A new Ghostbusters movie was recently released, with a lot of mixed reactions from fans.  When I first heard about it, I said, “Hey, I’m OK with it if they bring back Ecto Cooler,” not thinking that they would.  Well guess, what?  They DID bring back Ecto-Cooler so I guess I’m OK with the movie now!  The new Ecto Cooler is sold in cans (although I’ve seen pictures of it on the Internet in juice box form as well).  Only problem with it is that it’s REALLY hard to find.  Luckily I found a movie theater that served it in cans, so I snagged a few and here’s my impressions of it.

But first a bit of background.  I was a kid in the 80s and the Ghostbusters movie was insanely popular.  People wore shirts with the Ghostbusters logo and the theme song blared on radios and MTV so much that even I got tired of it!  Ghostbusters was even popular with kids and I remember commercials for action figures and the Saturday morning cartoon!  The cartoon was so successful that after a while, Slimer even got his own spinoff cartoon (it wasn’t as good, by the way).  Slimer was so popular with kids back then that when I went to see the second movie in theaters, when Slimer came on screen all the kids in the audience yelled out, “It’s Slimer!”

Believe it or not, at one point Slimer even had his own fruit juice drink. It was called Hi-C Ecto Cooler and it was an orange tangerine citrus juice drink that was colored green.  It was mostly sold in juice boxes and I drank tons of it as a kid.  I loved the stuff.  Apparently it was popular with others as well because I remember they sold Ecto-Cooler well into the 2000s, long after Slimer was taken off the box.  I even heard that they still sold it later under a different name, but if you scanned it at some grocery stores, the receipt still said “Ecto-Cooler” on it!

So now I guess to help promote the movie, they’ve started selling Hi-C Ecto Cooler again!  I’m glad I found it in cans at a movie theater.  Here is a picture of the can.  I’m disappointed that Slimer’s not on the can, but I guess they didn’t want to pay more licensing fees. 

So what do I think of it?  It still tastes great.  I shared some with one of my brothers and he loved it, too!  You know how sodas taste a little different when they are in cans as opposed to in bottles?  Well, Ecto Cooler does taste a little different in the can, although it could just be my memory being a bit hazy about the taste.  I also don’t remember it being as sweet, but that may be my tastes changing as an adult.  I’ve never really liked sweet stuff, even as a kid, but I notice I’m less tolerant of it as I’ve gotten older.

I poured some in a glass to see if it’s still green, and it is!  I took a picture of it below.  Mmm, doesn’t that look appetizing?  Now that’s a color not found in nature!  But you know, kids love eating and drinking things that are weird colors.  That’s why we had Kool-Aid flavors like Berry Blue and Purplesaurus Rex when I was a kid, and how my little brothers had green and purple ketchup when they were young.

So, when served in a glass, it tastes a bit more like how I remember.  I recommend serving Ecto-Cooler chilled in a glass, and make sure to shake the can a bit before opening and pouring.  So I’m glad to see a little bit of my childhood come back, if only for a little while.  All I need now is some Garfield fruit snacks and episodes of Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers, and I’ll be all set!  –Cary

Tags: Movies with Children