The trailer for the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife movie that hit online today includes a scene where the young ghostbusters walk toward old and rusty gates on top of which there is a sign that reads “Shandor Mining Co.”
Two roadside signs also read “Road Closed Ahead” and “No Trespassing.
“Most Ghostbuster fans recognized the name as a reference to Ivo Shandor, who was also referenced in the original 1984 movie.
After seeing the reference to Shandor in the new Ghostbusters: Afterlife trailer, fans have been wondering what it hints about the plot of the upcoming movie and how it will link to the plot of the ’80s originals.
Fans have been wondering how the plot of the new film will connect with the plot of the original ’80s movie since director Jason Reitman, the son of Ivan Reitman who directed the original films, promised that the new Ghostbusters would be “a love letter” to the original movie.
However, if you’ve been wondering who Ivo Shandor is, here is what you need to know.
Who is Ivo Shandor?
The original movie revealed Ivo Shandor as the architect who designed the apartment building (55 Central Park West, NYC, in real life) where Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) lived.
Dana was possessed by a supernatural entity in her fridge called Zuul. Peter Venkman (Bill Muray) told Dana that Zuul was a servant of Gozer, an ancient Sumerian god of destruction.
Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) also later revealed (see video below) that he discovered from a book called Tobin’s Spirit Guide that the architect’s name was Ivor Shandor, the leader of the cult of Gozer.
According to Spengler, Shandor was an architect, as well as a doctor who “performed a lot of unnecessary surgery.” In 1920, after the First World War, Shandor started a secret society of Gozer worshipers.
He believed that the world “was too sick to survive,” so he and his cult wanted to summon Gozer to destroy the world.
Spengler warned that “something terrible” was about to “enter our world” and that Barrett’s apartment building was the “door” through which the evil entity would enter the world.
Shandor designed the building as a portal to bring Gozer to the world. The building was designed like a conductor to attract the god. Shandor and his cult members used the roof of the building for ritual ceremonies to summon Gozer.
The roof of the building had a structure made from “cold riveted girders with cores of pure selenium,” like the telemetry trackers NASA used to search for dead pulsars, according to Spengler.