For this episode of THS Fright-A-Thon, let’s get on the spooky nostalgia train and talk Scooby-Doo. Or rather, cry: “Scooby-Doo, where are you?!”.
Scooby-Doo isn’t exactly what you’d call a source of horror. I mean, the original series was a 60’s era Hanna-Barbera cartoon about 4 kids and a talking dog going around pulling masks off of criminals in costume who’d been trying to scare people away for X reason. If you’re looking for a horror show, this isn’t it.
That said though, there were some genuinely scary Scooby-Doo villains over the years. Mostly from those movies where the monsters turn out to be real. Here’s a list of the top 5 Scooby-Doo villains I think would fit right into a horror movie all on their own.
5. Space Ghost
At 5th place, we have a villain from the classic series: the Space Ghost!
The Space Ghost appears in the classic Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? series in season 1, episode 14 “Spooky Space Kook”.
Basically, the Space Ghost is just another random guy in a suit ranting about those “meddling kids and that pesky mutt” by the end of the episode. There’s nothing scary about him personally. While he was in costume though, he was absolutely terrifying to a younger me.
I mean, look at him. That red glow, that skull face inside the helmet, and that creepy high-pitched laugh? Yeah, this guy haunted my childhood nightmares. Listen for yourself if you’re not convinced.
Even his ship looked scary. With its ragged wings and shattered windows, combined with the orange glow emanating from said windows, it screams “derelict haunted ship” Seriously, if a spaceship somehow turned into a zombie, the Space Ghost’s ship would be the perfect look for it.
All these features combined is what made me place the Space Ghost at 5th place, and things will only get scarier from here on out.
4. Sarah Ravencroft
At 4th place, we have the titular witch’s ghost: Sarah Ravencroft.
Sarah Ravencroft is the star villain of Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost, and is in fact the titular witch’s ghost.
Unlike the villains in the classic Scooby-Doo series, Sarah is most definitely not a guy in a costume. She is a very real ghost of a very nasty witch. How nasty, you might ask? Apparently, her idea of a good time is to use some very dangerous spells to rot away her surroundings and nearby objects, and use some form of telekinesis to imprison random bystanders in some handy nearby pillories. She can also apparently animate pumpkins to use as minions and disposable soldiers. She’s like an evil, Halloween-y Elsa here.
Heck, even Sarah’s spell book screams “Necronomicon!”. I mean seriously, who did she find to make a book cover like that? Or rather, what bookmaker did she torture to make that monstrosity?
It’s fortunate that there just happened to be a handy good witch available to read Sarah’s evil spell book, and trap her back in it. Sure, Sally “Thorn” McKnight doesn’t exactly look like a good witch, what with the goth looks. Never judge a book by its cover though. You never know what you may miss under it.
For her actions before Thorn sealed her away though, Sarah Ravencroft deserves to be in 4th place here. However, she’s upstaged by a surprising person: her descendant.
3. Ben Ravencroft
At 3rd place, meet Ben Ravencroft, who somehow managed to be an even nastier piece of work than his wicked witch ancestor.
When Ben Ravencroft first appeared in Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost, he appeared to be just an innocent horror author who just wanted to find his ancestor’s diary to clear her name. It sounded like an entirely reasonable desire. Velma was taken in by it. We all were, really. It was just too bad that it all turned out to be a lie.
You see, Ben Ravencroft knew perfectly well that Sarah wasn’t an innocent witch. He didn’t just accept her evilness though. He wanted her power as well. Ben crafted his whole persona in order to trick people into helping him find Sarah’s spell book, which he then used to free Sarah so that she can help him take over the world. At least, that’s what I assume he wanted.
Unfortunately for him, Sarah had no intention of giving Ben any of her power. She simply locked him up with the rest of her prisoners. I guess villains aren’t really into the cooperating business. Still, for Ben’s mastery of the art of deception, I rate him higher on the evilness scale than even his evil ancestor.
2. Revolta
At 2nd place, we have the wicked witch of the web: Revolta.
Revolta’s first and last appearance was in Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. You really wouldn’t believe that she’s one of the nastiest villains in Scooby-Doo judging from her appearance alone. Indeed, she just looks like a typical Saturday morning cartoon villain. Looks, however, can be deceiving.
Revolta’s plan for world domination actually makes a disturbing amount of sense. Her plan basically amounts to kidnapping the children of the monster world’s leaders, and then brainwashing them to be her loyal soldiers so that she can use them as weapons against their parents.
This plot is not only disturbingly evil, it’s just as disturbingly feasible. The brainwashed kids would be both human (in a manner of speaking) shields and weapon. Their parents wouldn’t be able to fight back without harming their own children as well. Had Revolta’s plan succeeded, it would’ve likely resulted in dead parents due to being unable to kill their kids even when they’re being attacked, and also heartbroken parents as they’re forced to kill their own offspring in self-defense.
Thankfully, Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy (surprisingly) were there to save the kids and prevent such a fate.
Revolta and her Grim Creeper assistant still deserves 2nd place for the idea though. This was one plot that would’ve been hideously effective had it not been for a meddling kid and his talking dog.
1. Werecats
Finally, at 1st place, we have the terrifying werecats of Moonscar Island.
If you came into Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island thinking that the zombies were the villains, well, you were dead wrong. The werecat trio of Simone Lenoir, Lena Dupree, and just Jacques were the true villains of the movie. Especially after disguising themselves as innocent humans so effectively throughout the first part of the movie.
They even have the best backstories of all Scooby-Doo villains. Simone and Lena were originally settlers living on Moonscar Island 200 years ago. That all changed a band of definitely-not-Straw-Hat pirates decided to mass murder the entire colony. Simone and Lena, the only survivors of the massacre, then took revenge for their fallen friends and family by offering their bodies and souls to their cat god, turning into werecats in the process. As those pirates were but mere mortals, they fell easily to the werecats.
However, Simone and Lena found out that their newfound power came with a price. They had to periodically drain humans of their life energy to preserve their immortality. Thus, their quest for vengeance ended up turning into a hunt for innocents as they continually lured people to the island over the centuries to basically be prey for them. The people they drained ended up turning into zombies, who were just trying to scare people off the island to keep them from ending up like them. Whoever thought that zombies could be the good guys?
It was a very good thing that the Scooby gang ended up running the clock down for the werecats, and thus caused them to decay back into the ashes they came from.
Also, bonus evil points for Jacques. At least Simone and Lena originally had semi-noble intentions for turning into werecats. Jacques, as far as we can tell, just wanted to be immortal. He didn’t care how many people he had to murder to do it. So well done, Jacques. You managed to out-evil the originals.
