Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost

An absolute classic! This is one of the best Scooby-Doo movies in my opinion and it was fun to rewatch as an adult (without kids). It still holds up and is appropriate for most children (who wouldn't be scared by the ghost). Spoiler alert: I really like that the witch is real.

In the summer of 1999 my wife was pregnant with our son. Thinking of all of the time I would soon be spending with my little dude, I started watching some of the cartoons I loved as a kid. Scooby was at the top of the list ! In those days people still rented movies from video stores. VHS tapes no less. Just after our son was born in the fall, the Witch's Ghost was released. I rented it the first week it was out in October of '99. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to watch this movie for the first time. This was the Scooby-Doo story us fans deserved. A haunted New England village in fall. A Stephen King-ish horror writer. A Salem type witch story. A group of hot, goth, girl rockers ! I watched it twice before I returned it to the rental shop. It's the perfect Halloween Scooby movie. Fast forward a few years and DVD is all the rage and movie fans are building their own home libraries instead of driving to the video rental store. I bought this title, Zombie Island from 1998, and Alien Invaders from 2000. My son and I have watched them many times. I have had to repurchase them a few times. One of the best things about these three movies is the voice of Shaggy. Scott Innes voices him in the latter two and Billy West does Shaggy for Zombie Island. I like Innes better but the change is seamless and young kids would not notice the acting switch. Innes also voices Scoobert for these movies as well but it's Shaggy that is the stand out. It is my favorite Shaggy voice since Casey Kasem in the original series. When Kasem was younger his voice was also perfect for Shaggy. The first Scooby episode , What a Night for a Knight (also called the Black Knight episode), from 1969, introduces a great Shaggy character voiced to perfection by the mid-thirtyish Kasem. Innes' voice fits Shaggy's personality wonderfully and is a big part of why I love this movie. I think his Scooby is a bit too high pitched but...small issue. Also lending his considerable voice to this movie is Tim Curry. I can't remember ever meeting anyone who doesn't love Curry. He's a great Ben Ravencroft. Daphne is played here by the late Mary Kay Bergman. She too is great and gives Daphne a cutesy, confident, playful voice that works well with the ubiquitous Frank Welker's Fred. My son doesn't like Velma's voice in this movie. BJ Ward is Velma in this, the two movies listed above, and in Cyber Chase from 2001. I like her and think she has the right raspiness and know-it-all attitude to be Velma. The Mayor of Oakhaven is awesome. He sounds like a kind of country-bumpkin Kennedy and instantly alerts you to the New Enlgand location. And then there are the Hex Girls. Ah...if only I were a young, single, Eco-goth, cartoon me...oops. My wife might read this. The Hex girls are wonderful and make more appearances in future Scooby episodes. All three of them are great but like Freddy, I'm stuck on Thorn, the Wiccan (1/16th on her mother's side). I won't go into the plot of the movie because I don't want to spoil it for those who have yet to see it. Needless to say, I am a big Scooby fan ! I am thrilled my now 16 yr old son has watched lots of Scooby-Doo and likes it almost as much as his dad. If you or your kids only watch a few of the Scooby movies this one and Zombie Island are tops for sure. Zombie Island is actually a bit scary for kids though...just a warning. I once came across a thread on Reddit about how scary the now 20-something posters found Zombie Island when they were 8 or 10 yrs old and watched it. So maybe watch that one with your kids just in case. Even if it doesn't scare them, you'll get to watch one of the two best Scooby movies ever made ! Zoinks!!

Best Scooby movie ever!

This is the OG Scooby Doo movie! This movie has fantastic animation , voice acting, songs, and characters that you know and love! I had this move on VHS - wore that tape out and now I’m doing that digitally! If you haven’t watched this movie, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

Before viewing this masterpiece of cinematic magic (`cinemagic', if you will), my best friend and I had assumed we were sitting down for an easy-to-digest animated feature. We had grown up watching "Scooby-Doo!", and suspected the film to be something along the lines of a happy-go-lucky mystery where a biblical moral ending was sure to be its conclusion. We couldn't have been more wrong. The film is based on a true story that took place in the historic town of Oakhaven, Massachusetts. After viewing "...the Witch's Ghost", my best friend and I made a pilgrimage to the famous Salem Trials site- and may I just say, walking on the same grounds that Ben Ravencroft roamed sent shivers down our spines. The filmmakers' depictions of the real life Ben Ravencroft- though at times teetering on the edge of fiction- truly did an overall fantastic job of displaying the historic character as he factually was- a brilliant academic. Scooby and the gang were portrayed very accurately. I was blown away at how the dog actor truly understood and embodied the juxtaposition of his character's plight: how to manage his fear and bravery. How he wasn't even considered for an Academy Award nomination I feel was a crime- though I suppose it has something to do with the Academy's apparent prejudice against animated documentary. But don't get me started. Where do I even begin with the spectacular sonic experience that is Hex Girls? That I had never heard of this all-female-trio with their contrapuntal mastery of a Baroque composer is a crime to my iTunes library. To get my hands on their sheet music would be heavenly. One can tell the three members of Hex Girls come from prestigious musical upbringings. I have never before heard such ambiguous, Romantic-era chordal progressions executed so effectively in rock music. Thorn, the lead singer and guitarist, pulls from her roots of Gospel Chant and applies her lyrical timbre to the eloquent lexicon that is Hex Girls storytelling. I found the filmmakers' choice to not line up the image with what the audience is actually hearing in real time (i.e., the drummer- Dusk- shown not playing on beat, or even playing the wrong drum) genius; such subtlety in their use of desyncronization. How very avant-garde! "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air" and their self titled hit single, "Hex Girl", both made it to the Top 40 in Canada, Poland, and England. The mise-en-scene in this film is breathtaking. The director of photography should be lauded for his use of chiaroscuro to subtly indicate the psychological angst the characters experience. This is especially poignant in regards to the muted allusions of substance abuse (Scooby Snacks). Also tackled is the prejudice against Wiccans and the bigotry they face throughout the age-old persecution suffered under the colonial tyranny brought on by more widely accepted religious institutions. This film is a cinematic tour de force. I'm glad I bought the DVD from Amazon.com.

Great movie, one of my favs growing up.

Nephew loved it

Love this movie

They love this!

Haven't seen this movie since I was a kid and it's still great! Bought a copy for a bit of sentimental watching, came a bit earlier than was estimated which was great. The cover art is a bit thinner than some others so it wrinkles and waves easily. No noticeable damage though so I'm happy.

This was bought as a gift. Recipient loves the Scooby movies.

bonjour a tous scooby doo et le fantôme de la sorcière les mystère associes vont être amené a résoudre un mystère sur un grimoire et sorcière avec les hells girls.... 100% satisfait merci a Amazon cordialement Francis

Junto a "La isla de los zombies", esta película está considerada lo mejor de la franquicia, vueltas de tuerca que revitalizaron sus claves. Para los seguidores de la saga este dvd precisamente (con la franja superior naranja) es una buena opción (si adquieren películas de Zona 1) ya que contiene el doblaje español latino que reconocemos de siempre en este tipo de películas. Aunque pongan Reino Unido, son importaciones del mercado USA.