Saturday morning horror
I was wary of Scooby-Doo as a kid. The version that used to get repeated most as I was growing up was this one:
I could generally cope with it, but every now and again an episode would crop up where the ghost-of-the-week would genuinely freak me out. I can remember leaving a birthday party in tears once. What a wussy little shit I must have been.
As is usually the case, that which scares you also beckons you closer. Thus, I braved Scooby (despite endless rumours from my cousin of an episode that was so gory and disgusting it was more like a horror movie; oddly, I think the episode he was talking about was Miner Forty-Niner, so it's amazing what a kid's imagination can come up with). Soon, braving Scooby wasn't enough. I dipped my toes in darker, murkier, often crappier waters.
Waters like these ones.
The New Shmoo. Fuck knows what happened to the old one.
The Drak Pack. "Count Dracula! Known as 'Big D'!"
FangFace. This was really rare, and more often cropped up on TVS rather than Anglia or Thames, I seem to remember (we could pick up any of the three by messing around with the aerial). It looks utterly dreadful, but I rather liked it because it felt 'edgy'.
The campaign for the assorted reboots of these treasured franchises starts here.
I could generally cope with it, but every now and again an episode would crop up where the ghost-of-the-week would genuinely freak me out. I can remember leaving a birthday party in tears once. What a wussy little shit I must have been.
As is usually the case, that which scares you also beckons you closer. Thus, I braved Scooby (despite endless rumours from my cousin of an episode that was so gory and disgusting it was more like a horror movie; oddly, I think the episode he was talking about was Miner Forty-Niner, so it's amazing what a kid's imagination can come up with). Soon, braving Scooby wasn't enough. I dipped my toes in darker, murkier, often crappier waters.
Waters like these ones.
The New Shmoo. Fuck knows what happened to the old one.
The Drak Pack. "Count Dracula! Known as 'Big D'!"
FangFace. This was really rare, and more often cropped up on TVS rather than Anglia or Thames, I seem to remember (we could pick up any of the three by messing around with the aerial). It looks utterly dreadful, but I rather liked it because it felt 'edgy'.
The campaign for the assorted reboots of these treasured franchises starts here.
The latest incarnation of Scooby-doo is actually pretty good. The writers are playing with story arcs and some some of the episodes are informed by classic horror. I caught a Lovecraftian episode the other day (featuring a character called 'Hatecraft' and a tentacled "monster") and here is a clip from a Vincent Price themed episode:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbgJMeFFm-o
I think the syringe fingered Dr Phibes dude is actually pretty creepy, for a kids show.
Oh, and although I've never seen it (not sure it even aired over here) this cartoon looks like it's in the ballpark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGhZegXEj3U