In addition to all of the books we've already mentioned, June 14th sees the release of the Ghostbusters Proton Pack and Wand Deluxe Mega Kit from Running Press, who has a whole line of "kits" (no assembly required) containing a miniaturized "figurine" and a related book. This kit, specifically, contain the following items:

• Mini Proton Pack Replica (with light and sound)
• Sticker Book
• Proton Pack Sticker Sheet
• Proton Pack History & Blueprints

Let's take a closer look at each item...


Mini Proton Pack Replica
The main item in this kit, it's a 2"x4"x1" replica of the Proton Pack from the new movie. Those dimensions were taken with the wand sitting in the notches on the side of the pack, going to the right side and top end of the wand. The pack is made of plastic with a flat base so it can sit on a desk or shelf.


The tip of the wand lights up and the pack makes "whooshing" firing sounds when you hold down the little red button on the wand. It comes pre-installed with three replaceable LR1133 disc batteries. The pack has elastic orange straps (see image above), which might make it of practical use with one of the Mattel figures.


Proton Pack Sticker Sheet
A 2.5"x3" sheet of small stickers to put on the proton pack. All but two of these stickers can be found slightly larger in the sticker book. Only the red nuclear symbol and the caution striping are exclusive to this sheet.


Sticker Book
A small 2.5"x3" book with 8 pages of stickers (the other sides of the pages are blank). The stickers, as you'll see in the images above, are warning decals and signs. There are no photo stickers of the cast, other than the silhouette of a female Ghostbuster. I look at the sticker book as a bonus. The mini pack is the main item here.


Proton Pack History & Blueprints
Not mentioned on the box or shown in any of the official item photos, this is a 6"x5" dual-sided sheet of paper with the history of the new Proton Pack on one side and the blueprints on the other. The history text refers to Jillian Holtzmann simply by her last name. This is getting to be a pet peeve of mine, though it seems like it's in Sony's style guide for the new movie that she never be referred to solely by her first name, like everyone else. In this case, her first name is never given, so if you don't already know it, you won't know who she is. The blueprints are near-identical to those found on the Kenneth P. Higgins Institute of Science Paranormal Studies Lab website, though they include an item pointing to the "Liquid Helium Fill Value" not found on those.

Overall, not a bad little kit. The Proton Pack is well-made and has nifty light-up and sound features. The elastic straps were unexpected, and make it useful for use with the figures, such as Mattel's Real Ghostbusters Janine figure. The sticker book is a disappointment, as I was expecting stickers featuring images from the movie. The Ghostbusters Proton Pack and Wand Deluxe Mega Kit, which is available to buy now, carries a list price of $12.95, but you can always find it a little cheaper at Amazon.

On Wednesday June 8, 2016, the United States and Belgium sent their best operatives to Brooklyn to save the world from impending paranormal phenomena. Actually, I think the word I'm looking for is "apocalypse". They came to kick ectoplasm and chew bubble gum...and they were all out of bubble gum. What follows is the report of their encounter.

I should warn you that it is image-intensive, and for the sake of simplicity, it will be posted as one long page, instead of as a multi-page article. The images seen here are only a fraction of what was taken. Check out the supplemental page elsewhere on Spook Central for the full gallery of 100+ images. All photos in this article were taken by me, Paul Rudoff, exclusively for Spook Central (except where otherwise noted). Please do not repost them elsewhere without permission. Thanks.

FYI: The event runs from June 8th through the 11th, so you still have two shows on the 11th you could attend if tickets are still available.

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The movie comes out on July 15th, but all of Simon Spotlight's books based on it are due for release on June 14th, a full month earlier. I opted to read and review the books now, even though that, obviously, spoils the movie for me. I have tried my best to make this review as spoiler-free as possible. If you're interested in buying this book, I would suggest either buying it now and filing it away until after you see the movie, or wait until July and buy it after seeing the movie. The point being: See the movie first, THEN read the book! (Also, images were quickly scanned in by me and any crookedness is not meant to reflect the actual product.)


June 14th sees the release of Who You Gonna Call? by David Lewman, a children's book based on the new Ghostbusters movie. It's part of the Ready-to-Read series (just like Proud To Be A Ghostbuster), classified at Level Three/Megastar Reader, which indicates that it features a "larger, more complex story plot and character development; challenging vocabulary words, and a more difficult sentence structure". The 6"x9" paperback tome is printed with a large font on plain paper stock and is suitable for the 6-8 year old age range (school grades 1-3), so that made for a light and fun breeze through the 40 pages. Released by the Simon and Schuster imprint, Simon Spotlight, this book carries a list price of $3.99, but you can always find it a little cheaper at Amazon, where an eBook version is also available.


Over six chapters, Who You Gonna Call? profiles the Ghostbusters, their equipment, and their history. The prose is written from the perspective of a sales brochure, meant to sell you, the reader, on using the Ghostbusters' services for all of your supernatural needs. The events of the new film have already happened.


