All 15 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Easter Eggs & References

Summary

• Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire pays homage to older films in the franchise and other horror movies through Easter eggs and callbacks.
• The sequel confirms the events of Ghostbusters II and uses real commercials from the 1989 movie in a news broadcast.
• Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire introduces new characters but is also packed with callbacks to earlier movies and The Real Ghostbusters.

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

While Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has plenty of its own surprises, the sequel has a slew of Easter eggs and callbacks to other horror movies and earlier entries in the franchise. The Ghostbusters series has a long, storied history. In 1984, Ghostbusters became a massive blockbuster hit upon release. The original movie’s box office success resulted in an animated TV spinoff, The Real Ghostbusters, and a 1989 sequel, Ghostbusters II. The franchise then went quiet until 2016, when Ghostbusters: Answer The Call revived the series. This divisive reboot didn’t spawn any sequels, resulting in another brief hiatus for the franchise.

In 2021, Ghostbusters: Afterlife brought the series back to a new generation. The ending of Ghostbusters: Afterlife set up a sequel, promising that the reboot’s new generation of Ghostbusters would relocate to New York and reopen the old Ghostbusters HQ. Now, 2024’s sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has followed through on this promise. Although this follow-up introduces a roster of new characters to the series, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is also packed with callbacks to both earlier outings and horror movies. By Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s ending, the movie has offered callbacks to all its franchise predecessors and assorted other classics.

15 Ghostbusters II’s Lady Liberty Sequence

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire addresses the events of the 1989 sequel

Early on in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the sequel confirms that the events of 1989’s Ghostbusters II took place in this movie’s timeline. A news broadcast references the chaos that the team was associated with in 1989, proving that the sequel’s storyline did happen in this sequel’s version of events.

The Ghostbusters franchise timeline was complicated when 2016’s Ghostbusters reboot retconned the first two movies, only for Ghostbusters: Afterlife to undo this and make the original movie canon again. With this off-hand reference, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire proves that Ghostbusters II is also canon while simultaneously explaining the city’s mixed attitudes toward the team.

The news broadcast that features the events of the previous movie doesn’t just use footage from the movie to remind the audience of what happened though. It also uses real commercials for Ghostbusters merchandise from the time, taking an even more realistic approach to expanding the timeline of the franchise and showing how beloved the Ghostbusters might have been at one time.

14 The Stay-Puft Mini-Pufts Return in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s miniature Stay-Put Marshmallow men are back

The adorable Stay-Puft Marshmallow Mini-Pufts of Ghostbusters: Afterlife return in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. These miniature supernatural beings are first seen rough-housing in the basement of Podcast and Ray’s antiques shop when Phoebe pays them a visit. They appear multiple times throughout the movie though as they become connected to the villain and attempt to do his bidding. The credit scene also shows that they survive, so to speak, for a new adventure as they steal a truck at a rest stop.

The Mini-Pufts played a pivotal part in Ghostbusters: Afterlife as they were one of Gary Grooberson’s first introductions to the supernatural world when he encountered them in a supermarket. This particular Easter egg is technically a callback to a callback, since the Mini-Pufts themselves are a reference to the original movie’s infamous Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. This mascot was the form that Gozer took while fighting the Ghostbusters in 1984.

13 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s Heroes Use The Real Ghostbusters’ Proton Packs

The team have upgraded their ghostbusting hardware

The Ghostbusters franchise isn’t just in live-action movies. There are also comic book appearances and animated series. While the live-action movies are usually what most of the Easter eggs nod to in the newest movies, that’s not the case for the ghost traps in the latest legacy sequel.

Fans of The Real Ghostbusters may notice a difference in the ghost traps carried by Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s new generation of heroes. Unlike those used in the original movie, these ghost traps are attached to the proton packs that the Ghostbusters wear on their backs. In 1984’s Ghostbusters, the team carried these traps around on their belts. However, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire adopted a costume alteration seen in The Real Ghostbusters in a neat nod to the TV spinoff’s version of the team. Notably, this is not the only time that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire borrowed from The Real Ghostbusters.

12 Janine’s Ghostbusting References The Real Ghostbusters

The supporting star suited up before in the episode “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster”

Janine Melnitz was always a reliable support for the Ghostbusters, but she never donned their signature jumpsuits in a live-action movie until the events of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. She suits up before the big battle at the end of the movie alongside the Spengler family and the previous generation of Ghostbusters. Janine suiting up is a twist that does have some basis in the franchise.

In The Real Ghostbusters season 2, episode 35, “Janine Melnitz, Ghostbuster,” Janine temporarily suited up as a Ghostbuster to save the team from the monster of the week. As such, Janine finally playing this role in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire was both an homage to this outing and a chance for the character to fulfill her potential in live-action, too, even if she doesn’t get the chance to wield a proton pack or a ghost trap for very long.

