Where Was Ghostbusters Afterlife Filmed?

The official sequel to 1984’s Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II later in 1989.

Ghostbusters Afterlife is the fourth film in the Ghostbusters franchise which follows Trevor and Phoebe.

Moving to a lonely Oklahoma town meeting new friends, new ghosts, and uncovering the mysteries of an abandoned farmhouse owned by their estranged father Egon Spengler.

Through this new and thrilling ghost hunting adventure, there are a few notable locations we see the gang move through.

The town of Summerville in Oklahoma is essentially a character in itself, visually reacting to the paranormal going ons and having ghosts run rampant across all its unique areas, such as the mini pufts causing chaos in a local Walmart. 

Outside the town there are some other architectural marvels such as the abandoned factory, grain mill and of course the stunning Victorian abandoned farmhouse. 

While it may look exciting, how real really is the small town of Summerville? and is that farmhouse even real at all?

Keep reading to know where exactly the cast shot the film and the origin of its most prolific and memorable scenes.

The Town Of Summerville 

Summerville is a fairly local and normal town from what we see in the film having a school, local retail stores and even a cool looking diner called Spinner’s, but is this all just for show? 

The truth is rather than a small town in Oklahoma, the majority of the film in and around the town was shot in Calgary, a cosmopolitan city in Alberta Canada where 2005’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’ was also partially filmed. 

The town worked great to portray a believable area where the kids could hang out and go about their normal days, while also inventing and chasing down ghosts when they appear such as when the gang chases a ghost in the legendary Cadillac Ecto-1. 

This entire sequence was filmed on the long and wide streets themselves rather than a big set making for a thrilling chase.

Other notable areas include the school which is actually W.G Murdoch School in North Calgary, and the Napier Theater which is similarly a theater in real life.

The Walmart used in the iconic scene with the mini pufts and terrifying supernatural beast was filmed with special effects in a real Walmart in Deerfoot City shopping center. 

Let’s just hope for the Walmart staff’s sake that effects were used for the giant mess the mini pufts make in the food aisles.

Spinner’s Diner, where Trevor first meets Lucky whom he quickly falls for, is actually an apple pie gas station in real life North Calgary. 

To spruce it up and make it the colorful neon-lit home of burgers and shakes that we see in the film, a lot of the lighting, signs and even attached side housings were added in post production with effects, with the diner only having vague similarities to the buildings it is based on. 

The Abandoned Farmhouse 

The loveable but mysterious Egon Spengler that every ghostbusters fan remembers from his appearance in the original 1984 film leaves behind a dazzling farmhouse in Afterlife for our main cast to explore, and it really is quite something.

Taking reference from Queen Anne style houses in the midwest and having a harrowing Victorian exterior, the farmhouse really is a marvel to look at and steals the show any time it appears, especially in the scenes at night where the bright creepy lights burst through the windows.

Unfortunately, however, the farmhouse is not a real one.

Two replicas of the farmhouse were built after many months of hard work specifically of the film.

One is located on set about 30 minutes south of Calgary after much deliberation of where to put it by location scouters, and the other is actually on a stage used for shooting long scenes and those set at night. 

The farmhouse we see being searched slowly by the gang in the film with mysteries lying in every corner is truly a great achievement by the studio for building such a believable structure, unfortunately it was knocked down after filming ended, despite how much we would love to go and uncover some ghostly mysteries ourselves. 

Outside Of The Town

There are a few scenes where the kids travel out of Summerville and we see some beautiful landscapes and sights mixed with the incredible moody lighting of the film.

If you remember the Shandor Mine right at the beginning of the film, this was filmed just outside Calgary and actually on the Dorothy Ferry Bridge running over the Red Deer River. 

This is also where the grain elevator which makes a few appearances is located.

The abandoned factory where Phoebe and Podcast decided to try out Spengler’s proton pack is also used a few times throughout the film and is actually Turner Valley Gas Plant, a former industrial facility now turned into a museum. 

The factory makes for some great and exciting scenes such as the surprising appearance of a ghost, and gives off a quiet and almost unnerving atmosphere because of how wide and empty it is.

When cruising around in the car there are a few beautiful landscapes that can also be seen such as Horseshoe Canyon.

Located in Drumheller. This can be spotted when Trevor and his friends are driving around during sunset, and was a location also used in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant. 

Conclusion

From a sprawling urban town slowly becoming infested by ghosts to a rural landscape featuring abandoned factories and mines, and an incredible farmhouse hiding secrets behind every corner, Ghostbusters Afterlife has really captured the essence of mysterious adventure that was encapsulated by the films in the 1980’s.

Calgary and its surrounding areas have proved to be popular filming spots over the last few decades for any directors looking for variation in environment within their film and with a lively sprawling town being just a small distance from the great landscape, it was the perfect choice for Ghostbusters Afterlife.

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