One thing I've noticed about the book is that Jillian Holtzmann is never referred to solely by her first name as the other three Busters are. For example, on the profile pages, every one has their first name as the header except for Jillian, who only has her last name. Another example is found on the back cover synopsis (see image above). Kinda weird. Speaking of names, Kevin's last name is never given. not even in his profile. Until we recently spotted a promo photo of him holding up his headshots, we never knew it was "Beckman" because it was never included in any of the press materials so far. Since the last names of all of the ladies are given in the book, I would have expected for his to be, too.

Overall, a nice little book that could be considered the junior version of the Ghostbusters Handbook (to be reviewed here soon). I would surmise this to be the least spoilerific of all of the books based on the new movie. In fact, other than one sentence about Kevin and his possession (which was spoiled in the first trailer), this book is COMPLETELY SPOILER-FREE. For "little kids", this book would be suggestible, but those who want a little more "meat" would be better served by the Handbook.

Since I have plans to attend this with Raffaele of Ecto-Web (and the cool cat who provides Spook Central's web hosting) on Wednesday, I figured that I should probably give this a mention here. I'll try to take photos and have them posted here sometime there after. For more Ghostbusters Day activities, read the Ghostbusters Day press release at Ghostbusters HQ. - Paul

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The movie comes out on July 15th, but all of Simon Spotlight's books based on it are due for release on June 14th, a full month earlier. I opted to read and review the books now, even though that, obviously, spoils the movie for me. I have tried my best to make this review as spoiler-free as possible. If you're interested in buying this book, I would suggest either buying it now and filing it away until after you see the movie, or wait until July and buy it after seeing the movie. The point being: See the movie first, THEN read the book! (Also, images were quickly scanned in by me and any crookedness is not meant to reflect the actual product.)


June 14th sees the release of Proud To Be A Ghostbuster by David Lewman, a children's book based on the new Ghostbusters movie. It's part of the Ready-to-Read series, classified at Level Three/Megastar Reader, which indicates that it features a "larger, more complex story plot and character development; challenging vocabulary words, and a more difficult sentence structure". The 6"x9" paperback tome is printed with a large font on plain paper stock and is suitable for the 6-8 year old age range (school grades 1-3), so that made for a light and fun breeze through the 40 pages. Released by the Simon and Schuster imprint, Simon Spotlight, this book carries a list price of $3.99, but you can always find it a little cheaper at Amazon, where an eBook version is also available.


Over six chapters, Proud To Be A Ghostbuster encapsulates the story of the movie in words and pictures more suitable for younger kids than the junior and adult novelizations from Simon or Tor. Rather than recall the movie in detail, this adaptation focuses more on the friendship between Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), and how it plays out through the course of the Ghostbusters' story. As expected, a lot of story elements and characters are left out, such as the mayor and mayor's aide. There is a positive portrayal of friendship and of being there for each other.


One thing I've noticed about the book is that Jillian Holtzmann is never referred to solely by her first name as the other three Busters are. For example, "Abby, Erin, and Holtzmann were amazed!" Another example is found on the back cover synopsis (see image above). Kinda weird. Speaking of names, Kevin's last name is never given. Until we recently spotted a promo photo of him holding up his headshots, we never knew it was "Beckman" because it was never included in any of the press materials so far. Since the last names of all of the ladies are given in the book, I would have expected for his to be, too.

Overall, a nice little book that could be considered the junior junior novelization. I would recommend Proud To Be A Ghostbuster for little kids who are not ready to read the movie novelizations by Stacia Deutsch (Simon) and Nancy Holder (Tor). Adults would, likely, be better served by the Tor book.

Along with an increase in ghostly activity, a cult favorite of the '80s and '90s is making a haunting return. Hi-C Ecto Cooler, the ghoulish refreshing citrus juice drink, will be back tomorrow, May 30th, in the United States.

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It's been a while since we've done a Shot on Site article here, mainly because most of the Ghostbusters filming locations have already been identified, and what remains may be near impossible to find. Today's location is a Ghostbusters location in another movie, yet is isn't a Ghostbusters location. Thanks to Matthew Jordan, as always, for noticing this.

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I was recently interviewed by Michael Baggs from BBC Online in regards to the new Ghostbusters movie and the overwhelming amount of hatred geared towards it. Michael's piece, entitled Why do lots of Ghostbusters fans already hate the new movie?, was just published, so go check it out.

It's a pretty fair piece, and I hope that I did a good job representing the fans. I actually wrote a lot more than what was quoted in the article. Since I spent a few hours typing it, I thought it would be nice if I copy and pasted my original responses here. I wasn't sure if Michael was looking for lengthy, wordy answers, or something a little more brief, so I did my best to answer these questions without writing the second volume of "War and Peace" :-) Some of my answers could be applicable to more than one question, but I did my best to give each question a unique answer.

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The second International trailer for the new 2016 Ghostbusters reboot movie came out today. It's embedded above, so feel free to watch it before reading on. I'm going to share my thoughts on the trailer in a sort-of running commentary form, though I won't go over every single shot.

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The second U.S. trailer for the new 2016 Ghostbusters reboot movie came out today. It's embedded above, so feel free to watch it before reading on. I'm going to share my thoughts on the trailer in a sort-of running commentary form, though I won't go over every single shot.

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