11 Garraka’s Prison Resembles Hellraiser’s Lament Configuration

The Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire villain is housed in a brass artifact

Early in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Kumail Nanjiani’s Nadeem brings a small brass artifact covered in cryptic runes to Podcast and Ray. Nadeem is a hustler, just trying to make some extra cash in several avenues to support himself. He opts to sell some of his grandmother’s belongings, not knowing their significance, in order to make a quick buck off of Ray. Little does he know what the brass orb really is.

Secretly containing a monstrous entity, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire‘s Garraka Orb looks a lot like the Hellraiser franchise’s puzzle box, the Lament Configuration. The ancient artifact’s resemblance makes thematic sense for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Later in the story, the villainous Garraka promises the impressionable ghost Melody a hellish bargain. Garraka says Melody will access the afterlife if she helps the entity escape, which is a lot like the temptation of earthly delights offered by the Hellraiser franchise’s lethal puzzle box.

10 Dana’s Secret Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Cameo

Peter Venkman’s love interest is subtly mentioned in one scene

Although Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire doesn’t feature Sigourney Weaver’s Ghostbusters heroine, Dana, her character isn’t completely written out of the franchise’s reality. As noted above, 2016’s Ghostbusters reboot retconning the entire franchise’s story made it tricky to tell what was and was not canon. There, Weaver had appeared in a completely different role as a nod to the franchise’s roots.

However, Dana briefly appears in a Ghostbusters: Afterlife credits cameo and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire features a poster advertising Dana’s upcoming concert outside the New York City Public Library. It’s not as easy of an Easter egg for fans to spot, but eagle-eyed ones won’t miss it. It’s a subtle, fun way of confirming that Venkman’s longtime love interest is still around and thriving, even if she never appears onscreen in the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

9 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire References Ivan Reitman’s Other Horror Comedy

The late Ghostbusters director made Cannibal Girls back in 1973

The late, great Ivan Reitman directed Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II before passing the franchise down to his son, Ghostbusters: Afterlife helmer Jason Reitman. Ivan Reiman passed away in 2022 and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is dedicated “To Ivan,” in its moving ending. However, shortly after returning Ghostbusters villain Walter Peck dresses down the new team, there is a more irreverent nod to Reitman.

Gary has an off-hand line in which he proposes a viewing of 1973’s cult curio Cannibal Girls, a horror comedy mostly notable for its status as an early outing by one Ivan Reitman. The movie follows a couple who plan a romantic getaway, but the bed and breakfast they travel to is actually run by three women who have a taste for human flesh. Gary’s line is a throwaway gag, but a welcome nod for Reitman completists.

8 Nadeem Borrows Louis Tully’s Singular Style

Kumail Nanjiani’s character wears the same bizarre get-up as Rick Moranis’s Ghostbusters hero

Although Janine returned in both Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Louis Tully is less likely to make an onscreen appearance in the series even if the movies continue. Actor Rick Moranis quit acting to focus on raising his children after the death of his wife and, as such, the star didn’t appear in either of the reboots. However, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t get an Easter egg.

In one scene, Nanjiani’s Nadeem is tested for possession by Venkman after the team learns he is the one who brought the mysterious orb to Ray. He wears a bizarre contraption on his head that looks like a colander with wires coming out of it, just like Louis in Ghostbusters. Nadeem even calls it a “pasta pot” when questioning why Venkman is testing him and wanting to know if he passed.

7 Melody and Phoebe’s Relationship Is Borrowed From Goosebumps

The 2015 horror-comedy also featured a friendly ghost girl

Although Emily Alyn Lind’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire role was kept secret for a long time, the movie’s release revealed that she plays Phoebe’s ghostly friend Melody. Melody died in a tenement fire many years before the movie takes place. She and Phoebe meet when Phoebe goes to the park to play chess, and their interactions throughout the movie subtly indicate that Melody could be a love interest for Phoebe instead of just a friendly ghost.

Phoebe’s subplot references 2015’s Goosebumps, an earlier horror-comedy that also featured a ghost girl befriending its protagonist. Phoebe’s story is sadder than Goosebumps as the earlier movie turned the hero’s love interest into a real person, allowing her to finally live. In contrast, a regretful Melody sadly vanishes alongside all the other ghosts in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s surprisingly poignant ending, assuring Phoebe she will see her again one day.

