Not to be confused with Possessor Ghosts from Ghostbusters: The Video Game
The Possessor is a ghost that possesses inanimate objects.
History[]
Before Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire[]
Possessor was captured and placed in an enclosure at the Paranormal Research Center for study. It was kept in an enclosure across from Bonesy that was decorated with vintage Americana.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire[]
In the summer of 2024, Winston Zeddemore introduced the current Ghostbusters to the Paranormal Research Center. Phoebe Spengler noticed the enclosures and looked inside one. Winston revealed the ghosts were being studied and the Proton Fields worked like Proton Packs and kept them from escaping. Ray Stantz instantly recognized Possessor and called it the most threatening pest in the facility. Possessor jumped from a table centerpiece, into the ceiling light, a plate, a lamp, a folding chair, a TV stand, the vintage Sony television set, a Hoover vacuum cleaner, cup, candy dish, and a pair of scissors. It then launched the scissors towards Trevor Spengler and hit the glass pane. Ray laughed.
That night, Lars Pinfield and Lucky Domingo extracted ghosts from several spirit-loaded objects. After a Haunted Doll was exorcised, the Possessor, while in possession of a folding chair, tapped on its enclosure to get Lars's attention. Lars informed it he was too busy to play but promised if it was good, he would give it a tennis ball. It stopped tapping. Lucky chose the Orb of Garraka next but it resisted extraction in the Ionic Separator. Possessor resumed tapping its glass. The center lost power. Possessor cracked the enclosure while in the folding chair. Lars was able to restart the Proton Fields before any ghosts escaped. The next day, Ray and Podcast returned to the Paranormal Research Center and learned about what the orb was doing. The Death Chill neutralized Possessor's Proton Field on the sly while everyone watched the Mini-Pufts react to the orb. The Possessor escaped through the cracks in the glass, into a mop, and hid in Podcast's audiovisual gear.
At the New York City Public Library, Dr. Hubert Wartzki played a wax cylinder recording of the chant that could free Garraka to Ray, Podcast, and Phoebe. Possessor made its move. It possessed the phonograph. Everyone was confused by the weird sounds the phonograph suddenly made. It turned and shot the cylinder into a trash bag then possessed the trash bag and ran off. It startled a librarian and jumped over her book cart. They chased after it through the stacks. Patrons and employees were confused to see a trash bag jump up and move across the tables then jump up to the stairs. Possessor possessed the Patience the Lion statue outside. Hubert boosted Ray up to grab the cylinder at Patience's feet. Possessor made its presence known. Ray fell over and instructed Podcast and Phoebe to push "the button" on Ecto-C. Civilians on the steps took off as Patience leaped down from its stand. Hubert hid behind a sign. Ray fell on his back again and was face to face with Patience. Podcast saw many buttons and started pushing. Eventually, he unlocked a Particle Thrower from the sidecar. Phoebe fired and sliced Patience's tail off. The thrower glitched as Patience turned its attention to Phoebe. Podcast frantically pushed the buttons. Patience leaped towards Phoebe. She blasted the statue and the cylinder to pieces but was arrested by the police along with Ray and Podcast. Possessor jumped from debris to debris and fled the scene.
The next day, while on look out on the Firehouse's roof, Lucky Domingo spotted a tricycle pedaling by itself towards the building. She radioed Winston Zeddemore. Ray knew right away that it was Possessor in the tricycle. Possessor pedaled into the door, possessed the front doors, and tore them off the hinges. It shot up to the Ghostbusters sign and made its way into Ecto-1 from a tool chest. Winston, Ray, Janine, and Peter ran for the office as it backed up towards them. Possessor entered a filing cabinet and shot up to the second floor in a paper airplane. Lucky nudged the paper. Possessor entered Lucky's Particle Thrower and took aim at Trevor. Gary Grooberson ran to the kitchen to sacrifice himself for Trevor but Nadeem redirected the Proton Stream outside. Podcast quickly smashed up the Proton Pack with his Hammer of Truth. Possessor tried to hop away in a pizza that was on the kitchen table but Slimer suddenly appeared and gobbled down the pizza with Possessor in it.
