to believe. She figured him for a football coach. Gary was at a loss for words. She looked over his papers and noticed the earthquake was neither tectonic nor volcanic. Gary scoffed and went to the white board. He drew a volcanic and a tectonic earthquake and emphasized a little P-wave was followed by a large S wave. Phoebe knew that. He erased the waves and drew the pattern in Summerville. It was a large P-wave then a small S wave like an explosion. She asked where it was coming from. Gary had no idea. He admitted he even set up geophones, but was unable to triangulate the source. She asked him if he was using three. He confirmed he knew how many sides there were in a triangle. Phoebe joked she just thought he was being obtuse and winked. Gary paused then asked if that was a geometry joke. She confirmed it was and explained that was why she winked. Gary called it terrible but loved it. He directed her to the seismic map and explained to her that Summerville was not anywhere near a tectonic plate, had no underground volcanic activity, had no fault lines, no fracking was ever done, and there was no loud music even yet the town was shaking on a daily basis. Phoebe guessed it could be the apocalypse. He looked at her.

"Wait a Minute Girl" played at Spinners Roller Hop. Trevor was in the walk-in freezer counting patties and shivering and stuttering. He was at 25. Lucky referred to him as "no-skills" and asked how inventory was going. Trevor declared it was not good at all and asked if everyone did it. She assured him it was super important but noticed his lips were literally blue. He claimed he was fine. She offered her hoodie. He repeated he was fine. Lucky stated it was masculine and had a wolf on it. He conceded and stood up. She placed the hoodie on him. He was kind of surprised it fit him. She joked it was her boyfriend's. He switched to taking it off. The boys outside snickered. She ordered him to get back to inventory.

Podcast paused and readied his boom mike as he and Phoebe walked through town. He instructed her to just introduce herself and tell him what she ate for breakfast. She stated her first name and toast. Podcast asked for a little more and suggested a joke. She asked what you call a dead polar bear. Podcast had no idea. She replied anything you want since it can not hear you know. Podcast laughed and took his headphones off. He loved the joke and told her she was funny. She smiled and admitted it was a pretty hilarious joke. Podcast thought of a fun fact and revealed Summerville had more dead residents than living ones. She informed him that was how cemeteries work. He pointed out Wertheimer's Hardware and claimed it was run by the Illuminati and mentioned Lizard people. She keyed in on the latter. Podcast named Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, and Beyoncé as examples of Lizard People. He asked rhetorically how she thought the pyramids came to be. She guessed slaves. Podcast told her the Napier Theatre was haunted. The signage advertised "Bingo" at 3 pm and "Cannibal Girls" at 7 pm. Phoebe revealed she did not believe in ghosts. Podcast stopped and turned around. He was shocked and pointed out all the evidence around. Phoebe believed humans were all just kind of meat puppets. Podcast got an idea. He stated there was something she needed to see and dashed off to grab his wheels. She followed after him.

They walked down the gravel road to the entrance to the Shandor Mining Company property. The broken fence was still not repaired from Egon ramming it. Phoebe asked if they were allowed to go inside. Podcast assured her it was totally okay. He informed her the mine was closed since the 1940s and the signs were put up because of hazardous chemical leaks and on account of dynamite. He demonstrated what he did and covered his nostril and mouth with his shirt. They walked towards a giant old cloth covering an entrance into the mine. Podcast told her the whole town was basically a mining operation and they bore out the mountain like a grapefruit and smelted everything into cold-riveted selenium girders. Phoebe wondered why they made a steel beam out of an electro conductor like selenium. Podcast agreed and found it weird. He continued and revealed they were forced to close down the operation. She asked why. He told her one by one, miners who had worked for years began leaping down the mine shaft to their death. They called it the Shandorian Curse. Podcast backed up behind the raggedy cloth and vanished. Phoebe peered in and followed. They look at carvings against a stone wall that matched those on New York City's Temple of Gozer. She asked who built it. Podcast replied it depended on who you believe. He claimed they just showed up one day without explanation. He remarked it was cool.

