Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island is a 1998 direct-to-video animated comedy horror film based on Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-DooSaturday-morning cartoons. In the film, Shaggy, Scooby, Fred, Velma, and Daphne reunite after a year-long hiatus from Mystery, Inc. to investigate a bayou island said to be haunted by the ghost of the pirate Morgan Moonscar.
It is the first in a long-running series of direct-to-video Scooby-Doo films; succeeded by Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost (1999). Production started at Hanna-Barbera, but was then completed by its then-new parent company, Warner Bros. Animation (which would produce all subsequent Scooby-Doo films). It was also the first of four Scooby-Doo direct-to-video films to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio Mook Animation. The film was released direct-to-video on September 22, 1998 and premiered on Cartoon Network on October 31, 1998. The film received acclaim from critics who praised the animation, voices and writing. The film also has a much darker tone than the original series. Unlike in the original series, promotional commercials for the movie announced that "This time, the monsters are real!"
The movie was dedicated to the memory of Don Messick, the original voice of Scooby-Doo, who died nearly a year before the film's release. The movie is also one of Ed Gilbert's final roles.
== Story ==
Scooby and the gang reunite in search of mysteries and adventure, when they chance upon a remote island inhabited by an undead pirate and his zombie crew.
== Plot ==
The members of Mystery, Inc. go their separate ways after becoming bored of mystery solving. Daphne Blake, along with Fred Jones, starts running a successful television series. Velma Dinkley becomes the proprietor of a mystery bookstore, and Scooby-Doo and his owner Shaggy Rogers bounce from job to job. For Daphne's birthday, Fred decides to get the gang back together for a road trip while Daphne is filming her show.
After encountering a lot of fake monsters, the gang finally arrives in New Orleans. They are soon invited by a young woman named Lena Dupree to visit Moonscar Island, her employer's home, which is allegedly haunted by the ghost of the pirate Morgan Moonscar. Although the gang is sceptical, they go with Lena, to whom Fred has taken a fancy.
On the island, the gang meets Lena's employer Simone Lenoir as well as the ferryman Jacques and Simone's gardener Beau Neville, to whom Daphne takes a fancy. They also meet Snakebite Scruggs, an ill-natured fisherman, and his hunting pig, Mojo. The gang sets out to prove that the "ghost" is a fake. Scooby and Shaggy are chased by Mojo and end up falling into a big hole, where they encounter the ghost and reanimated corpse of Morgan Moonscar. By the time the rest of the gang comes to investigate, Moonscar isn't around.
Simone invites the gang to her house to stay for the night. As the gang is dressing up for dinner, Shaggy sees the ghost of a Confederate colonel in the mirror; Simone explains that the island was a temporary headquarters for a Confederate regiment during the American Civil War. Due to Scooby's antagonism to Simone's cats, he and Shaggy eat in the Mystery Machine, but find the food spicy and get some water from the lake, where an army of zombies emerge. Shaggy's bad driving gets the Mystery Machine stuck in the mud, forcing him and Scooby to flee on foot.
Fred and Daphne find the Mystery Machine, but no sign of Shaggy and Scooby. They argue about each other's supposed love interests and come across Scooby and Shaggy. They manage to capture a zombie, which is revealed to be real. As the zombies swarm around them, the gang splits in panic. Elsewhere, Scooby and Shaggy discover wax dolls that look like Fred, Velma, and Daphne, and they play with them, causing their friends to undertake a series of involuntary actions for a short time until they leave after disturbing a nest of bats.
Fred, Daphne, Velma and Beau return to Simone's house and discover a secret passage under the staircase. They find Lena, who tells them that the zombies took Simone away. Daphne, Fred, Velma, Lena and Beau find a secret chamber for voodoo rituals, where Velma finds footprints of Simone's heels and interrogates Lena about the story. Simone then appears, and she and Lena use voodoo dolls to trap the gang in the chamber. They reveal themselves to be evil cat creatures. Simone tells them that hundreds of years ago, she and Lena were part of a group of settlers who were devoted to a cat god. The vengeful Lena and Simone asked their cat god to curse Morgan Moonscar and his pirate crew, who had chased the settlers into the bayou and were killed by alligators. Their wish was granted and they killed the pirates, but the curse caused the duo to become cat creatures permanently, requiring that they drain life forces to preserve their immortality. They also gave Jacques immortality so they had a ferryman to bring them more victims. The zombies' intent was to warn the gang to leave to escape their fate.
Scooby and Shaggy accidentally tumble into the cave, interrupting the draining ceremony and distracting the cat creatures. Velma quickly unties herself and creates voodoo dolls of Lena and Simone to interrupt their ritual. When they are finally cornered, the cat creatures' curse expires, causing them to disintegrate, freeing the zombies' souls to rest in peace. Beau is revealed to be an undercover police officer sent to investigate the disappearances on the island. Daphne offers Beau a chance to guest-star on her show and discuss the adventure. The next morning, Fred and Daphne become a couple again and everyone leaves the island via ferry to head back to town, though Scooby gets nervous when he's sound by Simone's cat who's eyes start to glow. A post-credits scene shows Scooby making peace with some of Simone's cats by giving them a saucer of milk.
== Cast ==
* Scott Innes as Scooby-Doo
* Billy West as Shaggy Rogers
* Mary Kay Bergman as Daphne Blake
* Frank Welker as Fred Jones
* B.J. Ward as Velma Dinkley
* Adrienne Barbeau as Simone Lenoir
* Tara Charendoff as Lena Dupree
* Cameron Clarke as Detective Beau Neville
* Jim Cummings as Jacques
* Mark Hamill as Snakebite Scruggs
* Jennifer Leigh Warren as Chris
* Ed Gilbert as Mr. Beeman
Category:Scooby-Doo Movies
Category:Scooby-Doo Movies that feature real Monsters