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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zombie_island.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} This time, the monsters are real...]]]]
3
4->''"All the trees begin to moan\
5And the monsters grunt and groan\
6Rotting faces full of slime\
7Don't you know it's terror time?\
8And it's terror time again\
9They've got you running through the night\
10Yes, it's terror time again\
11Oh, you just might die of fright!\
12It's a terrifying time!"''
13-->-- "It's Terror Time Again" by Skycycle
14
15In 1997, the ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' franchise seemed to have run its course. It was six years since ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'' was cancelled, the only sign of life in the franchise being a made-for-TV-movie in 1994 called ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooInArabianNights'' in which Scooby barely appeared, and the ever-present reruns of previous series. Then, trailers on VHS tapes of several Creator/WarnerBros family films began to circulate. It had sleek animation, dark colors, and featured a seemingly dark and potentially scary movie, and it featured Scooby-Doo and Shaggy running for their lives.
16
17With a journey into relatively mature writing by Glenn Leopold, ''Zombie Island'' marked a high point in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise and a venture in the opposite direction most Scooby-Doo movies took. Directed by Jim Stenstrum and released on September 22, 1998, the film is animated with a more dark and realistic feel to it, and featured a somewhat cynical/mature look at what happened to Mystery Inc. after their adventures were done, which would be touched on again in TheMovie, but with less success. Characters were more fleshed out and three-dimensional, especially the newly-empowered Daphne. The pop songs of past cartoons gave way to Alternative and Metal music. The story appealed to older viewers with death as part of the backstory, and the end result for the gang if they didn't win.[[note]] [[SpoilerCover Although the back cover mentioned that they]] ''[[SpoilerCover do]]'' [[SpoilerCover make it out alive.]] [[/note]] And there was no contrived story with a guy in a mask, there were real zombies.
18
19The film's success led to the creation of three more direct-to-video movies covering mysteries Scooby and the gang would solve as adults, starting with ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheWitchsGhost''. The success of ''those'' caused a wholesale revival of the franchise, culminating in [[Film/ScoobyDoo a live-action film]] and the first new TV series in over a decade, ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo''. The Direct-to-Video movies would also continue, even if the animation quality was not often up to the high standards set by ''Zombie Island''.
20
21Production started at Creator/HannaBarbera, but it was completed by its then-new parent company [[Creator/WarnerBros Warner Bros. Animation]] after the buyout. WB has produced all subsequent ''Scooby-Doo'' films.
22
23The movie starts with Fred inviting Daphne, Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma to a long-awaited Mystery Inc. reunion, held in honor of Daphne’s birthday. The five of them travel to UsefulNotes/NewOrleans in order to find real monsters to discuss on Daphne's talk show. After effortlessly exposing several creature impostors, the gang accepts an offer to visit Moonscar Island. The island is home to a French chili pepper plantation owner named Simone Lenoir, and has become the site of several disappearances over the years. While there, our heroes grapple with zombies and voodoo, death becomes a real threat, and the adventure grows legitimately dark and scary. It remains one of the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest and most dramatic]] installments in the entire franchise, with only the possible exception of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' and ''ComicBook/ScoobyApocalypse'' matching it or coming close.
24
25''Zombie Island'' is also notable for having the first permanent [[TheOtherDarrin shakeup of the franchise's vocal cast]].[[labelnote:±]] Prior to this, the only main character to have been permanently recast since ''Where Are You'' ended in 1970 had been Velma (although ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'', being a SpinoffBabies series, necessarily replaced the entire voice cast except for Shaggy and Scooby).[[/labelnote]] Creator/DonMessick, Scooby-Doo's long-time voice, retired in 1996 and died in 1997 shortly before recording could begin – the movie is dedicated to his memory; Scooby himself is played by Scott Innes instead. Creator/CaseyKasem, who had played Shaggy in every incarnation of the franchise up to this point, declined to reprise his role here after refusing to voice the character in a Burger King commercial (though he would return four years later after he successfully fought for the character to be a vegetarian), so Shaggy is played – for the first and only time – by Creator/BillyWest[[labelnote:±]] though Billy did voice the BigEater one additional time in a Creator/KidsWB commercial[[/labelnote]]. Daphne and Velma are played here by Creator/MaryKayBergman and Creator/BJWard respectively, replacing original VA's Heather North and Nicole Jaffe (also respectively; both original voices would briefly return four years later). Creator/FrankWelker, reprising his role of Fred, was the only original cast member to return.
26
27In 2019, a sequel, ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooReturnToZombieIsland'' was released that partially retconned the events of this film.
28----
29!!''Zombie Island'' provides examples of:
30
31* AccidentalHero: In an ambiguous example, Simone's cats, who bother Shaggy and Scooby into driving away from the plantation, encountering the zombies and leading to [[spoiler:everyone looking for them, when they might have been easy prey for the cat creatures to snatch one by one if they'd stayed in the mansion]].
32* ActorAllusion: Creator/AdrienneBarbeau voices Simone Lenoir, who has several cats [[spoiler:and turns out to be a cat-monster herself.]] Barbeau's best-known animated role is ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. Also, as with ''Film/SwampThing'', Barbeau's character is involved with strange things in the Louisiana swamps.
33* AgentMulder: Daphne clearly believes that there is ''some'' real paranormal stuff out there somewhere, is eager to find it and is annoyed whenever Fred and Velma suggest a more mundane solution.
34* AgentScully: Fred takes his sweet time accepting the possibility that ''real'' zombies and ghosts are pursuing them. In his defense, he's spent at least a decade of every monster and ghost he encountered being frauds and fakes.
35* AmbiguouslyEvil: [[spoiler:The "[[GreaterScopeVillain cat god]]". On one hand, he seemed benevolent and generous towards Lena's and Simone's settler group... but on the other hand, when the two asked him for {{revenge}} on Moonscar's crew, his response was to turn them into {{life drain}}ing werecats, and withhold the [[PowerAtAPrice price]] from them until after the fact.]]
36* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The existence of the zombies. They were once normal people who had their life force drained by the cat people. Consequently this turned them into aware but immortal zombie monsters.]]
37* AnimalJingoism: Scooby, for some reason, hates cats and angrily chases them whenever he sees them. The cats, likewise, don’t like him and taunt him when something bad happens to him. They seem to make amends in TheStinger, which shows Scooby giving the cats milk.
38* AnimationBump: The whole film can be viewed as this to an extent compared to how cheap the animation is in previous installments, but special mention goes to Moonscar's skeleton reviving into a zombie. The grisly animation on his corpse recomposing itself as it regrows flesh and clothing is as fluid as it is disturbing.
39* AntiVillain: PlayedWith. [[spoiler:Simone and Lena turn out to be werecats who drain life from others due to the fact that they were cursed as part of a ritual to get revenge on those who slaughtered their townspeople. However, since they start draining the life from innocent people willingly to preserve their immortality, they are still villains. Therefore, while they may have started out as anti-villains, now they are just {{Serial Killer}}s and become much eviler as they start attacking the innocent.]]
40* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:The pirates, while being trapped as zombies against their will, were the ones who terrorized and caused the deaths of Lena and Simone's entire colony]].
41* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Morgan Moonscar and his pirate crew, Simone and Lena's first victims, and the only ones who were ''not'' innocent. In life, they were savage killers who slaughtered an entire colony of innocent settlers for no good reason, but in undeath, they are apparently remorseful for their actions, and have done a HeelFaceTurn in trying to save others from being killed by the werecats.]]
42* BadLiar: Shaggy tells Lena that Scooby is "great" with cats when she expresses concern that he'll disturb Simone's pets. She quickly calls him out on this when Scooby goes on a rampage against them.
43* BalloonBelly: Scooby and Shaggy become comedically obese after eating a ton of contraband food (or more likely just food they've been stealing from people).
44* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
45** [[spoiler:Simone and her servant Lena prayed to cat gods for the power to protect their island from pirates. The gods granted them such power, but also cursed them to drain the lives of others during the harvest moon]].
46** Scooby and the gang also suffered this trope after Daphne expressed desires to meet real monsters.
47---> "This is more haunted stuff than I really wanted..."
48* BerserkButton: If Scooby EVER sees cats, he'll go off. And Simone clearly does NOT take kindly to dogs on the premises, especially ones that go after her cats.
49* BigBadDuumvirate: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena are the true villains of the film, since Jacques is subservient to them and Moonscar was killed long before the events of the film]].
50* BigDamnHeroes:
51** [[spoiler:Just as Jacques has Shaggy and Scooby in his grasp, the zombies appear and gang up on him, allowing the two to escape]].
52** [[spoiler:Something similar happens in the climax. When Simone and Lena grab ahold of Shaggy and Scooby, a pair of Confederate zombies jump on them and make the werecats let Shaggy and Scooby go.]]
53* BigDamnMovie: The first movie in the franchise to have truly dramatic and serious stakes, as ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyGoesHollywood'' had NoAntagonist and had the conflict revolve around Shaggy and Scooby [[AnimatedActors quitting their roles as television stars to pursue careers in Hollywood movies]], while ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMeetsTheBooBrothers'', ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheGhoulSchool'', and ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheReluctantWerewolf'' had villains causing the conflict, but were still as lighthearted as your standard ''Scooby-Doo'' fare.
54* BigEater: Scooby and Shaggy as usual have enormous appetites.
55* BirthdayEpisode: The Mystery Inc. reunion begins on Daphne's birthday. Ironically, she gets so caught up in her work beforehand, that she loses track of her birthday until everyone else greets her.
56* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Simone, Lena, and Jacques all start out the film as decent and friendly people, especially the jovial Jacques. Then they reveal themselves to be werecats who have been murdering people ''en masse'' for centuries.]]
57* TheBrute: [[spoiler:Jacques turns out to be in league with Simone and Lena in their plan to drain their victims of their life force, and is a much larger physical threat to the gang as a werecat.]]
58* CastingGag: Possibly the casting of Creator/AdrienneBarbeau (Catwoman from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'') as Simone Lenoir and [[Creator/JimCummings1952 Jim Cummings]] (both Fat Cat from ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' and, since 1992, classic Disney ruffian WesternAnimation/{{Pete}}) as Jacques.
59* CasualDangerDialogue: When they're [[spoiler:tied up via voodoo doll, and Velma realizes that she pegged Beau all wrong, that he was trying to protect the gang, she takes the time to apologize to him. Beau says apology accepted because he understands why she was suspicious. That and being sacrificed to a cat god takes bigger priority]].
60* TheCatfish: Snakebite Scruggs, a minor character fisherman introduced at the beginning, is constantly trying to catch a massive catfish named "Big Mona". She keeps stealing his bait, and swims up to his houseboat and spits water in his face to taunt him each time she does so.
61* CatsAreMean: Played with. Scooby has an ongoing rivalry with Simone's cats, though the cats themselves are ultimately neutral characters, with no good or evil intentions towards the protagonists. [[spoiler:Played straight with Simone and Lena, who are very legitimately evil {{Cat Girl}}s who gain immortality by stealing visitors' souls]]. In TheStinger, Scooby and Simone's cats eventually made peace.
62* CatsHaveNineLives: As pointed out by Velma [[spoiler:when the cat creatures fail to drain the gang's lives in time.]]
63-->[[spoiler:"Looks like your nine lives are up!"]]
64* CelestialDeadline: [[spoiler:The cat creatures have to drain visitors' life forces every midnight on a harvest moon so they can live forever.]]
65* CerebusSyndrome: Mystery Inc.'s wacky pursuits of real monsters always turn out to be criminals and con artists in disguise. Then things take a dark turn when [[spoiler:the zombies of Moonscar Island turn out to be the ''real deal'']].
66* CharacterDevelopment: Daphne retains her more proactive personality from ''WesternAnimation/TheThirteenGhostsOfScoobyDoo'', and takes it a step further by never once really being a DamselInDistress (at least, not when others weren't in as much trouble as she).
