Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost
DVD cover
Directed by	Jim Stenstrum
Written by	Rick Copp David A. Goodman Davis Doi Glenn Leopold
Based on	Scooby-Doo by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears
Produced by	Cos Anzilotti Jim Stenstrum Rob DeSales
Starring	Scott Innes Mary Kay Bergman Frank Welker B.J. Ward Tim Curry Kimberly Brooks Jennifer Hale Jane Wiedlin Bob Joles Peter Renaday Tress MacNeille Neil Ross
Edited by	Rob DeSales
Music by	Louis Febre
Production company	Hanna-Barbera Cartoons
Distributed by	Warner Home Video
Release date	October 5, 1999 (1999-10-05)
Running time	66 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost is a 1999 direct-to-video animated supernatural horror-comedy film, and the second of the direct-to-video films based upon Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. The film was released on VHS on October 5, 1999, then on March 6, 2001 on DVD.

The plot involves Mystery Inc. travelling to a New England town called Oakhaven after being invited by horror writer Ben Ravencroft. Like a number of direct-to-video Scooby-Doo animated films released in the late-1990s and early-2000s, The Witch's Ghost features real supernatural elements instead of the traditionally fabricated ones the franchise is associated with, giving the film a darker tone. The film has been adapted into a book.

It is the second of the first four Scooby-Doo direct-to-video films to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio Mook Animation. The film marks the first time voice actor and radio-personality Scott Innes voiced Shaggy, as Billy West (who voiced Shaggy in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island) needed time for his voice work on Futurama.

Plot

After Ben Ravencroft, a famous horror writer of whom Velma Dinkley is a huge fan, assists her and Mystery Inc. in solving a case at a museum, he invites them to his hometown, Oakhaven, Massachusetts. When they arrive, they find the town converted into a tourist attraction by Mayor Corey, with 17th-century replicas based on the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft, an ancestor of Ben's who was persecuted as a witch and executed by the Puritan townspeople in 1657. Ben disputes this, claiming that Sarah was a Wiccan who used herbal remedies to heal the less fortunate, and he has spent years searching for her medical journal to prove her innocence.

Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers are chased by a witch. The gang is drawn to an all-female gothic rock band, The Hex Girls, led by Sally "Thorn" McKnight. Fred and Daphne see Thorn performing a ritual and are convinced the Hex Girls are witches.

The witch is captured by Velma and revealed to be Mr. McKnight, Thorn's father and Oakhaven's pharmacist, and the townspeople were involved. Thorn explains the "ritual" Fred and Daphne witnessed was a herbal remedy made for soothing her vocal cords and that she is actually 1/16th Wiccan. Corey and Mr. McKnight apologize to Ben for using his ancestor in their publicity stunt. The witch was created to boost the town's failing tourist economy and they found inspiration from digging up the head marker for Sarah's grave. It is revealed that a shoe buckle Scooby had found was actually the lock from Sarah's journal.

Scooby digs and finds a box containing the buried journal, which is actually a spell book. Ben reveals that Sarah was a witch who wielded her witchcraft against the townspeople before the Wiccans used their nature-based powers to imprison her within her own spell book; his ancestry, therefore, makes him a warlock. He engineered the mystery at the museum just so he could meet with Mystery Inc., knowing they could lead him to the book. Ben summons Sarah but discovers that she has no loyalty to him and her ambitions are to destroy the world to avenge her imprisonment rather than rule it alongside him.

Disillusioned, Ben attempts to imprison her again but she tells him that only a Wiccan can defeat her, and traps him in a magical sphere. The gang launches an attempt to get the book while Sarah turns pumpkins and trees into monsters in order to stop them. Daphne and Velma convince Thorn to use her Wiccan power to imprison Sarah. The plan works, sucking her back into the book. Refusing to return alone, Sarah drags Ben into the book with her. A burning branch falls onto the book and incinerates it, ensuring that the Ravencrofts can never return. The gang and townsfolk celebrate with a concert from the Hex Girls.

Voice cast

• Scott Innes as Scooby-Doo and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers
• Frank Welker as Fred Jones, Pumpkin Monsters, Tree Monsters, Babylonian Mummies
• Mary Kay Bergman as Daphne Blake, Tourist #2, The Witch's Ghost, Horrified female customer
• B.J. Ward as Velma Dinkley
• Tim Curry as Ben Ravencroft
• Jennifer Hale as Sally "Thorn" McKnight, Butter churner
• Neil Ross as Mayor Corey and Exhibit Voice
• Jane Wiedlin as Dusk
• Bob Joles as Jack
• Kimberly Brooks as Luna
• Tress MacNeille as Sarah Ravencroft
• Peter Renaday as Mr. McKnight
• Jamie Alcroft as Dr. Dean
• Scott McNeil as Perkins
• Buster Jones as Tourist #1
• Richard Newman as Gopher
• William Hanna as Babylonian Mummies
• Dee Bradley Baker as Giant Turkey

Production

After the success of Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, which received better sales than Warner Bros. had expected, the team were tasked with creating a second Scooby-Doo direct-to-video film. Its predecessor was considered a one-off experiment and, as such, the crew producing it worked with little oversight from executives. For Witch's Ghost, this creative freedom was scaled back considerably. Warner Bros. suggested screenwriters Rick Copp and David A. Goodman, which insulted the team that had produced the first film in total autonomy. In addition, the studio requested the filmmakers "tone down" their content, as they feared Zombie Island had proved too scary for its intended audience.

Copp and Goodman's script concluded with the revelation that the townspeople were using the witch as a publicity stunt. The original team found this unsatisfactory and Glenn Leopold re-wrote the last third of the film, introducing the concept that the ghost is real.

Soundtrack

On September 14, 1999, the soundtrack was released on CD and Audio Cassette by Interscope Records, featuring songs by The Hex Girls, and Billy Ray Cyrus performing "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!".

Track listing

No.	Title	Recording artist(s)	Length
1.	"Scooby-Doo Where Are You?"	Billy Ray Cyrus	1:02
2.	"Hex Girl"	The Hex Girls	1:43
3.	"Earth, Wind, Fire and Air"	The Hex Girls	1:55
4.	"The Witch's Ghost"	The Hex Girls	3:10
5.	"It's a Mystery"	The Hex Girls	3:08
6.	"Scooby Snacks"	The Hex Girls	3:19
7.	"Zoinks!"	The Hex Girls	3:10
8.	"Those Meddlin' Kids"	The Hex Girls	3:17
9.	"Ghost Story"	Louis Febre	3:13
10.	"The Ghost Is Here"	Joe Pizzulo, Gary Falcone	2:21
11.	"Terror Time"	Joe Pizzulo, Gary Falcone	2:55
12.	"Scooby-Doo Where Are You?" (Instrumental Mix)	David Mook, Ben Raleigh	2:43

Release and reception

Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost was released on VHS on October 5, 1999, then on DVD on March 6, 2001.

In spite of a lack of critical consensus, the film earned a 50% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as mixed to negative reviews from critics. Conversely, though, the film was well received by audiences. David Parkinson of Radio Times, gave the film a two out of five stars, saying, "This full-length cartoon featuring the ghost-hunting teenage detectives is something of a mixed bag."

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2000	Annie Awards	Outstanding Animated Home Video Production	Nominated

External links

• Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost at IMDb
• Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost at AllMovie