Trivia

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trivia

• Wertheimer's Hardware was named after Jason Reitman's lawyer Alan Wertheimer.
• The hardware store interiors were filmed at Howe's Brothers Lumber and Building store at 818 Railway Street in Crossfield.
• "Muddy Water" plays at 19:59 as Calie picks out painting supplies.
• Callie picks Behr Premium Plus Interior Eggshell Enamel.
• Tracy Letts portrayed the hardware store owner in an uncredited role. The original actor had a conflict and had to be replaced. Letts, Carrie Coon's husband, was in Canada with her along with their son Haskell and got the job.
• On the basic cable broadcast version that aired on FX, the alternate version of the owner saying "bizarre shit" is "bizarre things."
• The Summerville Middle School was filmed at the W.G. Murdoch School at 1020 Mountain Avenue, Crossfield, Alberta T0M0S0, Canada.
• "Cujo Attacks Car" from the Cujo movie's soundtrack can be heard at 20:36.
• A Zaxby's cup is in Gary Grooberson's research room. Zaxby's was one of the restaurant chains participating in promotional tie-ins for Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
• Phoebe's line stating she figured Grooberson for a football coach is a callback to the first movie, Chapter 10: Checking Out Dana, when Dana Barrett told Peter Venkman he seemed more like a game show host than scientist.
• On Grooberson's white board are some seismology terms like Trace Equalization, "adjusting a seismic channel so that the amplitudes of adjacent traces are comparable in the sense of having the same rms value over some specified interval, or some other criterion."
• Gary Grooberson's whiteboard sketches were inspired by Jason Reitman's consultation with University of Calgary geoscience professor David Eaton.
• Grooberson's seismic map of Oklahoma places Summerville as a stand-in for Woodward, Oklahoma.
• In the first domestic trailer, there is a close up shot of the seismic map that is not in the movie.
• Spinners Roller Hop was a set built at at First Avenue and Sixth Street in Beiseker, Alberta at the former Apple Pie Diner and Gas Station.
• "Wait a Minute Girl" plays at 22:45 when the camera zooms in on the Spinners sign and before we see Trevor in the freezer.
• Lucky gives Trevor a hoodie with a wolf on the back. Trevor is played by Finn Wolfhard.
• During Podcast's tour of Summerville, he and Phoebe walk past the Canadian Blood Services building in Beiseker.
• Podcast and Phoebe's tour was filmed in Fort MacLeod, as they walk past the Empress Threatre at 235 24th Street, Fort MacLeod, Alberta T0L 0Z0, Canada.
• Podcast points out Wertheimer's Hardware, where Callie presumably just shopped at.
• Podcast references the secret society known as the Illuminati and the notion that government is run by Lizard people. He implies he thinks Thomas Jefferson, Einstein, and Beyonce are Lizard people and are responsible for the Egyptian pyramids.
• The theatre advertises a screening of Cannibal Girls, a movie directed by Ivan Reitman and also referenced in Ghostbusters II, Chapter 21: Tenth Level of Hell, and Bingo.
• When Podcast and Phoebe walk to the Shandor Mining Company, the Dorothy Ferry Bridge was augmented with CGI to make the area look bigger.
• Between trailers and the final version of the movie, the background behind Phoebe and Podcast as they walk to the bridge to the Shandor Mining Company was digitally modified.
• It is revealed the Shandor Mining Company extracted selenium from the mines, a callback to the first movie, Chapter 20: Keymaster, when Ray Stantz noted 550 Central Park West was built with selenium girders.
• The hieroglyphs on the side of the mountain match the ones on the Temple of Gozer in the first movie.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Trivia

• At the beginning of the Sewer Dragon chase, Phoebe tells a joke and winks like she did with Gary after the earthquake.
• Gary tells Walter Peck he's Phoebe's step-teacher.
• After the Paranormal Research Center visit, Gary again mentions how he was Phoebe's summer school science teacher.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed Trivia

• In Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, at the top of the stairs in the Spirits Unleashed is the No Trespassing sign from the Shandor Mining Company seen in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Chapter 4 under the Road Closed Ahead sign.
  • After Patch 1.3.0., the sign was removed temporarily due to a bug.

Miscellaneous Tertiary Canon Trivia

• On page 14 of Egon's Journal, a supplement of the Hasbro Haslab Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler's Proton Pack, there is a reference to Chapter 4:
  • The events dubbed as "The Shandorian Curse."
• On page 32 of Egon's Journal, there is a reference to Chapter 4:
  • The photo of Callie is from a deleted scene. Another part of the scene was briefly in the Summoning the Spirit featurette in the Ghostbusters: Afterlife home entertainment release.

Gallery

Primary Canon Images

Images were grabbed from the Blu-ray by Paul Rudoff. Black bars have been removed, which leaves all images at a 2.40:1 aspect ratio.

Tertiary Canon Images

Shandor Mining sign seen in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed

Behind the Scenes Images

Walking to bridge entrance seen in B-Roll released 10/7/2021

Walking to bridge entrance seen in B-Roll released 10/7/2021

Warning sign at exterior set for Shanor Mining Company location (Credit: gb2magnum and Tony Vescarelli)

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