67* ChekhovsGag: During the "It's Terror Time Again" scene, Shaggy accepts a vine from a zombie to pull Scooby out of some quicksand. It seems like a classic DoubleTake gag. [[spoiler:It's actually {{foreshadowing}} that the zombies don't mean any harm.]]
68* ChekhovsGun:
69** The cloth Velma uses to clean her glasses. Later, [[spoiler:Simone and Lena use the cloth to power a Velma voodoo doll]]. Fred's ascot serves a similar purpose in this movie.
70** Midway through the movie, when Shaggy is chasing Scooby, he stops for a moment to stuff his pockets with hot peppers grown on the island. Near the end of the movie, [[spoiler:they are used as a mean of self-defence when Scooby sprays Jacques' eyes with one of them]].
71* ClothingDamage: Actually a minor plot point. [[spoiler:Lena and Simone transforming into cat creatures]] results in their clothes ripping. Velma is then able to [[spoiler:use some of the clothing fragments to change the voodoo dolls so they now target Simone and Lena]].
72* CounterfeitCash: Counterfeiting is the scheme the 'Moat Monster' at the start of the movie is attempting to cover up.
73* CoversAlwaysLie:
74** The castle on the poster only appears briefly at the beginning of the movie. Most of the movie takes place on a plantation.
75** [[https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzA1ZmMyYjUtMjMzOS00NGRmLTkzMzQtZmVmN2ExMWI1NjJiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjg1MDQzMzc@._V1_.jpg An earlier cover design]] (also used for the Scholastic children's book adaptation) depicts zombies that look nothing like those seen in the movie.
76* CrazyCatLady: Not only does Simone have so many cats for pets on the premises, [[spoiler:but she is later revealed to be a werecat herself]].
77* CryingWolf: An accidental version. Shaggy and Scooby scream inside the house, which is haunted, after eating spicy peppers. This prompts the gang to believe the duo saw a ghost. After the situation is cleared up, the duo scream after seeing Moonscar's ghost, and Velma is briefly annoyed, thinking they ate the peppers again.
78* DarkerAndEdgier: When it first came out, this was the darkest interpretation of Scooby Doo in existence. It's still one of the scariest with ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' being one of the only other interpretations that could match it in darkness for the original child demographic (which is ''saying something'' considering the likes of ''ComicBook/ScoobyApocalypse'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Velma}}''). Plus, this is the first time in Scooby-Doo that characters actually die on-screen.
79* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena were part of a group of settlers who were devoted to a cat god, until Morgan Moonscar and his pirates showed up, and chased the settlers into the water where they were eaten by alligators. Simone and Lena, the only two survivors, prayed to the cat god for revenge against the pirates. The cat god responded by transforming the two of them into cat creatures with the power to destroy Moonscar and his crew. Unfortunately, this blessing came with a curse of its own, requiring them to drain people's life forces every harvest moon to preserve their immortality.]]
80* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler:The zombies. They are scary undead monsters... that are just trying to save others from suffering their fate.]]
81* DayInTheLimelight: The film mostly centres on Daphne Blake.
82* DeadHatShot: [[spoiler:After the cat creatures were ReducedToDust from missing the CelestialDeadline, Simone's pendant falls atop their remains.]]
83* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena made a pact with their cat-god to get revenge on Morgan Moonscar and his pirates, but were cursed to become werecats that had to feed on other living beings to stay alive. Jacques made the same deal to become immortal.]]
84* DeathEqualsRedemption: Morgan Moonscar and his fellow pirates [[spoiler:come back as zombies and successfully manage to hold off the villains long enough for the spell to be broken]].
85* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the classic Scooby-Doo formula. The gang eventually got bored of always catching costumed crooks and split up. After they reunite, they make it their goal to find a genuine supernatural mystery.
86** Also the usual formula is the gang finding that the local MonsterOfTheWeek is just a guy in a mask with very rare exceptions of them being real- trying to keep others away from their property so they can get rich/revenge/etc. to move on from their perceived grievances. In this case, the real monsters [[spoiler:invert this by having the monsters disguising themselves as humans after discarding their humanity long ago in order to ensnare victims into their property to keep them forever and have long since discarded their grudges for the sake of longevity and sadism- becoming more monstrous than the people that they sought vengeance against in the first place]].
87* DefrostingIceQueen: Simone is very cold to the gang at first, coming across as a bit snooty, and unhappy that they were invited out by Lena, but (aside from her annoyance at Scooby) gets warmer, laughing approvingly after Shaggy and Scooby have the hot peppers, and telling the gang to call her by her first name and showing interest in their investigation. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope It's all an act though]] as she is not only planning to sacrifice them to maintain their immortality and is even more scornful to the gang after the reveal]].
88* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: Fred whistles the theme song to ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?'' at one part.
89* DestroyTheEvidence: Fred's camera which was used to capture footage of all the haunted goings-on at Moonscar Island is lost in quicksand, causing it to sink and lose all the evidence.
90* DolledUpInstallment: The movie was adapted from the story of an unmade episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/SWATKats SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron]]'', "Succubus!" (a.k.a. "The Curse of Kataluna"); the original story was [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin supposed to have]] a [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]].
91* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Jacques is Simone and Lena's lackey]].
92* EatTheEvidence: While searching for contraband food in airport luggage, Shaggy and Scooby manage to eat it. This results in their dismissal from their job.
93* EmergingFromTheShadows: Lena is introduced coming out of the shadows. Simone later does this [[spoiler:when the gang finds her in the voodoo chamber and her and Lena's true colors are revealed.]]
94* EvenEvilHasStandards: Morgan Moonscar and his pirates were brutal killers in life, [[spoiler:but even in their undead state, they try to scare people away from the area so innocents don't suffer the same fate as they did.]]
95* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:Simone, Lena and Jacques act as kind and hospitable people to lure their victims to their island, so they can drain their life force and attain immortality]].
