Ghostbusters III (1998)

In the third and final installment, the Ghostbusters are gathered by a rookie, who learns that the new Mayor of New York is building something, that is something meant for their old enemy, Gozer the Gozerian.

Premiere:
June ???, 1998

Characters:

 * Ghostbusters:
 * Peter Venkman (Played by - Bill Murray) - falls in love with Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, after Dana went back with her husband
 * Ray Stantz (Played by - Dan Aykroyd)
 * Egon Spengler (Played by - Harold Ramis) - starts a new Ghostbusters at the end of the film
 * Winston Zeddemore (Played by - Ernie Hudson)
 * Kurt Mason (Played by - Jeremy Renner) - the rookie of the Ghostbusters
 * Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn (Played by - Rachel Weisz) - Peter's new love interest
 * Janine Melnitz (Played by - Annie Potts)
 * Mayor Jock Mulligan (Played by - Steve Martin) - the new Mayor of New York, who is possessed by the ghost of Ivo Shandor into summoning the node guardians to guard the Sedgewick Hotel, the New York Public Library, the Museum of Natural History and the Hudson River
 * Ivo Shandor (Played by - John Malkovich) - the film's main antagonist and leader of the Cult of Gozer, who plans to gain the power of Gozer the Gozerian, destroy and remake the world as he sees fit
 * Azetlor the Destroyer - one of Shandor's node guardians
 * Tyrannosaurus Rex Skeleton - one of Shandor's node guardians
 * Spider Witch - one of Shandor's node guardians
 * Walter Peck (Played by - William Atherton) - now as liason to Mayor Gulligan's office, and used as a scapegoat of Shandor

Plot:
The film opens at the New York Natural History Museum. One of the museum's night guards is watching TV (where an ad for the Ghostbusters is running) rather than paying attention to the security monitors. His attention is suddenly gained however, when he notices a disturbance in the Gozer exhibit on one of the monitors. He notifies one of the guards on duty and orders him to investigate. As that guard checks the exhibit, a woman appears from the shadows and runs past him. Before he can stop her, he turns and is struck with a paranormal force which continues to spread throughout the city. The film then transitions to the firehouse where Kurt Mason reports for their first day as a Ghostbuster. His introduction is cut short however, when that same paranormal force passes through the building and causes Slimer to escape from his visible containment unit. Knowing that Slimer would return to the Sedgewick Hotel, the Ghostbusters leave immediately to recapture him.

Upon their arrival, the Ghostbusters are confronted by the Manager of the Sedgewick who is naturally upset over the return of Slimer. The Ghostbusters proceed to capture him with the assurance that they are now bonded municipal employees, as well as that any damages will be paid for by the City of New York. Along the way they meet the mysterious woman from the Museum, but she is in no mood to chat. During their search for Slimer, the Ghostbusters discover that there are now multiple ghosts which are now inhabiting the Sedgewick Hotel and decide to investigate further. The amount of paranormal activity proves to be so great that they eventually call Dr. Winston Zeddemore in from his day off to aid them. When he finally arrives, however, he informs them that their troubles are far worse than anything the Ghostbusters had encountered before this.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man had somehow returned to New York City. What's worse is that he is now capable of spawning small marshmallow creatures. The Ghostbusters fight their way past his "Marshmallow Minions" until they reach the top of a building where they discover that Stay Puft is attacking that same woman from the Museum and the Sedgewick. The Ghostbusters save her from any immediate harm, during which she reveals that her name is Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn. Selwyn is, apparently, an expert on Gozerian lore who was brought in to supervise the World of Gozer exhibit at the Museum. There isn't much time for conversation, however, because Stay-Puft is still laying waste to the city. Kurt, along with Dr. Selwyn and the boys in grey head to the roof to distract Stay Puft while Drs. Spengler and Zeddemore ready a new type of trap attached to the Ecto-1. It turns out that the new trap isn't needed after all because ???, Stantz and Venkman manage to defeat Stay Puft by knocking him to the ground and splattering across the block.

Back at the fire house, Dr. Spengler decides he would like to run some tests on Dr. Selwyn to determine why it was that Stay Puft (and presumably Gozer) were interested in her. However, they are soon visited by Mayor Jock Mulligan and Walter Peck. Mulligan explains that, due to pressure from City Council, he has assigned Peck to be the liaison between the City and the Ghostbusters as part of a new office called P.C.O.C. (pronounced peacock). Now, despite their animosity towards one another, Peck and the Ghostbusters are forced into a reciprocal relationship because they depend on one another for employment. Upon further discussion, the Ghostbusters agree that they should go investigate at the museum where the catalyst for the paranormal disturbance began. Before they can leave however, they receive a call from the New York Public Library and decide to stop there first on their way to the Museum.

At the New York Public Library, the Ghostbusters discover that the Grey Lady (a.k.a the first ghost the Ghostbusters ever encountered) is in possession of a Gozerian Codex and that it would be very useful should Gozer, in fact, be returning. Their investigation into the matter reveals that her name was once Elanor Twitty and she was the Chief Librarian there at one time. The details of her life are few but it is revealed that she was romantically involved with a gentleman known as "the Collector" because of his acquisition of many rare books. He used Ms. Twitty to gain access to rare materials but when she found out she left him. Enraged, "The Collector" murdered her. Now her spirit is bound to the library to protect the Gozerian Codex from the Collector. The Ghostbusters eventually find Ms. Twitty and capture her- but not without the suspicion that it was far too easy to do so. Their suspicions are confirmed when a "Spirit Door" is revealed, leading into the ghost world. The Ghostbusters travel through the ghost world until they come across the spirit of the Collector, who has taken the form of a giant worm with tendrils protruding from it. After a fierce battle the Ghostbusters are able to return to the real world. On arriving, they notice that there is some strange marking with 4 lights on the Door, but then one light goes out, indicating to them that whatever it was it must now be turned off. Knowing for certain that there must be something major occurring, the Ghostbusters then rush to the Museum to the get the answers they need to unravel this mystery.

