31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 13 Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the 13th Ghost

 

TITLE-Scooby Doo and The Curse of the 13th Ghost

SOURCE-Warner Brothers DVD

Back in the fall of 1985 one of the odder and most fun Scooby Doo series started. 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo ran from early September until early December the same year. With only 13 episodes it is also AFAIK  the shortest of the many Scooby Doo tv series.

In this series you had Scooby,Shaggy,Daphne and Scrappy teaming up with Flim-Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul. If you think Scrappy Doo is hated by Scooby fans go ask any of them about Flim-Flam. Flim-Flam was a kid conman that got added to the gang. Vincent on the other hand was great. Voiced by the great Vincent Price. 

The basic plot was Scooby and Shaggy had opened up the Chest of Demons. Which releases  the 13 most terrifying and powerful ghosts and demons ever to walk the face of the Earth.  This of course happens in the first episode. And you would think well there are 13 ghosts and 13 episodes,they catch one per episode. Nope! One ghost was never caught. The series got cancelled,being replaced by re-runs of Scooby Doo's Laff Alympics.

Pretty much now if people talk about this series they are gonna mention how it was the first Scooby series where the ghosts and demons were real and not just people in costumes. And this was the last tv show to use Scrappy.

As a kid back when this aired I missed a few episodes. Then in the mid to late 90s caught it one weekend on Cartoon Network saw all 13 episodes and thought "Well this series is forgotten they will never wrap it up."

Then in late 2018 I hear that early the next year a DTV Scooby movie is coming out. Titled Scooby Doo and the Curse of the 13th Ghost. Which after over 3 decades would resolve this dangling plotline. At the time I figured I would catch the film on Cartoon Network.

Skip ahead to back in the spring of 2021.I was looking at the dvds at a local store. Saw the above pictured set. Which contains all 13 episodes of the tv cartoon plus the follow up DTV movie. And with it being 7 bucks I grabbed it. One lazy weekend I re-watched the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo and had a blast. Then this DVD set got put in a box and I kind of forgot about it until a week ago.

After a prologue where we see Vincent and his assistant Mortifer capturing all 13 ghosts and sealing them in the Chest of Demons it skips ahead to present day. The Scooby Gang is solving a mystery in a local mall. And get told by one of the local cops that with them turning 18 soon they run the risk of being arrested for criminal negligence.

The gang decide to break up. They hold a garage sale. Selling off everything including the Mystery Machine. Then in a box someone finds the crystal ball Vincent used to communicate with Scooby,Shaggy and Daphne. There is no Scrappy in this film and the one time he gets mentioned Fred and Velma act as if they have no clue who Scrappy is. Which is a nice inside joke for the long time Scooby  fans.Vincent contacts the gang and now Daphne,Shaggy and Scoob must explain to Fred and Velma what happened one summer while Fred and Velma were gone. And how there are real ghosts.

The gang meets up with Vincent and we find out Shaggy sent the Chest of Demons to the Himalayas. So the Scoobs head that way. We find out the last Ghost/Demon they must catch is Asmodeus. Who is one of the creepier looking and acting villains I have seen in Scooby.

I love how Fred feels left out cause Daphne takes charge in this adventure. And how Velma keeps trying to prove that there is no ghosts,demons and magic. Flim-Flam shows back up. Grown up and running a Chest of Demons inspired gift shop.

Asmodeus attacks Vincent in a castle. And thanks to Velma's ever spying eye she figures out that Asmodeus is another human in a costume. So yea really the 13th ghost isn't caught. But we get a nice wrap up. And it is left up to the viewer to decide if the ghosts are real or not.

Most of these DTV Scooby animated films are ok at best. This one I fucking loved. Being a sequel to one of my favorite Scooby tv series. And all the little inside jokes and references they have in this film had me laughing and shaking my head through the entire film.

Now of course Vincent Price is dead. So Maurice LaMarche does the voice. He sounds enough like Price to work. All the voices worked in this. The animation is pretty good. With a few scenes with Daphne's Misstery Machine being CGI and not looking that great.

For the cheap price and including the entire 13 Ghosts series I'm happy with this purchase.

Scooby Doo and The Curse of the 13th Ghost gets a B+.