The New Scooby Doo Mysteries: "A Halloween Hassle In Dracula's Castle"

Scooby Doo made his debut 50 years ago today (September 13, 1969).  In honor of the occasion, we're starting our Halloween reviews a bit earlier than usual this year.  Happy Birthday, Scoob!

Premiered October 27, 1984

On Halloween, Scooby Doo (Don Messick), Shaggy (Casey Kasem), Daphne (Heather North) and Scrappy Doo (Messick again) visit a costume shop.  Scooby and Shaggy are terrified when two space aliens arrive at the shop.  

Their fears are put to rest when the "aliens" unmask and reveal themselves to be Scooby’s old friends Velma (Marla Frumkin) and Fred (Frank Welker)!

The costume shop's owner (Hamilton Camp), who is wearing a Dracula costume, and his assistant (Phil Hartman), who’s dressed as Igor, overhear Scrappy mention that he and his friends are ghostbusters.

The owner tells Scooby that he's the shop's millionth customer.  The prize is an invitation to the town's best Halloween party, which is held at a spooky castle.

When they arrive, the Scooby gang is impressed with the very convincing costumes worn by the party-goers. 

Every is having a good time at the Halloween party, when suddenly, the party is crashed by the ghost of Dr. Van Helsing (Hartman again), Dracula’s old enemy.  The ghost attacks them with garlic gas, which repels vampires.  

When Van Helsing disappears, Dracula reveals to Scooby and friends that he is the REAL Count Dracula and that the other partygoers are also real monsters.  He reveals that he invited the gang to his party because he and his fellow monsters need their help in stopping the ghost of Dr. Van Helsing!  

Can Scooby and the gang find a way to capture Van Helsing’s ghost and save Halloween?  

J.A. Morris says:

This is a fun Scooby Doo cartoon made better by the Halloween setting and the presence of Dracula.  It was interesting to see the Lord Of Vampires portrayed in a (relatively) positive way.  And it was nice to see that even vampires, werewolves and mummies are afraid of ghosts (at least they are in this series).  

If you’re not familiar with this iteration of the Scooby Doo series, its regular cast consisted of Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne and Scrappy.  Velma and Fred made only occasional appearances, so  it’s nice to see the whole mystery gang reunited in this Halloween episode.

Other than that, it’s a typical episode of Scooby Doo.  We get chase scenes, Scooby and Shaggy acting gluttonous (and Scooby eating all the food!) and the gang works together to solve a mystery.

Like most episodes, “A Halloween Hassle” features solid voice work from the cast.  Don Messick, Casey Kasem and Frank Welker were the original voices of Scooby, Shaggy and Fred (respectively) and they’re as great as ever here.  Heather North was the second voice actor for Daphne and voiced her for thirty years.  North also delivers a good performance.  

“A Halloween Hassle At Dracula’s Castle” is no classic, but it’s a fun way to revisit these beloved characters during the Halloween “season.”  Recommended for all fans of Dracula and Scooby Doo.

J.A. Morris’ rating:

3 Jack O’Lanterns.

RigbyMel says: 

This mid-1980s installment of Scooby Doo is enjoyable because of its Hallween setting and the presence of "real" monsters like Dracula and the Wolfman, but it's definitely not a classic.     All Scooby Doo episodes tend to be pretty formulaic, which is part of their charm and the inclusion of our "real" monsters adds some spice to the formula, but somehow, it doesn't quite tie together for me, even as a Scooby fan of long standing.

I did appreciate that we got appearances by other "real" monsters like the Invisible Man,  the Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein's monster and as J.A. Morris mentions above, the voice work is great.  However, there's just a little bit too much going on with subplots involving amulets and magical transformations to make it completely satisfying, plus the low budget animation feels a bit lower budget than usual.

There is one scene that really amuses me where the gang rallies the monsters to fight back against the ghost's depredations,  Dracula and his wife (sadly, she's not named really) decide to drink some "red juice" to get their mojo going. 

Evidently, mentioning that vampires drink blood was not permitted for Saturday morning cartoons at the time.

It's also interesting to note that this mid-80s incarnation of the show features theme music that suggests Michael Jackson's "Thriller", which was a monster (pun intended) hit at the time.