6 The New York Public Library’s Lion

The original movie’s iconic landmark comes to life in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Throughout Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the heroes are warned of the villainous Garraka’s power over other ghosts. One of these includes Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s Possessor, a ghost that can bring inanimate objects to life. The Posessor is seen demonstrating that talent with a vacuum, a proton pack, and a paper airplane throughout the movie.

At about halfway into the movie, however, the Possessor brings the lion statue outside the New York Public Library to life, scaring the Ghostbusters senseless in the exact same spot where their team was originally established 40 years earlier. This nod is subtle, but the scene’s choice of location is further proof of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s endless reverence for its source material.

The library itself is a major point of interest in the movie as the characters go there for research into the villain of Frozen Empire. The lion also isn’t the only Easter egg found there, reminding the audience of the movie’s roots again.

5 Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s Chess Game

Phoebe’s game with Melody references Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s Egon comeback

One of the cuter subplots in Ghostbusters: Afterlife saw Phoebe engage in a chess game with the ghost of her grandfather, Egon Spengler. This moment is referenced early in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire when Phoebe decides to head out to the park and play chess alone. It’s as though she’s trying to recapture that magic of playing with her grandfather, but that’s not exactly what happens. She quickly realizes that another spectral entity has been moving the pieces on her chessboard.

However, to her initial disappointment, the ghost Phoebe plays chess with this time turns out to be Melody instead of Egon. Thus, this nod to Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s sweetest moment is subverted as viewers are unsure whether Melody is as trustworthy as the benign Egon. Luckily, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s ending proves Melody is a force for good after Melody’s betrayal of Phoebe before the climax of the movie.

4 Walter Peck’s Ghostbusters Nickname

New York City’s people haven’t forgotten the Ghostbusters villain’s sobriquet

Walter Peck’s return could be called a callback to the original Ghostbusters, since Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire reveals that the bitter bureaucrat from the first movie became Mayor of New York in the years since the original movie ended. His presence, however, is another way to show the audience how the timeline of the original movies has progressed.

Instead, it is one choice insult that truly revives his original story. A character calls Walter Peck “d***less” in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, just as news cameras and a crowd surround the new Ghostbusters and Peck near the end of the movie, proving that Venkman’s insult from the original story followed the politician around for four decades. It is no wonder that the pencil-pusher still wants to have the team shut down given the staying power of this hilariously obscene insult, which even his position as mayor couldn’t shake.

3 Ray’s Encounter With The Library Ghost

The original Ghostbusters villain returns for another scare

While Peck’s return might have a big impact on the plot, many more iconic franchise villains make a comeback in this sequel. Some of those villains are, of course, of the more ghostly variety. One of those appears when Ray takes Phoebe and Podcast to the library to get some insight into the brass orb he recently acquired. It’s when leaving the library that he sees a familiar face, or more accurately, ghostly form.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s Library Ghost scene sees Ray encounter the first ghost he ever met in the original movie, only for the ghoul to scare him senseless all over again. This scene proves that, while Ray has been around paranormal beings for long enough to grow cynical about the very idea of ghostbusting, he is still just as susceptible to a scare from one of the first villains the team ever encountered.

2 The Ecto-1’s Possession References A Killer Car Horror Movie

Garraka controlling the car is reminiscent of The Car (1977)

Garraka’s villainous abilities are almost unlimited with his ability to freeze people in feer, blow doors off their hinges, and telepathically influence other ghosts, so it was not a major shock when the ancient being convinced the Possessor to help him against the Ghostbusters. One of the ways the Possesor did this was by taking control of the Ecto-1 right before the big battle.

This twist references an obscure 1977 horror movie that has largely been forgotten. The Car, starring James Brolin, followed the story of a killer car that was seemingly possessed by a malign supernatural force. The Ecto-1’s brief possession mirrors the titular muscle car’s reign of terror, although Garraka’s attempts to commandeer the Ghostbusters team’s mode of transport are less successful. The villain claims fewer lives than The Car’s monster thanks to Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s family-friendly rating.

1 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s Ending References The Saw Series

The haunted tricycle is reminiscent of Jigsaw’s puppet Billy

Although Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire might be suitable for children (for the most part), that doesn’t mean the movie steers clear of referencing harsher horror movies. The pop culture references in the movie will appeal to a wider audience, but the horror references are definitely not going to be known by some of the youngest audience members enjoying the ride.

The climax features a nod to one of the grisliest franchises in horror history. When the two generations of Ghostbusters face off against Garraka, the villain lets loose all manner of ghosts. At one point, a tricycle eerily enters the Ghostbusters HQ firehouse on its own, mirroring the creepy entrance of the Saw franchise’s infamous puppet mascot, Billy. The moment is called out by Lucky who says she “doesn’t like this.” Fortunately, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’s unexpected nod to this horror icon ends before any blood can be shed.