96* ExactWords: Lena wasn't kidding when she said the peppers on Moonscar Island were the hottest ones in Louisiana, much to Shaggy and Scooby's detriment when they tried the peppers. The latter two use this to their advantage when they use one of the peppers to [[spoiler:blind Jacques in the eyes]].
97* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Not counting the prologue, the movie is set over a timeframe of 2 1/2 days.
98* ExpressiveAccessory: Simone wears an arched pendant resembling a cat's head for most of the movie. [[spoiler:When she and Lena reveal they are cat people, the pendant becomes an actual cat's face.]]
99* EyeScream: Scooby uses one of the island's peppers to blind [[spoiler:Jacques]] towards the end of the film.
100* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena were originally only trying to get even with the Pirates that wronged them, but once they were cursed, they remorselessly murdered countless people who did nothing to wrong them.]]
101* FairCop: [[spoiler:Beau turns out to be an undercover cop]], and Daphne takes the time to talk about his attractiveness.
102* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath:
103** In the flashback, when the pirates force the villagers into alligator-infested waters. Their deaths occur offscreen, but you still hear the screams and other horrible sounds, as the camera shows the horrified faces of the two girls that survived because they hid behind a tree.
104** [[spoiler:The zombies all suffered a family unfriendly ''un''death, getting their life essences drained out until they were shriveled, but still very much aware corpses. They certainly ''wish'' they had actually had deaths; even when they finally do pass on, the flesh is stripped from their bones as they collapse into piles of dust.]]
105** [[spoiler:Simone, Lena and Jacques]] after they miss their deadline for feeding on souls. They disintegrate horrifically - you can actually see the skin being stripped from their bones as they screech in abject terror.
106* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: One zombie has his head ripped off, and two others get cut in half by a tree branch.
107* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:The zombies. They were drained of their life by the werecats but remain trapped in limbo as fully aware undead with no way to pass on to the afterlife and no way to properly communicate with the living other than their moans due to how badly decayed their bodies are.]]
108* FauxAffablyEvil:
109** [[spoiler:Simone and Lena]]'s tragic backstory can elicit some sympathy for them both. However, it doesn't change the fact that they have [[spoiler:been draining innocents of their life force for centuries in order to maintain their immortality, and intend to do the same to Scooby and the gang]].
110** [[spoiler:Jacques presents himself as polite and jovial but is a sadistic sociopath and serial killer luring victims to Moonscar Island to be killed. He acts sadistically polite to Shaggy and Scooby when he reveals his werecat form and chases them.]]
111* FireBreathingDiner: Scooby and Shaggy exhale flames after eating the Moonscar Island peppers.
112* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Jacques arrives at the dock right as Shaggy and Scooby are desperately trying to escape, after it had been earlier said the ferry didn't run at night. This makes him suspicious, [[spoiler:which is immediately confirmed, as he transforms into a werecat as soon as he steps out of the boat]].
113* {{Foreshadowing}}:
114** ''Zombie Island'' has several hints linking to the nature of the zombies: [[spoiler:they generally don't try to physically harm the gang, and one of them even ''helps'' Shaggy save Scooby in the chase sequence.]]
115** The cats in Simone and Lena's house, coupled with the numerous shots and references to the Moon all across the movie, foreshadow that [[spoiler:the two women are actually werecats.]]
116** The message that Morgan Moonscar carves into the kitchen wall early on in the film ("Get out" and "Beware") is [[spoiler:interpreted as a threat by the main characters. As the film progresses, it becomes very clear that it was actually a warning, and the pirate was really trying to warn the gang that Simone and Lena were not to be trusted]].
117** Simone mentions that the zombies get more restless once night falls. During the daytime, only Morgan Moonscar shows up, while a confederate colonel and an entire horde of zombies spring to life at nightfall. [[spoiler:It's a hint that the cat-creatures' ritual only happens at night, as that's when the living need the zombies' protection from being sacrificed.]]
118** Simone and Lena's true nature was vaguely hinted when Lena opens the curtains in Fred's room to give him a view of the harvest moon. As she turns to walk away, [[FaceFramedInShadow her entire front side is darkly shadowed.]]
119** It's only visible for a second, but the look in [[spoiler:Jacques]] eyes get a bit creepier as he laughs and says that [[spoiler:if they want a haunted house, they've come to the right place]].
120** Note how Lena has a sly expression when the gang first encounters her, [[spoiler:foreshadowing she's going to lure them to Moonscar Island as part of Simone's plan to drain their life forces.]] Also, she sounds smug almost the whole time.
121* ForgotTheirOwnBirthday: Apparently, Daphne forgot her own birthday during production of her show, and she's excited when Shaggy, Scooby and Velma surprise her with a late one during the gang's reunion.
122* FromBadToWorse: In the climax of the movie, [[spoiler:the gang not only discovers that the zombies they've been encountering are ''real'', but the island is swarming with them. Then it's revealed that Leona, Simone, and Jacques are immortal cat creatures and the zombies were actual their victims]].
123* FromNobodyToNightmare: [[spoiler:Lena and Simone were colonists of Louisiana who lost everything due to Morgan Moonscar. Their revenge turned them into life-draining cat monsters who have killed what is implied to be thousands of people over 200 years to maintain their immortality.]]
124* GameFace: [[spoiler:Lena and Simone reveal their cat-creature faces when they're preparing to sacrifice Velma, Daphne, Fred, and Beau. Possibly just to mess with their heads, and their victims are already helpless.]]
125* GaveUpTooSoon: As revealed by Shaggy and Scooby knocking some dirt off the side, the skeleton of one zombie is in the pit Beau dug, just a few inches from being exposed. [[spoiler:The reveal that he was actively searching for dead bodies due to investigating the disappearances when he dug that pit makes this even more pronounced]].
126* GenreShift: From a straight ''Scooby-Doo'' story, to a supernatural horror mystery film.
127* GetOut: The ghost of Moonscar carves this phrase into the wall as a threat to Mystery Inc. [[spoiler:It later turns out to actually be a warning, so that the gang avoid the same fate Moonscar and his crew faced]].
