Happy Halloween everyone! To celebrate, I am going to review one of the scariest cartoons I remember watching when I was younger. That honor goes to the direct to video movie Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. This movie came out in 1998 and is credited for renewing interest in the Scooby-Doo franchise. It paved the way for several new Scooby-Doo series, some live action movies, and a TV movie every year since. This was the first Scooby-Doo production to not have Casey Kasem as the voice of Shaggy. Kasem refused to voice Shaggy unless Shaggy was characterized as a vegetarian like he was. In fact, Frank Welker was the only actor from the original series to reprise his role for this movie. The original voice actor for Scooby, Don Messick, died nearly a year before the movie's release. A dedication to Messick appears in the credits.
The movie is meant as a follow up to the original 1969 TV series. The gang is slightly older, and they have gone their separate ways. Fred and Daphne have their own television series, Velma owns a mystery bookstore, and Shaggy and Scooby bounce from job to job. To celebrate Daphne's birthday, Fred organizes the gang to reunite and accompany him and Daphne while they are filming new haunted house segments for their show.
The gang eventually arrives in New Orleans after a series of disappointing adventures where the monsters they encounter always end up being people in costumes. They receive an invitation by a young woman named Lena to accompany her to her employer's mansion on Moonscar Island, which she says is haunted by the ghost of the pirate, Morgan Moonscar. Soon, ghosts and zombies appear all over the place. Everyone tries to come up with a logical explanation for what they are seeing based on their previous experiences with supposed supernatural beings. However, as the movie goes on, they are forced to accept the horrifying truth: these monsters are real.
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is a significant departure from the original series. It is much darker, which is due in part to the fact that the zombies are depicted as being real. Scenes of death also appear throughout the movie. The animators and sound designers didn't try to make the zombies less frightening either. One terrifying scene in particular shows Scooby and Shaggy encountering a skeleton which grows skin, hair, and clothes to become a zombie. A supernatural light causes other zombies to emerge from the depths of the bayou. While trying to "unmask" one of the zombies, Fred accidentally pulls its entire head off, and the gang toss it around in terror.
Rotten Tomatoes gave Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island a rating of 88%. Critics and viewers praised the voice acting, the animation, and the story's originality. I remember when I first saw this movie, I was still scared for over a week afterwards. Now that I am older, I can appreciate the good aspects of this movie. It still ranks among the best Scooby-Doo movies I've seen. Characterization is strong, and the surprise twist in the story is expertly done.
Scary imagery aside, the music for this movie totally rocks. Two songs that play during the movie, "The Ghost is Here" and "It's Terror Time Again," were performed by the Los Angeles based rock band Skycycle. The "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" title track was performed by Third Eye Blind.
I would recommend this movie to children aged 10 and up. Anyone younger might get too scared while watching it. Please believe me when I say that I can attest to this. For those who can handle the terrifying imagery, it is a great movie to watch with family and friends during Halloween.
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