Objects Possessed[]
- Centerpiece
- Ceiling light
- Plate
- Lamp
- Folding chair
- TV stand
- 1969 Sony Trinitron KV model TV
- 1970's era Hoover Junior U1036 vacuum cleaner
- Candy dish
- Cup
- Scissors
- Mop
- Podcast's AV gear
- Phonograph
- Wax cylinder
- Trash bag
- Patience the Lion statue
- Tricycle
- Firehouse front doors
- Ghostbusters sign
- Tool chest
- Ecto-1
- File cabinets
- Liberty Mutual statement/paper airplane
- Lucky's Proton Pack and Particle Thrower
- A pizza box and pizza
Personality[]
The Possessor Ghost is extremely dangerous and mischievous.
Classification[]
Tertiary Canon Classification[]
Possessor is a Class 7 Full Possessor.[2]
Powers[]
Possessor can possess any inanimate object.
Also See[]
Trivia[]
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Trivia[]
- A first look at the possessor was revealed by the Hasbro Fright Features Ecto Stretch Callie figure packaging. It listed the possessor as a Class VIII Full Possessor.[2]
- In the February 9, 2024 vignette "Meet the Ghosts", the possessor was first mentioned by Celeste O'Connor at the 15 second mark.[3]
- Ray Stantz considers the ghost impossible to trap.[4]
- For the scenes when Possessor is in the folding chair, the chair was puppeteered by Gil Kenan who lied down on his back.[5]
- The gag with the Edison cylinder phonograph was done with simple timers and a safety system composed of a cam and micro-switches to prevent a misfire.[6]
- Doug McCarthy was shown reference video of a possessed trash bag from Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed and met the person from the crew who came up with the idea. McCarthy made three variations of the trash bag for different shots in the movie.[7]
- Armorer Doug McCarthy made three puppet versions of the possessed trash bag referred by him as "Baggy".[8]
- The trash bag had footholds for the puppeteer to step into and hobble around in during filming.[9]
- An early version of the Baggy trash bag had a mouth formed but was not used.[10]
- A cupcake prop was made for Possessor as another option to possess but was not used for filming.[11]
- At the police station, Winston incorrectly asks Phoebe why she shot Fortitude in the face. Possessor possessed Patience.
- The tricycle possessed by Possessor was a nod to horror movies, including Jigsaw's bike in the "Saw" movies and the one in The Shining", as well as to the first scene in Gil Kenan's "Monster House".[12]
- The sound effects of the tricycle in "Monster House" was re-used for Possessor's. Will Files still had it saved on a hard drive.[13]
- The shot of the Firehouse door being smashed off the frame was done by him pulling a snatch line with their wire rigger and all the door furniture was fired off in sequence.[14]
- The possessed Ecto-1 is a nod to Stephen King's "Christine" (1983).
- The possessed paper airplane is made of a Liberty Mutual statement.
- The possessed Proton Pack was a lightweight, breakaway version with a lot of rubber components and sparks for when it is crushed.[15]
- The possessed pizza's movement was achieved by inserting two rods into a pliable disc.[16]
- According to Kevin Mangold, the prop used for possessed pizza was going to be a rubber one initially but the movement did not look right so real pizzas were used.[17] According to Senior SFX Technician Doug McCarthy, it was a prop pizza with real toppings glued on.[18]
Appearances[]
Primary Canon Appearances[]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ Will Files instagram 4/20/2024
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Austin Ghostbusters instagram 12/28/2023
- ↑ Ghostbusters YouTube "GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE - Meet the Ghosts" 2/9/2024
- ↑ Spook Central "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Production Notes" 3/22/2024 Line reads: "According to Ray Stantz, Possessor is extremely dangerous and impossible to trap."
- ↑ Gil Kenan (2024). Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire- Commentary (2024) (Blu-ray ts. 39:35-39:47). Sony Pictures. Gil Kenan says: "For the scenes when Lars is communicating with the chair, I was laying down on my back... holding a chair as a giant metal puppet, banging it against the glass, living out my puppetry dreams."
