The Scooby-Doo Show: Scared a Lot in Camelot (1976)

 

An excellent episode. 

In this episode, Shaggy's wealthy and eccentric uncle inherited the old King Arthur castle and moved it over to his home in new England. Unfortunately, it seems that the castle came with the ghosts of Merlin and the Black Knight. 

There is a lot to love about this episode. Haunted castles are always a perfect setting for a Scooby mystery, and this one is no exception. This setting is very atmospheric, giving a delightful Halloweeny vibe to the proceedings. Much of this is due to great background art and use of daker colors. Also adding to the Halloweeny vibe are the floating spirits, which add just the type of spooky fun that we all love. Merlin may not look particularly ghost-like, but he does have a really fun design and feels like a real threat to our heroes. The Black Knight also feels quite intimidating. Where this episode really stands out is it humor. The humor really is exceptionally good here. Scooby and Shaggy being hypnotized is absolutely hilarious as is much of the slapstick with Scooby and Shaggy. Also getting some good laughs is Shaggy's uncle and his similarities to Shaggy. 

If I had one complaint it is that the mystery is really easy to solve due to a lack of suspects but when an episode is as fun as this, that is hardly a complaint. 

Movie Review: Bone Lake

 

Michael's Movie Grade: F

A true piece of trash. 

This horror film seems to mistake shock value for thrills. The film opens with a running naked couple being shot to death by arrows. This opening scene ends with the guy getting an arrow through his testicles. This scene has little to no bearing on anything that follows but it is unpleasant and gross, so it is there. Later when a character is cooking dinner there are very gruesome shots of him cutting up a fish. Again, there is no need for this, but it is here for shock value. Most of this movie though does not revolve around violence but rather sex. These sex scenes simply feel incredibly trashy and embarrassing to watch. There is nothing at all sexy about them and instead come off as silly (not in a funny way though). They also seem to go on forever and disrupt the whole plot of the movie. The movie only runs a little over an hour and half but there were times when I wondered if I read the runtime wrong as it seemed longer than some three-hour movies I have seen. Through much of the second act this movie plays like a trashy soap opera focusing on the romantic and sexual entanglements of characters we never get to care about. When the danger is finally reveled in the third act (which we have been impatiently waiting for it to be for what seems like an eternity), it is through a horrible plot twist. Like the previous gory sequences, I have mentioned the plot twist is disturbing and gross but not for the right reasons. It does not add a sense of tension to the story (especially since we don't care about anything happening) nor does it add any real depth. Instead, it is just shocking a gross for the reason of being shocking and gross. The climax similarly is just an excuse for gore with no actual tension or suspense anywhere around.  

 

Movie Trailer: Black Phone 2

The Scooby-Doo! Show: Watt a Shocking Ghost

 

A wonderful episode. 

In this episode, the gang winds up in the small town of Winterhaven, when the Mystery Machine runs out of gas. Here they find the town is being terrifired by an electifying 10,000 volt ghost. Before you can say Jinkies the gang has another mystery on their hands. 

What makes this episode so wonderful is the villain. The 10,000 Volt Ghost is a top-notch Scooby villain in every way. His design is very memorable and even quite unique among Scooby villains. He also feels like a real threat to our heroes, especially since his electric exterior makes it so our heroes can't even touch him. The big reveal of who the ghost's true idenity is also quite clever. There is a reason that he is one of The Scooby-Doo! Show's most memorable villains and even appears in the show's theme song. The episode also greatly benefits from some strong humor, especially the slapstick involving Scooby and Shaggy. The town of Winterhaven also provides a great setting for a Scooby mystery. The snowy abandoned town is quite atmospheric, espically due to some great background art. The scenes in the abandoned engry plant are especially atmospheric and fun. 

This is Scooby-Doo at its best. 

The Scooby-Doo Show: The Gruesome Game of the Gator Ghoul (1976)

 

An excellent episode. 

In this episode the gang goes to visit Scooby-Doo's cousin Scooby-Dum in the deep south. There they find that Scooby-Dum's owners Ma and Pa Skillett, who own a showboat restaurant, are being haunted by a gator ghoul. The gang (and Scooby-Dum) have another mystery on their hands. 

There is a lot to love about this episode. The gator ghoul is a wonderful villain with a great design and delightfully creepy glowing eyes. This is a very creepy villain that feels like a real threat to our heroes. This helps make the gator ghoul one of the most memorable villains of this series. The swap setting as well as the scenes aboard the showboat give this episode a wonderful sense of atmosphere. This setting helps give this whole episode a delightfully spooky feel. As well as being spooky, this episode is also often quite funny. There are plenty of truly funny laughs here. The slapstick with Shaggy. Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Dum is often delightfully funny. At the same time this slapstick actually contributes to the story as it sets up how our heroes will catch the villain. 

This episode marks Scooby-Dum's first appearance, and it is one of the best uses of the character. He is a pure delight here. He provides some of the episode's funniest moments and he has great chemistry with Scooby-Doo. The contrast of his bravery (he is studying to become a police dog) and Scooby-Doo's cowardness is a lot of fun as well. 

This is a top-notch Scooby mystery in every way. 

'

The Scooby-Doo Show: The Fiesta Host is an Aztex Ghost (1976)

 

A really fun episode. 