Scrappy Doo is displeased about the only costume in the shop that fit him

If you're a fan of Scooby & his pals, plus classic monsters,  "A Halloween Hassle At Dracula's Castle" is fun to watch, but you probably won't need to watch it more than once, unless you're a kid.

RigbyMel's rating: 

2.5 jack o'lanterns

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Premiered October 12, 2018.

Kathy Quinn (Wendi McLendon-Covey) lives in Wardenclyffe, NY with her children Sonny (Jeremy Ray Taylor) and Sarah (Madison Iseman).  Sarah wants to be a writer but is experiencing writer’s block regarding her college application essay. 

Sonny’s best friend Sam’s (Caleel Harris) parents are leaving town, so Sam goes to stay with the Quinn family.  All of the kids are excited about Halloween, which is a few days away.

Sam and Sonny are middle school outcasts trying to jumpstart a freelance junk collection business.  They go to clean out a creepy abandoned house and find a trunk containing a ventriloquist dummy (Mick Wingert) and a book. 

The dummy has a card says its name is Slappy and has additional text that looks suspiciously like a magic incantation.   Naturally, Sam reads the card aloud.

After an altercation with the local bully Tommy Madigan (Peyton Wich) and his minions in which the book they found is stolen, the boys go back to Sonny's house and learn that Slappy has come to life, a fact which they decide not to share with Sonny’s mom or big sister.  Slappy seems to want to be helpful, completing  the boys’ homework, magically folding laundry and making clandestine improvements to Sonny’s with his science project, a miniature version of the town’s Tesla Tower. 

The next day during science class, Slappy's "improvements" to the Tesla Tower cause it to zap students and blast a hole in a classroom wall.   School gets closed for the day and when Sarah, Sonny and Sam arrive home, they find Slappy sitting on Kathy's lap.  She informs them they're grounded on Halloween night due to the Tesla Tower incident.

The boys come clean to Sarah about Slappy’s creepy involvement in the day’s events and they decide to get rid of the troublesome dummy in a nearby river.  Their problems seem to be over, until Slappy reappears out of nowhere and attacks Sarah's car.  Unfortunately for them, their troubles are just beginning.

The kids conduct some research and learn that famed horror author R.L. Stein (Jack Black) lived in Wardenclyffe when he was younger and during that time wrote an unpublished book called “Haunted Halloween.”  It’s is the book Sonny and Sam found.  The plot of this book parallels what they’ve experienced so far.  Slappy wants to create a family and since the Quinns plus Sam have made it pretty clear they’re not interested in being a part of his plans, he uses his powers to bring a drugstore full of Halloween candy, costumes and decorations to life!

Slappy’s plan seems to be working well --  jack o’lanterns, costumes and other Halloween decor are wreaking havoc all over town.   He sets up camp in the real Tesla Tower to boost the signal of his powers,  turns a hapless store clerk into a real monster and succeeds in capturing Sarah and Sonny’s mom to make her another pawn in his Halloween takeover.

Sarah, Sam and Sonny realize they’re the only ones who can stop Slappy’s malevolent mischief.  With the help of an unlikely ally in the form of their Halloween enthusiast neighbor, Mr. Chu (Ken Jeong), they must retrieve the book to stop Slappy’s Halloween monstrosities. 

Will the kids be successful in their quest or will Slappy and his new family succeed in making Halloween mischief a malevolent reality?

J.A. Morris says:
I am much older than the intended demographic for Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.  However, it's a fun Halloween movie with a decent cast and lots of holiday imagery.  Halloween films also need plenty of frights and good villains and Slappy provides both. 

Sarah, Sonny and Sam carry the film and they're played by likable young actors.  Wendi McLendon-Covey (best known for playing Beverly on The Goldbergs) does a nice job in the only major adult role and also gets to deliver some funny lines.  Ken Jeong also has some entertaining scenes as Mr. Chu. 

People who saw the first Goosebumps movie will recall that Jack Black had a major role playing R.L. Stine.  In the sequel, Black's role is basically a glorified cameo near the end of the film, but his presence adds some gravitas to the movie. 

J.A. Morris' rating:
I wouldn't call Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween a "future classic," but it's an entertaining "family' film and I'm always excited to see a new (good) movie that takes place on Halloween.  It's recommended for Halloween fans of all ages, highly recommended for fans of R.L. Stine's books.

3 jack o'lanterns.