128* GlowingEyes: At the end of the movie, [[spoiler:Simone’s cats somehow got aboard the ferry and their eyes start glowing as they meow at Scooby.]]
129* GodOfEvil: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena's cat god that gave them the power to murder the pirates and then drain the life of innocent souls.]]
130* GoneHorriblyRight:
131** Daphne laments that her search for real, dangerous monsters has succeeded all too well.
132** [[spoiler:Simone and Lena pray to their cat god so that they can get revenge on the pirates that murdered their friends and family. They succeed, only to become cat monsters that suck the life out of others.]]
133* GoodAllAlong:
134** [[spoiler:Beau is an undercover cop hired as a gardener. His behavior towards everyone is fairly suspicious enough, until you realize the holes on the island is him trying to find any dead bodies that would expose Simone and Lena. And throughout the night, neither him nor Velma encountered any zombies until Lena and Simone become werecats]].
135** [[spoiler:The zombies themselves. Morgan Moonscar is initially built up as the BigBad and the other zombies are thought to be murderous monsters. Of course, it turns out they're the victims of Simone, Lena, and Jacques, and are simply trying to save others from suffering their fate. Daphne lampshades this when the zombies get Shaggy and Scooby away from the cat monsters, though Shaggy has a hard time believing her.]]
136* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:Applied during the flashback, when Morgan Moonscar and his pirates drive Simone and Lena's settlement into the bayou. The camera shows the alligators converging upon the terrified settlers, but cuts off to Simone and Lena's horrified reaction right before the carnage starts.]]
137* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:The seemingly malevolent cat god is an actual deity who gave Simone and Lena their powers to drain innocent people, but otherwise isn't directly involved in the plot.]]
138* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: After Fred inadvertently drops the camera into quicksand and [[spoiler:the zombies disappear along with Lena, Simone and Jacques]], the gang laments that no one will believe their adventure occurred. They realize [[spoiler:Simone's only surviving servant Beau]] can act as a witness, but even he doubts anyone will believe them.
139* HairstyleInertia: [[spoiler:Lena keeps her hair the same way in the present as she did two hundred years ago, complete with a headband. Simone by contrast had long hair in the past but wears it short now]].
140* HeelFaceTurn: It happened to [[spoiler:Morgan Moonscar and his crew after their deaths. The above {{Foreshadowing}} entry makes clear that they ''don't'' want to kill the gang: in spite of being real zombies, they want to scare them away from the area (which was ironically a much more noble version of what most of the series' previous villains wanted to do)]].
141* HighPressureEmotion: At one point when Scooby and Shaggy eat the peppers, their entire bodies turn red and red smoke bursts out of their ears and noses.
142* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: Scooby uses one of Moonscar Island's own chili peppers to blind [[spoiler:Jacques]] and Velma and Daphne turn [[spoiler:Simone and Lena's love of voodoo dolls against them by using their own dolls with their likenesses]].
143* HollywoodVoodoo: A textbook example among children's media, with the villains making voodoo dolls of most of the heroes to immobilize them. They do at least say it's done with "magic wax".
144* HopeSpot: Shaggy and Scooby are out among swarming zombies, as the others get captured. The duo think they're safe when they see [[spoiler:Jacques's boat dock, but then Jacques turns into a cat person]].
145* HumanSacrifice: In a HoldTheLine moment, [[spoiler:the zombies keep the real villains at bay so Scooby's gang can get permanently rid of them]].
146* {{Hypocrite}}: [[spoiler:Despite being a werecat, Simone at one point refers to Scooby as a beast.]]
147* HypocriticalHumor:
148** Early in the film after they've been fired from their airport security job, Shaggy and Scooby worry about the prospect of going hungry and turning to skin and bones. This is after they've [[BalloonBelly become obese]] from eating tons of contraband food.
149** Daphne gets repeatedly annoyed with Lena flirting with Fred, and the latter's playing along with it. Later, Daphne says that Beau is "kind of cute", and Fred can be seen looking very annoyed.
150* IncongruouslyDressedZombie: A rare justified case of zombies having wardrobe that makes them stand out. The zombies are an eclectic bunch of victims taken at various points throughout history, so they range from 18th century pirates all the way up to modern tourists.
151* {{Irony}}: In the past Scooby-Doo media, people in costumes try to cover their crimes by dressing up as a monster and scare off whoever tries to investigate the area. [[spoiler:Zombies on the other hand do this intentionally so there would not be any more victims and resurrect as a decades-old zombie]].
152* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Beau. He was antagonistic towards the Mystery Inc. gang and was annoyed by Scooby and Shaggy messing up his gardening, but he became protective of Mystery Inc. when the zombies came to life. Even when Velma made her suspicions of him clear, he kept her safe from walking into quicksand and tried to attack [[spoiler:Lena when she and Simone reveal their true natures. He also forgave Velma when she apologized for suspecting him.]]
153* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Simone, Lena, and Jacques are killed by the very curse they possess when they are unable to drain the lives of Mystery Inc. in time to survive the harvest moon]].
154* KickTheDog: There was no reason whatsoever for Morgan Moonscar to butcher the island settlers. [[spoiler:This petty act of cruelty costs him, and hundreds of others for years afterward, very dearly indeed.]]
155* KnightOfCerebus: [[spoiler:Lena, Simone and Jacques are ''not'' your usual Scooby Doo villains, given that their scheme is killing a bunch of people to remain immortal, and the fact that the are bonafide supernatural beings as opposed to crooks wearing masks.]]
156* LastMinuteHookup: [[spoiler:Velma and Beau show signs of becoming a couple once Beau is revealed to be an undercover agent investigating the disappearances.]]
157* LifeDrinker: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena were the only survivors of a group of settlers who worshipped a cat-god, the rest being slaughtered by the pirate Captain Morgan Moonscar. They prayed to the cat-god for the power to take revenge, and it was granted in the form of the ability to transform into werecats and immortality, but only if they drain the life force of living people every harvest moon. By the time Mystery, Inc. arrives at Moonscar Island, the bayou is littered with hundreds of undead corpses who have fallen victim to Simone and Lena. In the climax, the gang nearly suffers this fate - and Scooby and Shaggy actually start to get their life drained from them and begin to die on-screen.]]