In this episode, the Mystery Inc. Gang goes to Mexico for a fiesta, but the fiesta is cancelled because the town is being haunted by the giant ghost of  Katazuma, an ancient Aztec king.

There is a lot to enjoy about this episode. Mexico proves to be a great setting for a Scooby mystery. There is a great sense of atmosphere throughout. The scenes in the swap are especially effective, due to some incredible background art and the use of lighting and fog. Also delightful are the scenes in the temple, which again benefit from some strong background art. I truly appreciate how the scenes in the temple fully utilize every member of the Mystery Inc. gang. There are also some delightfully spooky moments. The scene with the phantom barge is especially effective in this respect. The episode also benefits from some pretty strong humor, Shaggy gets some funny lines here and Scooby gets some good slapstick moments. 

The only real flaw with this episode is that the villain is rather forgettable and does little to stand out from other Scooby villains.  

A delightful episode. 

Silent Film of the Month: The Headless Horseman (1922)

 

Run Time: 75 minutes. Studio: Sleepy Hollow Corporation. Director: Edward D. Venturini. Writer: Carl Stearns Clancy. Based on a story by Washington Irving. Producer: Carl Stearns Clancy. Main Cast: Will Rogers, Lois Meredith, Ben Hendricks Jr., Charles E. Graham, Mary Foy. Cinematographer: Ned Van Buren. Assistant Director: Warren Frome. 

Despite horror not becoming a major movie genre until the early 1930's with the Universal Monsters, there are plenty of films from the silent era that are prefect for the Halloween season. Some of these are very familiar to movie fans. Such examples are Nosferatu (1922) and Phantom of the Opera (1925). However if you dig deeper there are plenty more silent era spooky season treats. One of these is this month's Silent Film of the Month, a 1922 adaption of Sleepy Hallow entitled The Headless Horseman.  

I am sure many of you are familiar with the plot. However, for those who aren't, this story follows a schoolteacher named Ichabod Crane. Ichabod falls for the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel and competes with the tough and strong Brom Bones over her affections. One night he takes a fateful ride where he meets the ghostly headless horseman. 

While this movie doesn't quite reach the heights of the wonderful, animated Disney version of the story, there is a lot to enjoy about this film. Chief among the reasons to recommend this movie is Will Rogers in the lead role. Casting him as Ichabod Crane is a bit of casting against type. Rogers is best known for his home-spun and likable persona, while in most tellings the schoolmaster is anything but home-spun and likable. Yet Rogers played the role quite well, proving that he has more acting talent than he often gave himself credit for. Rogers could have been a pretty good dramatic actor and not just a comedian with loads of folksy charm. Still the filmmakers work in a few scenes where more typical Rogers humor prevails. Though these scenes are few and far between, they are pretty funny. This is also a very handsome film, thanks to excellent sets and costumes. These truly give the movie a small-town atmosphere that is simultaneously charming and threatening. 

Of course, what everyone is watching this film for is the climactic scene where Ichabod meets the Headless Horseman. While a bit too brief and not exactly scary by today's standards, it is quite atmospheric, well-shot and benefits from Will Rogers doing his own horseback riding adding a sense of realism. In short, this scene is not perfect, but it is a lot of fun. The Headless Horseman also simply looks really cool. Sure, the effect is basic, but it works very well. 

If I had to fault this movie, it would be because of its pacing. The film often meanders and can take too long for anything to actually happen. Because of this even though it has a brief runtime it feels longer than that. The tar and feathering scene is also a bizarre addition to the story.   

This film's director, Edward D. Venturini is relatively little known and only directed a handful of movies that are not remembered today. During the talkie era, he directed Spanish language versions of American films. In this era before dubbing and subtitles, some films were shot multiple times in different languages so they could be shown in non-English speaking countries. B-Western fans might know that he directed the Hopalong Cassidy western, In Old Mexico (1938). 

Producer/writer Carl Stearns Clancy would later write and direct a series of travelogue shorts that were narrated by Will Rogers. Clancy approached Will Rogers as Rogers was performing in Chicago. For a sense of historical accuracy Clancy would build the schoolhouse set on the original site. At that time this was part of Rockefeller's Tarrytown, New Yor, estate. This would be very close to where Will Rogers was going to be performing in the Ziegfield Follies around the time the movie was to be filmed (it was filmed in July and August of 1922). Because of this Rogers would be able to do both his stage work and make this movie at the same time. Clancy had to increase his budget for Will Rogers (the movie ended up costing 19,583.20) but he felt this was worth it. Clancy was impressed by the comedian's professionalism as well as his energy. For the filming of one scene a stunt rider didn't show up. Clancy recalled that Will Rogers "volunteered to double for the missing extra, quickly changed his make-up, leaped into the saddle, and led all the other riders in repeated thundering dashes up and down the rock-strewn road until the scene had been taken." Clancy said, "he was greatly amused to see himself in two places at once." 

Exhibitor's Trade Review, 1922

Exhibitor's Herald, 1922


THe following is a review from Picture-Play Magazine. "'The Headless Horseman' - Will Rogers. The tragedy of this picture is that it might have been great, and it is only moderately good. Will Rogers has his funny moments, but the picture as a whole does not live up to them." 

Motion Picture News, 1922



For anyone interested, you can watch this film below on YouTube. 

Resources Used

Will Rogers: A Biography by Ben Yagoda.

https://mediahistoryproject.org/