Every Halloween, I like looking at villains usually of the Disney variety. Though, I’ve decided to expand and look at some of the Ghostbusters villains including those from all five movies plus one from the cartoon. This first entry is an interesting case as we are looking at a legacy villain. Insert meme here.
For good or ill, Ghostbusters is now a legacy franchise and in 2021, the long gestating third movie in the mainline series was released featuring the return of Gozer. I am admittedly mixed on this as I don’t think the boys in beige need a recurring antagonist. It’s more exciting IMO to see them expand and use their smarts to go up against new ghosts.
Perhaps, it is just me that feels this way but much as I like Afterlife, I don’t think Gozer’s return was needed. Then again, I kinda get it as some fans needed reassurance/babying after the mess that happened with the 2016 movie. How that movie became a culture war is beyond me.
Actors
Gozer’s actor situation is a bit confusing so I’ll just pull from what’s mentioned on the Wiki entry.
That’s a lot of actors for Gozer but it works for them to sell the otherworldly nature of Gozer.
First Appearance
It’s a while before Gozer physically appears in the original movie but their presence is always looming such as with the Terror Dogs and them going after Dana and Luis.
Once they do show up though, we get the classic Are You a God line.
Love that moment. We also have to look at how they appear when Ray chooses the form of the destructor.
This moment is a reminder of this being a comedy as here we have a powerful godlike being taking on the form of a cartoon mascot. I love it so much, it’s so goofy but it works so well.
Much like the original, it takes a while before Gozer shows up in Afterlife and I’ll admit their presence doesn’t loom as large in the 2021 movie as it does in the first movie. The first view we get of Gozer is a giant shrine built by overarching antagonist, Ivo Shandor. Who we learn in the movie timeline built the entire town of Summerville as a way to bring Gozer back to the world of the living.
Shandor was a worshipper of Gozer and we saw how much of a threat they were in the video game serving as the main antagonist but Frozen Empire retconned the video game out of the timeline.
In the movie timeline, we see Shandor released from his coffin in his ghostly form ready to serve Gozer but Gozer felt no need for a servant such as him and ripped him in half.
And yes, that is J.K. Simmons as Shandor in the movie timeline. Y’know on the one hand I wish we had gotten more time with Shandor in the movie timeline as he is a character we had heard so much about since the first movie. After all, the Shandor building was the setting for the climax of the 1984 movie.
At the same time however as I mentioned, Shandor was the main antagonist of the excellent video game that many fans myself included considered Ghostbusters 3 until Afterlife came out.
So Shandor did get his moment to shine as a big bad against the boys in beige but again I can’t help but think how fun it would’ve been to see the Ghostbusters going up against a ghostly J.K. Simmons who they had to stop from releasing Gozer back into the world of the living.
Personality
The best Ghostbusters villains take themselves seriously contrasting with the blue collar nature of the boys. You can feel that with Gozer in the original movie as they view the Ghostbusters as annoyances that are in their way. This changes quite a bit in the 2021 movie as Gozer is vengeful and wants to destroy the Ghostbusters because of what happened with the crossrip of 1984. Again as I said I am mixed on bringing back Gozer but them wanting revenge for what happened is not a bad idea and I can see how it works.
We get a sense of how much Gozer takes themsleves seriously when Phoebe tries to tell a joke and is annoyed by the young girl and just asks her if she’s ready to die.
Weird aside but I never realized how sexy Gozer can come across until watching Afterlife but that is a bit beside the point.
Grand Desire
In the original movie, Gozer is just interested in world destruction, i.e., destroy our world and views the Ghostbusters as in their way.
However, in the 2021 movie while not acknowledged by Gozer themselves, we see that they remember the Ghostbusters and is angered by their presence and will not stand to let the boys stop them this time. As I mentioned, they are vengeful towards the Busters and we see that as they easily knock out the old guard.
It takes all of them plus Phoebe and the ghost of Egon to finally take down Gozer once and for all.
Which yeah, I’m kinda mixed on them using Egon like this but the whole movie is a love letter/goodbye to Egon/Harold Ramis. So, it’s a sweet sentiment but it still feels weird to use his likeness in such a way.
Lackeys
Vinz Clortho and Zuul
I’ve decided not to talk about Shandor here as I already went to length about him up above. So, I wanted to focus on the Terror Dogs aka the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster. These two are essential in releasing Gozer into the human realm by as Podcast puts it getting to third base. As observed, they have to find human hosts to achieve this act. In original, it was Dana and Luis and in Afterlife, they used daughter of Egon, Callie and Ghostbusters superfan Gary Gruberson who were dating to release Gozer into the world.
Something kinda funny/weird about the minion of Gozer possessing the body of the daughter of someone that took out their master. Though I’ll admit this is where Afterlife gets a bit too reference heavy for my liking as Callie while possessed by Zuul repeats the “There is no, only Zuul line”. I get it as legacy sequels are about referencing the originals but at times, it feels like it is beating you over the head and it gets tiring.
Most Evil Deed
In many ways, I don’t even think Gozer’s most evil deed involves the Ghostbusters. It’s something I already brought up, their killing of Shandor.
Them killing Shandor with bare hands after Shandor had worshipped them for so long shows how much little concern Gozer has for human life and will tear anyone apart they believe to be in their way.
Demise
In the original movie, we see how they are defeated with the cross rip after taking the form of Mr. Stay Puft.
I love Mr. Stay Puft, even have a plushie of him but it’s always weird to remember that it is technically the form of a deadly god.
The power of marketing I guess. In the 2021 movie, we don’t see Gozer choose the form of a destructor and the boys try crossing the streams again but Gozer just fires the streams back at them.
We also learn that all throughout the movie, the people of Summerville had referred to Egon as the dirt farmer. Turns out, he wasn’t farming but rather setting up a giant trap that could contain Gozer once and for all. The boys are successful in finally trapping them and stopping the oncoming apocalypse.
Is Gozer A Good Villain?
Overall, I’d say Gozer is a fine villain. Not my favorite but they are serviceable for the stories they are used in. I do think the sequels and the cartoons had better villains that came after Gozer. Including the villain in the newest movie, who I think is the best overall movie villain from this franchise but it’ll be a while before I look at him. Join me next time as I look at…
Vigo
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Gozer was a fine villain but I do agree they shouldn’t have to keep using the same villain or reference them so frequently.
Yeah, other ghosts would be nice
Gozer definitely worked as a fitting antagonist for the original movie, but like you I’m not that keen on having them continually brought back or referenced. Honestly it might’ve worked better if they were part of some dark pantheon, the other members of which would come back to torment humanity as punishment for the annihilation of their sibling.
Also, J.K. Simmons as Shandor sounds like he would’ve been far, FAR more intimidating than Brian Doyle Murray.
Gozer is like Joker in over reliance. Like Gozer appears as an antagonist in the Transformers crossover. Use other villains. I like your idea