UNUSED IDEA: Ghostbusters - Book of Zuul

How I would have handled the movie franchise's reboot

In the past few years, horror comedy franchise Ghostbusters has had a resurgence, dating back to the polarizing reboot movie with the all-female cast. Now, a “next generation” type of story is being told via the films Ghostbusters Afterlife and the upcoming (as of this article) Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. While all of these films (even the all-women one) are fascinating explorations and extensions of the GB mythos and worthy additions to the IP (which also has multiple cartoons, comic books and video games on its resume), I had my own ideas for how the reboot could have been handled.

Back in 2003, I read a few issues of the comic and got the idea for my own “next generation” of Ghostbusters. I wanted to use the formula of the original film, which relied heavily on the chemistry between veteran comedians Bill Murray, an Ackroyd and the late Harold Ramis. I wanted to have a cast with a similar history and proven chemistry, so I based my treatment on teaming Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. The team needed a black guy a la Winston, and I had a hard time choosing which black actor to base that character off of. I settled on Tyler Perry because he was the hot name at the time and had shown he had the chops to do comedy and be the straight man for the other comedians’ antics. Finally, since this was supposed to be a legacy film, I wanted to revisit the Zuul stuff from the first movie.

So here is my original 2003 treatment for Ghostbusters: Book of Zuul. If you’re a subscriber and want to do something with this, go ahead with my blessing, just give me a shout-out in the credits. if you’re not a subscriber, then what’s stopping you? I post unused ideas like this every month, with permission for my subscribers to use at their leisure.

SCREENPLAY TREATMENT: GHOSTBUSTERS - BOOK OF ZUUL

Starring; Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Tyler Perry, Kirsten Dunst & Gabrielle Union

(with guest appearances by the original cast)

synopsis: some loser opens up the book of Zuul, reopening the gate between our world and the spirit world, and sending tons of ghosts into our world. A new generation of ghostbusters arrives to take care of the threat and to put zuul down once and for all.

Paul Jacobs (Vaughn) Is a college professor teaching a graduate class on the occult. He uses his forum as a way to attract college girls who are into goth stuff. Keisha Duncan (Union) is a student in his class, and makes her first appearance by chastising Jacobs while he is hitting on another student, Tina Smothers (Dunst). Jacobs asks why she cares…is she some sort of preacher, or something. Keisha says “close enough. I’m a preacher’s wife.” She is taking the course as a way of ‘scouting the enemy camp’ for her husband. Jacobs ignores her protests, however, and starts building a relationship with Tina anyway.

Jacobs finds competition for Tina’s affections with Diego, a Puerto Rican student who also takes the class. His expertise is on an obscure cult called the Faith of Zuul. When Zuul appeared in New York back in the 1980’s, many people “saw the light” and started a cult based on the desire to see Zuul return and take over the world. It’s the first time Jacobs hears of this cult, but he does remember what happened the last time Zuul was in town, and it makes him a bit uneasy.

Keisha is unfazed, however. She says that if anything happened like that, she would be protected by calling on the name of her lord and savior. Diego challenges her, saying one must truly believe in the name (and the cross) for it to have any effect… and he doesn’t think she truly believes. From that point on, he takes a fascination with Keisha, watching her closely over the next few days, maybe seeming to want to try to get her to cheat on her husband.

Jacobs has lunch with Saul Gideon (Stiller) and Jerry Kingsford (Wilson), who are also professors (in subjects which take different approaches to the ghost phenomenon). They compare notes, and Gideon talks in depth about a weird prophecy about four warriors who will gather to fight the forces of spiritual darkness. These warriors appear every 20 years, and it’s been 20 years since the first group of Ghostbusters gathered to beat Zuul.

Then the campus librarian complains about a ghost haunting the library. No one believes her but Jacobs (who is just using it as an excuse to get her phone number). Jacobs checks it out, only to be assaulted by a ghost. The ghost mentions that a gate to the sprit world has been opened, and through it Zuul will return, and Jacobs and his buddies now have to decide what to do about it. Their idea: get the last guys who fought ghosts, the original Ghostbusters. Unfortunately, none of them are in any position to cooperate, save for Winston Zeddmore, who now has a cushy job in city council. He knows Zuul is bad news, so he gives them access to the old GB equipment and headquarters.

The new GB’s (just using the equipment, not wearing the uniforms) go back to the school and capture the ghost, who by now has terrorized the whole building. They exit to a media frenzy, heralding “New York’s new ghostbusters.” Even the mayor gets involved, making them official paranormal investigators and public servants. He tells them privately that he remembers Zuul and how that incident cost the mayor at the time his job. He does NOT want a repeat, so he charges the GBs to roundup the ghosts in the city and do whatever it takes to prevent Zuul from returning.