158* MagicSkirt: Averted mostly, as Velma has to hold onto her skirt and keep it in place each time she gets gently levitated. Though the trope happens when she and Daphne are both levitated and thrown about violently.
159* MasterActor: [[spoiler:Beau]] appears to be TheKilljoy who snarls at the gang but it's revealed he's a SouthernGentlemen, Louisiana PD Detective. The {{Jerkass}} persona was an act so no one would get close to him and potentially blow his cover. He breaks character in the climax when Simone and Lena incapacitate Freddy, Velma, and Daphne, shouting YouLeaveHimAlone and attempting to rescue them.
160** [[spoiler:Lena, and Jascque]] are this as well, acting as jovial and concerned samaritans when in reality they're smug, sociopathic, and sadistic monsters. [[spoiler:Simone]] to a lesser extent, with a cold aloof yet caring personality that hides the sadistic and scornful nature- with the aloofness implied to be her not quite acting right and her true nature showing through.
161* MightyGlacier: In spite of their slowness, the zombies are apparently physically strong enough to give the [[spoiler:werecats]] a run for their money - at one point, two zombies each manage to tackle and momentarily stun a [[spoiler:werecat]]. Though, this could also be justified by the zombies in question being Civil War soldiers.
162* MonochromePast: [[spoiler:Simone's tragic backstory is depicted with old-fashioned sepia tone.]]
163* MoodWhiplash: This film goes back and forth from the usual Hanna-Barbera cartoonish hijinks (mostly surrounding around Shaggy and Scooby) that would make children laugh to the dead-serious and scary situations that would give children nightmares.
164* MotiveDecay: [[spoiler:Happens pretty much immediately to Lena and Simone after they exact their vengeance on Morgan Moonscar and the rest of the pirates. While they did turn to understandably resort to selling their humanity to their god in an act of desperation and grief, rather than simply taking solace in avenging their fellow settlers, they instead decided to spend centuries luring others to the island in order to drain their life force simply to prolong their own existence.]]
165* MythologyGag:
166** Fred tries on his orange ascot while getting ready for dinner at Simone's mansion, but tosses it aside after realizing it looks ridiculous. Also see YouMeddlingKids below.
167** Daphne being the believer and Fred being the skeptic is a reversal of their roles from ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo''.
168* NearVillainVictory: [[spoiler:The werecats grab a hold of Shaggy and Scooby in the climax and nearly succeed in draining their life force as they [[RapidAging age rapidly]], until they get controlled by voodoo dolls of their own that force them away from Shaggy and Scooby, both of whose youths are miraculously restored.]]
169* NeverSayDie: Zigzagged. Scooby and Shaggy repeatedly refer to the zombies as being "dead," but [[spoiler:Simone points out during her tragic backstory that she and Lena "destroyed" the pirates upon granting their curse from the cat god]]. Although in the latter case, regular old death [[FateWorseThanDeath would have been preferable.]]
170* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Alligators serve as a common danger in the film, including trying to eat Scooby after he accidentally fell off the boat. Morgan Moonscar and his men [[spoiler:drove the other settlers from Simone and Lena's village into the swamp, where alligators surrounded and presumably ate them.]]
171* NiceJobFixingItVillain: After subduing the others with HollywoodVoodoo, the villains say they didn't bother creating such dolls for Shaggy and Scooby, as they considered them hapless idiots not worth the effort. Those two running around in a blind panic instead of being restrained is a big reason why everything gets derailed for the villains. [[spoiler:Shaggy and Scooby even slam into Simone and Lena before the others can be drained, knocking the dolls to the ground and giving Velma a chance to get free. By the time the villains manage to grab Shaggy and Scooby for the ritual, the others have managed to perform a little voodoo trick of their own.]]
172* NightmareFace: [[spoiler:Simone gives a terrifying face to the camera when she partially undergoes her werecat transformation and again with Lena when they fully transform.]]
173* NoImmortalInertia: [[spoiler:When they miss their [[CelestialDeadline deadline for feeding]], the three villains all horrifically disintegrate to dust within a few seconds]].
174* NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:When Simone and Lena are draining Shaggy and Scooby's life forces, they rapidly age upon contact, but once they are yanked away thanks to Daphne and Velma making voodoo dolls of them, Shaggy and Scooby immediately return to normal seconds later.]]
175-->'''Shaggy:''' [[spoiler:Like, I was beginning to feel like a raisin!]]
176* NotAMask: Fred tries to remove a mask from a zombie. Instead, he tears the zombie's head off.
177* NotAZombie:
178** A rare case of not noticing the zombies are real undead being completely justified given the characters involved. All characters except Shaggy and Scooby are skeptical that the island is inhabited by real monsters, so when the gang manages to knock out a zombie, Fred pulls on the creature's head to "unmask" it, but tears it from the body instead.
179** Averted when one of the mysteries the gang is solving involves a zombie ship captain (which happens to be a woman in the costume).
180* NotEvilJustMisunderstood:
181** Beau, the gardener, seems like a shady guy and always gets annoyed when his flowerbeds are ruined. [[spoiler:However, he's really an undercover police officer investigating the disappearances of missing tourists who ultimately learns the truth.]]
182** [[spoiler:The zombies so very much. Yes, they're quite terrifying and they know it. That's the point. They're not trying to hurt or eat Scooby and his friends. They're trying to ''save'' them from being consumed by Simone and Lena.]]
183* NotNowKiddo: Beau while walking with Velma tries telling her to stop. She won't listen to him and says outright she suspects him of being behind the zombie happenings. Beau reaches down and grabs a huge rock...because she was about to walk into quicksand and he tosses the rock to demonstrate.
184* OffScreenTeleportation: During the opening chase sequence, Scooby and Shaggy use ScoobyDoobyDoors to run away from the Moat Monster. When the Moat Monster has Freddy cornered later on, Scooby suddenly drops in from above into the Moat Monster's hands.
