everyday is halloween!

scooby-doo on zombie island [1998]

yes, i admit it!  i confess!  i love the scooby-doo franchise whether it be in TV or movies or or or!  & this flick is one of my very favorite of my favorites direct-to-video scooby-doo films.  darker in tone, where the creatures are real supernatural beings, this flick is great viewing for the Spooky Season.  the voice actors are stellar, the writing is impeccable, the editing is killer, & the songs are memorable.  the director of this flick, jim stenstrum, was on a roll at the turn of the millennium making a few more of my favorite scooby-doo pics, like Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders [2000] & Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase [2001].  these are films to watch & savor.  i mean, they are damn good movies!

the gist goes like this: Mystery Inc. is kaput.  the gang has gone their separate ways.  velma is the proprietor of a mystery book shop.  scooby-doo & shaggy work as customs agents at the airport where scoob's sharp sense of smell finds contraband foodstuffs.  daphne is now a TV host of paranormal phenomenon & fred is her producer.  each one misses the gang & their adventures.  fred sees the wistful melancholy in daphne.  so he hatches a plan for daphne's birthday.  get Mystery Inc., along with their van, the Mystery Mobile, back to together & find real paranormal stuff for fred & daphne's TV show.  a few few calls to velma, scoob & shaggy, & bob's your uncle!

the gang lands in new orleans where a local cook/caretaker overhears their wanting for real ghosts.  she tells the gang that in the bayou is a pepper plantation where she works that is really haunted.  the gang having nothing to lose follow the cook/caretaker into the swamps in their search for ghosts & ghouls.  & they are soon not disappointed.  the owner of the plantation, ms. lenoir, voiced by sacramento's own adrienne barbeau, readily takes the gang into her confidence & her property.  soon the shit hits the fan!  as i've said, this scooby-doo adventure is darker than most of the gang's adventures.  the zombies are real.  there is a purpose in leading the gang to the pepper plantation.  which is based on a curse.  of course it is!  

nevertheless, scoob, shaggy, velma, fred & daphne break open the mystery to save themselves.  but does it save zombie island?  i won't tell!  this is a fun rollercoaster of a movie where the boogeyman is real & things do go bump in the night.  the voice actors are killer, including frank welker as fred, scott innes as scooby-doo, billy west as shaggy [i love shaggy!  that beatnik that will eat you out of house & home!], mary kay bergman as daphne, b.j. ward as velma [love her too!], & mark hamill as snakebit scruggs [a cantankerous local who only wants to catch the biggest, oldest catfish in the bayou, big mona!].  this is one helluva ride!

but i must also confess my love for this movie stems from my watching it with nick when he was a wee lad.  yes, i have loved the scooby-doo franchise since i was a wee little mutt.  but this movie, along with several other Mystery Inc. movies, holds a special place in my heart.  in the mid to later first decade of this new century nick & i would make an afternoon of going to Fry's Electronics [long shuttered] which had a vast DVD section.  nick would pick out a DVD as i would too.  often nick's selections were scooby-doo movies.  i don't know if nick's choices were influenced by me.  probably there were.  then at check-out we would get a box of Red Vine licorice to eat on the drive home.  i've seen this particular movie hundreds of times.  so that colors my love of this flick.  i am, at bottom, a dad who cherishes the memories made in sharp relief by this pic.  but don't let that stop ya!  because this is a damn good halloween movie!  go for a ride with Mystery Inc. & head into the bayou where things do go bump in the night!

boo!