The plot involves Mystery Inc. travelling to the New England town of Oakhaven after being invited by horror writer Ben Ravencroft. Like a number of direct-to-videoScooby-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.[3]
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. This was also the final film starring Mary Kay Bergman that was released during her lifetime.
Plot
After Ben Ravencroft, a famous horror writer of whom Velma Dinkley is a fan, assists her and Mystery Inc. in solving a case at a museum in San Francisco, he invites them to his hometown of Oakhaven, Massachusetts. When they arrive, they find the town's Mayor Corey has converted it into a tourist attraction based on the ghost of Sarah Ravencroft, Ben's ancestor 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 that he has spent years searching for her medical journal to prove her innocence.
While Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers are chased by Sarah's ghost, the gang is drawn to the Hex Girls, an all-female gothic rock band led by Sally "Thorn" McKnight, during one of their rehearsals. Fred Jones and Daphne Blake follow Thorn and, upon discovering her seemingly performing a ritual, believe the Hex Girls are witches.
Upon capturing Sarah's ghost, Velma reveals her to be Mr. McKnight, Thorn's father and Oakhaven's pharmacist who dressed up as the ghost as part of a town-wide publicity stunt meant to stimulate Oakhaven's failing tourist economy and that they did so after digging up Sarah's grave despite not finding her body. Additionally, Thorn reveals the "ritual" she was performing was actually an herbal remedy for soothing her vocal cords and that she is 1/16th Wiccan.
Upon realizing that a buckle Scooby found earlier is actually the lock from Sarah's journal, he returns to where he found the lock and digs up Sarah's journal. To the gang's horror the book is revealed to be a witch's spellbook. Ben reveals he is a warlock, the stories of Sarah being a witch are true, and she had been imprisoned in her book by the Wiccans of her time. Furthermore, he engineered the museum mystery to manipulate Mystery Inc. into helping him, and though he did not account for Oakhaven's publicity stunt, used it to his advantage nonetheless. He subsequently awakens his magical powers and releases Sarah in the hopes that she will help him rule the world. However, she chooses to destroy it in retaliation for her imprisonment instead.
Disillusioned, Ben attempts to re-imprison Sarah, but she reveals only a Wiccan can do so and traps him in a magical sphere. Mystery Inc. attempts to get the book back, but Sarah brings several pumpkins and trees to life and enlarges a turkey to stop them. Amidst the chaos, Velma convinces Thorn to re-imprison Sarah. As the plan succeeds, the trees and pumpkins are restored, the turkey is freed from her control, and she is pulled back into her book, taking Ben with her. A burning branch falls onto the book, incinerating it, thus preventing the Ravencrofts from ever returning. Afterwards, Mystery Inc., the townsfolk, and the turkey celebrate with a concert held by the Hex Girls to raise money to repair the village.
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.[4]
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.[4]
Kid Rhino partnered with Warner Home Video and Cartoon Network to release the soundtrack for the film. According to Rhino VP Carol Lee, "We [worked] closely with Warner Home Video so that we're part of everything they do." She added the soundtrack to the film was, "treated like that of a theatrical release. We created a Music Video which appeared on the home video."[7]
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?".[8]
The film earned a 50% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[10] David Parkinson of Radio Times, gave the film two out of five stars, saying, "This full-length cartoon featuring the ghost-hunting teenage detectives is something of a mixed bag."[11] Joe Neumaier from Entertainment Weekly said, "Though slyly written, it doesn't have the punch of last year's Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island – but it's still scarier than The Blair Witch Project."[12]
The film was criticized by religious groups upon its release, who claimed The Hex Girls were "of the Devil, luring young girls into Wicca witchcraft."[13]