- ↑ Adam Savage's Tested "The "Possessed" Props of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire!" 12:18-12:36 3/21/2024 Adam Savage says: "We just got basic timers. So I can adjust when it happens, I can adjust the duration then I've got a cam here with little micro-switches so it can't ever fire when the handle's in that position."
- ↑ Ghostbusters Fans PukieDoug post 3/9/2024 PukieDoug says: "When I was asked to make the Baggy on set puppet i had been shown a similar reference video, I made three variations for various shots . I also got to meet the guy who first came up with the idea who had produced the computer game . So yes very referenced."
- ↑ Ghostbusters Fans PukieDoug post #1 2/23/2024 PukieDoug says: "I made three puppet versions of Baggy."
- ↑ Entertainment Weekly "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire director breaks down how they created Baggie, the haunted trash bag" 3/25/2024 Gil Kenan says: "The SFX department created a trash bag that had a couple of footholds for a puppeteer to step into so that you could hobble around, so that I could block the sequences. The performance of that trash bag with a performer's legs stuck into it is so hilarious and so close to the way that the final animation was created because it just created this loose, weird, goofy movement that I just loved so much."
- ↑ Bill Bryan instagram 3/28/2024 Bill Bryan says: "An early unused idea for the Baggie Ghost..."
- ↑ Bill Bryan instagram 4/16/2024 Bill Bryan says: "Another option for Posessor to possess."
- ↑ Gil Kenan (2024). Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire- Commentary (2024) (Blu-ray ts. 1:28:43-1:29:16). Sony Pictures. Gil Kenan says: "Oh, and this, uh, tricycle, the, uh, vehicle that the possessor spirit, who I haven't talked enough about yet, but I'll get my chance, arrives to the firehouse in, and through a sort of Trojan Horse of an arrival is a, uh, reference to, well, every horror film ever made, including, um, the Saw films, Jigsaw's bike, obviously The Shining, but also to the first scene of Monster House."
- ↑ Gil Kenan (2024). Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire- Commentary (2024) (Blu-ray ts. 1:29:26-1:29:38). Sony Pictures. Gil Kenan says: "Uh, we use the same sounds of the tricycle that Will Files has had on a hard drive since that film, to bring the tricycle to life."
- ↑ Ghostbusters Fans PukieDoug post 1/11/2024 PukieDoug says: "The last trailer had our door being smashed off the frame ? I was pulling a snatch line with our wire rigger and all the door furniture was fired off in sequence , hard to see with the CGI smoke cloud though."
- ↑ Spook Central "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Production Notes" 3/22/2024 John Van Der Pool says: "We created a lightweight, breakaway version of that pack, so that Podcast can come in and smash it to pieces with his Hammer of Truth. A lot of rubber components, a lot of sparks, and the actors could be right next to it."
- ↑ Spook Central "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Production Notes" 3/22/2024 John Van Der Pool says: "Even though it is just a rubber pizza on the end of two sticks, it shows the subtle nuances that a puppeteer can add to a character. At one point, the pizza flicks off the little plastic pizza table -- the thing that separates a pizza from its box -- and runs off across the counter. It's just those little touches that bring it to life."
- ↑ Extraplasm Podcast "Episode 80: Extraplasm Gets Slimed With Kevin Mangold of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" 1:18:21-1:18:43 4/17/2024 Kevin Mangold says: "It was rubber. It didn't really look right. So we rehearsed it that way three or four times and we had a whole stack of real pizzas there so it was pretty much always assumed we were going to at least try the real pizzas."
- ↑ Ghostbusters Fans Doug McCarthy post 4/27/2024 Doug McCarthy says: "I made the moving pizza from whit plastazote foam, I made and attached the puppeteering rods ( removed in post production) I painted it to match the on set real pizza and we used real pizza topping and glued it on . It WAS used in set and you see it in the final film . He wasn’t even there."
Gallery[]
Primary Canon Images[]
Behind The Scenes Images[]
Merchandise Images[]