Jacobs revels in his newfound celebrity, and tries to use it to win Tina. It backfires when an ex-lover turned groupie runs up on Jacobs as he is trying to ask Tina out.

Tina is unsure which of her two suitors she is more interested in, and after the two trade barbs in front of her, she agrees to go out on dates with both of them. She goes with Diego first, and at the end of the date, Diego uses some mystic mumbo jumbo to put her under his spell and make her his demon slave (just like a bunch of other women on campus he had seduced). He is tempted to take advantage of her, but doesn’t because of his greater goal: the return of Zuul. On her date with Jacobs, Tina behaves strangely, putting Jacobs on alarm.

While reading the book of Zuul, a herald ghost tells him it is time to take the next step.

Keisha comes home and is showered with affection by Rev. Richard Duncan (Perry). He is a minister who is struggling to build up his church while working as a systems analyst. He begs her to get more involved in the ministry, but she thinks she is doing enough. He invites her to go to Bible study with him, and she declines. They also talk about the new Ghostbusters. Perry is skeptical of their effectiveness. He thinks the only way to defeat spirits is with the power of faith. He shrugs and leaves. While he is gone, Diego pays her a visit. He busts into her apartment and overwhelms her with demonic power, playing with the fact that her faith in God is not strong enough to resist him. Zuul chooses her to be the gatekeeper, and he is the keymaster. They are to gather the remaining ghosts in an army to accompany Zuul as it returns.

At this point, Diego activates his demon slaves, who are like sleeper agents, and they wreak havoc with their demonic power. Tina even turns into a demon beast right before Jacobs’s eyes. Duncan comes home from bible study, and Keisha aggressively seduces him. Perry senses something wrong, and refuses her. She then tries to demean him, but he senses the evil spirit within her and rebukes her. He tries to call on the name of his lord and savior, but every time he does, she assaults him to prevent him from saying the name. He says she must be possessed by a servant of Satan, but Keisha says that Zuul is greater than Satan, and Zuul is going to prove it by succeeding where Satan failed. Zuul will use the world of man to assault the heavenly kingdom and usurp the throne of Yahweh. Zuul was thwarted 20 years ago, but a follower of Zuul found and opened the book of Zuul, which tore open the barrier dividing the spirit world and the real world (hence all the ghosts). Only her human love from Perry keeps her from killing him. She binds him up and gags him, then leaves, using her powers to gather all of the ghosts to her. The ghostbusters get called to the apartment but arrive only to watch this happening.

Winston calls. The mayor is furious at what is happening. The keymaster and gatekeeper are heralds of Zuul, and it is clearly obvious that the GBs failed. The mayor is now worried that Zuul’s reappearance will cost him his job. Jacobs says Zuul isn’t personally back, and they still have time. problem is, they don’t have a plan. Venkman is forced to remove the GB’s commission.

They go to Keisha’s apartment to get clues about what to do, and find Duncan. They free him and he tells them what he knows. But there is nothing any of them can do because they no longer have access to the equipment.

The ghosts run wild without the GBs to stop them. The assaults are heaviest at NY’s religious centers. Jacobs gets another call from Winston. He called up “the old band” and they want to meet the new GBs. At the old GB headquarters, Spengler and stanz talk about the four-man prophecy. They also unveil some new, more powerful equipment to combat the stronger ghosts. The problem is that the prophecy needs four to get the job done, and there are only three. Then Duncan shows up. Begging to join. He had been wrestling with his faith since his wife was possessed, but he had determined that he was chosen by God to be the one to defeat Zuul and rescue his wife.

The now rogue GBs go on a massive ghost and Demon-girl shakedown to find out what exactly Zuul’s plans are. Slimer, who’s always been more comfortable around humans than his own kind, helps. The key to closing the spirit realm for good is reading  some special passages from a few pages of the book of Zuul. Problem is, Zuul and its minions have the book. So Jacobs leads the GB’s into final battle.

The Heralds summon Zuul at the empire state building, where the GBs go to do battle. The form Zuul picks this time is Spongebob Squarepants.

The GBs win and destroy Zuul once and for all, but during the battle the book took serious damage, pages are ripped out and scattered all over New York and beyond. So while everyone celebrates (Jacobs with Tina and Duncan with his wife), it becomes evident that the job isn’t quite done, and the portal is still open. This is fine with Jacobs…after all, how else would the GBs stay in business?

Epilogue:

And since there’s no legal precedent for making demon slaves out of people and summoning a giant demon to destroy New York, Diego was let go by authorities. He vows to find all of the pages of the book, take Zuul’s power and ghost army for himself, and take over the world. Winston hears the vow and makes one of his own…to stop him at every opportunity (setting up the sequel: Ghostbusters L.A.)

Like this idea? there’s more where that came from. Subscribe!