At the Museum the Ghostbusters again find themselves embroiled in a full blown spiritual manifestation (possibly due to certain exhibits having been created by known Gozerian worshiper, doctor and architect, Ivo Shandor). They battle spirits of the various artifacts and spirits with new levels of power- namely, possessing the bodies of the living. Luckily the Ghostbusters have the Slime Blower Mk. II (loaded with the "mood slime" from Ghostbusters II) and are able to use it to dispel the spirits from their human hosts such as the one who had taken the body of Walter Peck. The Ghostbusters again noticed the strange symbol but with time with only two glowing lights on it. Their triumph is short lived, however, because Walter Peck, furious at the damage created and his being hosed down by slime, swears that he's going to revoke the Ghostbusters' license and shut down their containment grid. Again.

Back at the Firehouse the Ghostbusters know they don't have much time to solve the mystery of this phenomenon before Peck shuts them down. Dr. Selwyn mentions that she recognizes the symbol that the Ghostbusters had seen and explains that many of her colleagues believed it to be a constellation. They soon figure out that it is, in fact, a map of points where the spirit realm converges with the real world. Also, the points correspond to locations in New York City. One light was the Library, one was the Museum and the next one is back at the Sedgewick Hotel. So there they must return to close that portal and further learn the truth behind these events.

The Sedgewick Hotel is closed for repairs after the last visit from the Ghostbusters but they force their way in anyway. While inside they notice a number of spiritual imprints of people who had once lived and worked there going about their business as they had in life. Some were harmless but others were malevolent, such as the Spider Witch. The spirit of the Spider Witch, a woman who had lived in the hotel many years ago had trapped the Manager there and he explains to the Ghosbusters that they are now imprisoned too. Knowing that the only way to escape is to confront the Spider Witch, the Ghostbusters proceed to search for her though she has laid many tricks and traps to stop them. They learn that she lived in room 1221 (the same floor Slimer inhabited) and that it held a spirit door to the a secret 13th Floor. Dr. Spengler and the Rookie eventually find the Spider Witch, defeat her and shut down the doorway she is guarding, causing yet another light on the symbol to go dark.

The next place on the map is the middle of the East River. Luckily Dr. Stantz restored an old tugboat and commissioned it as the Ecto-8 for just such an emergency. Going to the spot on the map, the Ghostbusters find themselves on an island, upon which is Shandor Castle, the home of the late Ivo Shandor which had disappeared beneath the water mysteriously after his death. Upon landing the Ghostbusters are ambushed by a number of spirits and the earth shakes open, causing Kurt to plummet below. He awakes soon after and realizes that he must find the other Ghostbusters. Working his way up from the depths of Shandor Castle, he discovers that this castle has been producing large quantities of slime and may in fact be the source of the rivers of slime which ran beneath the streets of New York during the resurrection of Vigo the Carpathian two years prior. He works his way up further to find the other Ghostbusters have been captured but soon frees them. They are forced to fight a young Sloar, a creature made entirely of the mysterious slime, who is the guardian of the last spirit door. This is not before they notice a painting on the wall of a woman who looks surprisingly like Dr. Selwyn. They quickly defeat the Sloar which causes the magic keeping Shandor Castle afloat to dissipate. The island begins to sink again, and the Ghostbusters make a run back to Ecto-8 and escape before Shandor Castle is again consumed by the waves.

Upon returning to the firehouse, the Ghostbusters learn that Dr. Selwyn has been kidnapped and the containment grid has been shut down. Knowing that Peck had threatened to do this, they reason that it was he who was behind this all along and that he has kidnapped Dr. Selwyn. Hearing that paranormal activity is increasing in Central Park, the Ghostbusters decide to go there to search for Dr. Selwyn and Walter Peck. Once the Ghostbusters arrive they are forced to deal with many different types of powerful spirits traveling through and under graveyards in their quest. They eventually release a portal into the ghost world and come upon a large castle. The Ghostbusters fight their way inside to confront Peck but discover that both Dr. Selwyn and Peck are restrained and that the mastermind behind it all was none other than Mayor Jock Mulligan, who was possessed by the spirit of Ivo Shandor. Shandor had decided that Gozer was unfit for his worship and that he himself shall be the destroyer. However, he failed to merge the real world and the ghost world through the power of the spirit doors. There was another way for him to claim godliness, however. Through enough spiritual turbulence and the blood of his own line (Ilyssa), Ivo Shandor could ascend the levels of being a mere mortal's spirit to that of a god. But before he could perform his sacrifice he was weakened by the Ghostbusters and thrown back into a deep ghost world, with the Ghostbuster taken along for the ride. Atop the steps of an otherworldly temple, the Ghosbusters are now again faced with the need to cross their proton streams and seal Shandor away permanently. The force of doing so throws them back into the real world where they revive Dr. Selwyn and Mayor Mulligan and release Walter Peck.

The movie then ends with Dr. Venkman finally having won the affection of Dr. Selwyn and saved the world from destruction. But with the spirit realm pushed back there just isn't enough work to support five Ghostbusters. In light of this, the team disband and went their separate ways, though Egon thanks ??? for his support, he decides to offer new interns for a new Ghostbusters project. Slimer escapes again and flies into the screen as the Ghostbusters theme starts to play and the credits begin.

Trivia:

 * The film was rumored to be released in 1998.