Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost is a 1999 direct-to-videoanimated 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 released on October 5, 1999, and it was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. The Mystery Inc. gang travel to a New England town called Oakhaven after being invited by horror writer Ben Ravencroft. Like a number of direct-to-video Scooby-Dooanimated films released in the late-1990s and early-2000s, The Witch's Ghost features real ghosts instead of traditional crooks in masks, 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 film to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studioMook Animation. The film marks the first time voice actor and radio-personality Scott Innes voiced Shaggy, as Billy West needed time for his roles as Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth and Dr. John Zoidberg on Futurama.
Plot
After Ben Ravencroft, a famous horror writer of whom Velma Dinkley is a huge fan, assists her and the Mystery Gang 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, complete with 17th-century replicas and attractions based on the alleged 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 Sarah to be a Wiccan who used natural herbs to heal people and reveals for years he has been searching for Sarah's medical journal to prove her innocence. Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers are chased by a witch and run into Ben and the gang. They find broken tree branches at the scene and are drawn to an all-female gothic rock band, The Hex Girls, led by Sally "Thorn" McKnight. The gang then decides to split up; Fred and Daphne stay to watch the Hex Girls, Velma and Ben go explore an old barn, and Shaggy and Scooby follow the Mayor. Fred and Daphne see Thorn performing some sort of ritual and are convinced the Hex Girls are witches. Velma and Ben find a cherry pickertruck in the barn. Scooby and Shaggy follow Corey, until they encounter the witch and flee to the gang. The gang, the Hex Girls and Ben meet in the woods. The witch appears and gives chase, but is captured by Velma. The witch is revealed to be Mr. McKnight, Thorn's father. Velma locates the truck and explains that the truck's arm made the witch appear to fly, with the townspeople jointly involved. Ben scolds everyone involved for exploiting Sarah's good name. Back at Ben's house, Fred and Daphne apologize to the Hex Girls, after which Thorn explains the "ritual" was for soothing her vocal cords and that she is actually descended from Wiccans. Corey and Mr. McKnight arrive to apologize to Ben for using his ancestor in their publicity stunt, explaining the witch was to boost the town's failing tourist economy and that they found inspiration from digging up the head marker for Sarah's grave; keeping it secret from him to avoid upsetting him. It is then revealed that a shoe buckle Scooby found earlier was actually from Sarah's diary. Everybody goes to the buckle's location, where Scooby discovers the buried book, which is actually a spell book. Ben reveals that Sarah was indeed a witch, who wielded her terrible and evil magic against dozens of people before the Wiccans used their nature-based powers to imprison her within her own spell book. He created the mystery at the museum and engineered the encounters with the gang, knowing they could lead him to the book. After taking it from Ben, the gang attempts to flee in the Mystery Machine, but Ben renders it useless by damaging its tires. Ben takes the book back and finally summons Sarah. However, he soon discovers that she has no loyalty to him and her ambitions are to destroy the world, rather than rule it alongside him. Disillusioned, Ben attempts to reimprison Sarah, but she tells him that only a Wiccan can defeat her, and imprisons Ben in a magical sphere. The gang launches an attempt to get the book while Sarah turns pumpkins, trees, and a turkey into monsters in order to stop them. Daphne and Velma free the Hex Girls and the latter convinces Thorn to use her inherited Wiccan power to read the spell to reimprison Sarah. Just as she's sucked back into the book, Sarah pulls Ben in too; imprisoning them both. A burning branch falls onto the book, destroying it, ensuring that the Ravencrofts can never return, and turning most of the monsters that Sarah had created to normal. The gang and townsfolk celebrate their deliverance with a concert from the Hex Girls with Scooby-Doo and the gang joining in on the performance.
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, featuring songs by The Hex Girls, and Billy Ray Cyrus performing "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!".
Track listing
Reception
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."
