![]() All of this feels so familiar because this basically is an episode of the show that we never got to see. The gang is being chased around a dilapidated castle by a hulking, Creature of the Black Lagoon-type monster while the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! theme plays (covered by Third Eye Blind). The opening scene of the film seems like just another episode of the show. Dusting off the script from an unproduced episode of the aforementioned SWAT Katz, Zombie Island was given no deadline for when it needed to be delivered and that gave production the time and resources to create an eerie atmosphere that no Scooby release before (OR SINCE) has quite had. The use of shadows and muted colors in Zombie Island’s visuals provide a very striking, almost comic book look. ![]() Spawn: The Animated Series, Men In Black: The Series, Æon Flux, SWAT Kats and more gives you a resume loaded with a lot of style points. The animation was being handled by the Japanese studio Mook Animation, who worked on some of the most visually striking cartoons of the 1990s. ![]() Unlike many of Hanna-Barbera’s cartoons, which were produced quickly and cheaply, Zombie Island had no such restrictions. Sure, Scooby-Doo had previously been in made-for-TV specials like Ghoul School and the Reluctant Werewolf, but everything going into this film was different. Since classic episodes of the series proved popular enough that just starting a new series (like they had always done) was unnecessary, the studio steered the Mystery Machine down a road it’d never been before, a straight-to-video film known as Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. With a new generation of kids now invested in the adventures of our teen sleuths, Scooby stock was arguably the highest it had ever been. What’s old is new to fresh eyes and the all too familiar formula of the brand was revitalized by this modern audience. In an early example of the 20-year cycle of nostalgia for one’s childhood that is all too common nowadays, parents who once watched Scooby and the gang on Saturday mornings were now sitting down to enjoy the show with kids of their own. In 1991, Turner Broadcasting purchased Hanna-Barbera and the studio’s extensive library of animation, and Scooby-Doo became one of many familiar faces finding young fans on the newly formed Cartoon Network. If building a reputation of unmasking monsters and exposing schemes proved anything, however, it would be that things aren’t always what they seem. In 22 years, there had been eight (yes EIGHT) different series starring Mystery Inc., and as each new show mostly provided diminishing returns, it seemed like viewers had grown tired of those meddling kids. But by the start of the '90s, the franchise had all but stalled out. Looking back at the Scooby-Doo universe with the hindsight that we have now, it may be hard to think of horror’s favorite dog and his friends as anything other than omnipresent. But if you ventured out of the horror section of your local Blockbuster and over to the family films, you’d find a direct-to-video gem that is not only the crown jewel of zombie films for the whole decade but, if you ask me, one of the most lovingly crafted films in the whole sub-genre: Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. One decade that is rarely discussed, however, due to a somewhat drought of entries, is the 1990s. Notable periods of success range from the nefariously racist films of the 1930s, the critically acclaimed cult era of the late 1970s and '80s, and the mainstream success of the 2010s. While this specific brand of undead beings has never truly died off, there have been many ups and downs within the genre since it first rose from its grave to terrify the living. Almost as old as the sounds of cinema itself are the ghastly groans of zombies.
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