185* OhCrap: Several characters have horrified reactions to realizing they're screwed several times throughout the film. One in particular that stands out is Fred when he finally gets it that the zombies really are real, and really are trying to kill them [[spoiler:...Or not. The zombies are actually trying to scare them away, so the ''real'' villains won't sacrifice them to their cat god.]]
186* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Although Simone and Lena look like regular young adults, they're really over two hundred years old, due to the cat god's curse rendering them immortal as long as they drain a visitor's life force every harvest moon. The same goes for Jacques, who looks old but is given immortality by them.]]
187* OneManArmy: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena, and by extension possibly Jacques are implied to be this, considering the former two butchered Morgan Moonscar's entire crew as well as destroyed a presumably much better-armed Confederate army regiment.]]
188* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The pirate captain, Morgan [=McReight=], who received the nickname Morgan Moonscar because of the moon-shaped scar on his face. He's the namesake of the island the gang visits.
189* OtherworldlyCommunicationFailure: [[spoiler:Moonscar and the other pirate ghosts aren't haunting the island to hurt or harm humans. They are haunting the island to ward humans away and save them from Simone, Lena, and Jacques who are soul sucking, nearly immortal, werebeasts.]]
190* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Specifically, this story gives us [[spoiler:werecats. The curse was brought on by invoking the power of some vaguely described cat god that was worshiped by the island's original inhabitants. The werecats transform entirely at will, but usually remain in their human forms. It isn't clear if, or how, others can be turned into werecats in the typical werebeast fashion (bites, scratches, etc) - the two original werecats have only ever turned one person, but it isn't explained how they did this. The curse also grants immortality, provided the werecats steal the life forces of others every harvest moon.]]
191* OurZombiesAreDifferent: ''Very'' different. Not the [[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 flesh-eating kind]] or the [[Film/ReturnOfTheLivingDead brain-eating kind]]. [[spoiler:Or the evil kind. They're the completely sentient victims of the soul stealing magical cat people, so they want only to try and scare humans away, so they don't join their ranks. Also, they only seem to be active for a short time before the cat people's "feeding time," and initially manifest as ''ghosts;'' it's only when the chosen night descends that they can physically manifest as zombies.]]
192* OutdatedOutfit: During the opening sequence, the gang is seen in their classic outfits from the original show. For the rest of the film -- and for that matter the rest of the series up until ''Mystery Inc.,'' they wear more modern clothes (save for Shaggy). Fred even throws his prized ascot away.
193* OutOfJobIntoThePlot: Shaggy and Scooby get fired from their jobs as airport customs security early on in the movie, shortly before reuniting with the gang for the road trip.
194* PetTheDog:
195** When Scooby gets trapped in quicksand, a Confederate zombie passes Shaggy a vine to help pull him out. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that they're not actually evil.]]
196** [[spoiler:Lena]] expresses genuine concern for [[spoiler:Jacques]] when [[spoiler:she]] hears [[spoiler:him]] being attacked.
197* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted; [[spoiler:Beau]] reveals that [[spoiler:Louisiana PD took interest in the number of disappearances that happened around Moonscar Island at the same time every year, namely tourists and people with families. He went undercover to investigate Simone and Lena since by OccamsRazor they were the most likely suspects for kidnapping or murder. Beau didn't factor in that the Scooby gang would visit, which meant he had to focus on protecting them as well while gathering evidence. While Simone and Lena ambush him in the climax, he does all he can to shield Daphne, Velma and Freddy]].
198* PragmaticAdaptation: Many would even contest that this is ''the best'' Scooby-Doo story ever. Hands down. And, as stated, it started out as an episode of a completely different series which had the darkness as standard fare.
199* UsefulNotes/{{Punk}}: While [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDFouH2v8UM The Ghost is Here]] is of the PopPunk variety, as was popular at [[TheNineties the time]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puHKaxpD4MY It's Terror Time]] dives head first into straight-up Horror Punk...and it's as [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic spectacularly awesome]] and fitting as you'd expect for one of the best, and genuinely horrifying, Scooby-Doo films ever.
200* PredecessorVillain: [[spoiler:Morgan Moonscar attacked Lena and Simone's village, causing the villagers to be eaten by alligators. This drove them to become cat monsters. In the present day, Moonscar is a tortured zombie haunted in undeath by his atrocities, and he is now trying to save the gang from his fate]].
201* PreMortemOneLiner: Velma says "Looks like your nine lives are up!" [[spoiler:when midnight has passed and the cat creatures have failed to drain the gang's life forces before then, ending the curse and causing them to be destroyed.]]
202* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: The story opens up after the gang have been separated for a number of years. Given how a few minor appearances aside this was the first new Scooby media in seven years, there's a bit of RealitySubtext to it. The film's success is most likely why the first live action movie used this to set up the plot of that film.
203* PolicemanDog: While Scooby-Doo has always been a sort-of freelance detective with Mystery Inc in the franchise, Scooby and Shaggy actually work as airport customs security at the start of the movie, since Scooby is so good at sniffing out illegal foreign food items. However, since they are unable to resist eating all the contraband, they are fired from their job.
204* QuicksandSucks: Quicksand is a major hazard on the island. It also swallows up Freddy's camera, which had proof about the monsters.
205* QuietingTheUnquietDead: [[spoiler:After the cat creatures disintegrate to dust, all the zombies proceed to turn back into bones. Velma explains that now that they've been avenged, their spirits can finally rest in peace]].
206* RapidAging: This happens to [[spoiler:Shaggy and Scooby when Simone and Lena are draining their life forces, [[NoOntologicalInertia only to return to normal after they lose physical contact with them.]] Eventually it occurs with Simone, Lena and Jacques, since they missed their CelestialDeadline and turn to dust instantly.]]
207* RealAfterAll: The main theme of the film. After years of dealing with people in costumes trying to scare away people, the Scooby Gang embark on a new mystery and come across ''real'' monsters, and ''real'' dangerous villains with nefarious plots.
208* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Creator/CaseyKasem refused to return to voice Shaggy unless the character became vegetarian like him. As Shaggy eats crawfish in the film, he is now voiced by Creator/BillyWest.
209* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: [[spoiler:Beau]] is revealed to be this. He was being a jerk to the gang because he was worried they would become the next group of people missing on the island, while he investigated Simone and Lena. As Velma says he's a suspect, his response is to use a rock to warn her about quicksand right by her feet. [[spoiler:In the end, he says he plans to file a report of what he found, even if his superiors won't believe him. What's more, Beau tells the gang that despite there being no proof, they are still alive and that's no small deal]].
210* RedHerring: This movie started a trend of an entire gallery of herrings.
211** Beau seems pretty suspicious and is pretty hostile to the gang. [[spoiler:He turns out to be an undercover cop investigating the disappearances on Moonscar Island and becomes the SixthRanger to the group.]]
212** Snakebite Scruggs is quickly shrugged off as a suspect since while he's a nasty guy, he still saved Shaggy and Scooby from alligators.
213** Morgan Moonscar is built up as the main antagonist, especially after his ghost carves a warning into Simone's kitchen wall. [[spoiler:Only he's the GreaterScopeVillain who's pulled a HeelFaceTurn in death, and was the first victim of Simone and Lena, the ''true'' {{Big Bads}}]].
214* ReducedToDust: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:the werecats and zombies turn into dust when the curse expires]].
215* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Lena and Simone focus their attention on draining Shaggy and Scooby after the two hinder their ceremony on top of all the trouble they caused throughout the movie, rather than draining Velma, Daphne, Fred, and Beau, who are still restained. This decision buys the four enough time to escape and intervene, costing the villains their lives.]]
216* RewatchBonus: Those who've already seen the movie will know not to trust [[spoiler:Simone and Lena, so it becomes noticeable that Lena is absent when Velma randomly begins levitating in kitchen. This foreshadows not only the existence of the voodoo dolls but also the fact that her and Simone are the ones who made them]].
217* RightForTheWrongReasons: Velma is right to think Beau is doing more than just gardening. [[spoiler:However, he’s only investigating the disappearances of the many people who came to Moonscar Island and never returned rather than doing anything illegal like Velma initially suspected.]]
218* RomanticFalseLead: Daphne and Fred develop crushes on Beau and Lena, respectively, invoking each other's jealousy. This leads to nowhere as the former [[spoiler:is an undercover detective with more things on his mind than romance and the latter brought the gang including Fred to the island in order to drag them- seeing them as food from the start]].
219* RunningGag:
220** Scooby and Shaggy sampling some of Simone's spiciest peppers. [[spoiler:They use it to fend off Jacques in the climax.]]
221** The gang unintentionally interferes with Snakebite's attempts to catch a catfish named Big Mona.
222** [[ObliviousToHisOwnDescription "Dog? Where?"]]
223** Scooby Doo has a tendency to chase Simone's cats.
224* ScoobyDoobyDoors: Played with briefly at the beginning, where Shaggy and Scooby are running from The Moat Monster, and use a hallway with doors to this effect while the Moat Monster just stands at the end of the hall and watches them.
225* ScoobyDooHoax: Averted in the main villains' plan, but played straight for all the "monsters" the gang encounters before Lena invites them to Moonscar Island. [[DeconstructedTrope It's why the gang disbanded.]]
226-->'''Chris''': Got a little boring, eh?
227* ShipTease: There are scenes that imply some romantic tensions with Fred and Daphne. They stayed together when Mystery Inc. temporarily went their separate ways and Fred was part of Daphne’s show. There are also scenes where Fred expresses jealousy of Beau and Daphne expresses jealousy of Lena because of the implied attraction between Fred and Daphne. They’re also seen embracing each other and watching the sunrise at the end with Daphne stating that the island could be a romantic spot.
228* ShoutOut: The name "Simone" is a reference to French actress Simone Simon who starred as the werecat woman in the 1942 classic ''Film/CatPeople''.
229* ShownTheirWork: When [[spoiler:Beau]] is revealed as an undercover cop and a police inside man, given he was nearly killed [[spoiler:by the cat creatures]], it is stunning that the police, knowing people have a tendency to vanish on the island, would put an inside man in such jeopardy, especially given there was no proof of foul play. However, this is usually how the cops investigate remote area crimes such as disappearances with no firm proof of criminal involvement. If there is a person, try to get them employed and have them investigate it. Either way, they have a suspect or some idea of what happened. If [[spoiler:Beau]] found some hints of what happened, he could tell his superiors, if he died, well then they have two or three suspects.
230* SicklyGreenGlow:
231** The LifeEnergy that reanimates the zombies is depicted as an eerie, green fog-like substance that melds with their skeletal remains and returns to them their skin, muscles, and clothes.
232** [[spoiler:While the werecats are draining a victim's life force, as shown when Simone and Lena attempt to do this to Shaggy and Scooby, they and their victims glow an unhealthy green as the victims [[RapidAging rapidly age.]]]]
233* SkepticNoLonger: Fred's denial of the supernatural vanishes ''very'' quickly.
234* SomewhereAHerpetologistIsCrying: Alligators are shown with their lower teeth sticking out in some shots.
235* SouthernGothic: The setting is a creepy Louisiana bayou.
236* SpannerInTheWorks:
237** [[spoiler:Lena and Simone's decision not to make wax dolls out of Shaggy and Scooby ends up being one of the deciding factors of them missing their deadline in the climax.]]
238** [[spoiler:Beau]] explains that his plan was to [[spoiler:gather evidence behind the missing tourists as an undercover detective since Simone and Lena were the most likely suspects but had been good about covering their tracks. The Scooby gang arriving forced him to adjust because he had to worry about their safety during his investigation]].
239* StabTheScorpion: After much criticism from Velma, Beau picks up a large rock, and it looks like he's going to hurt her with it. Instead, he throws it in front of her, revealing that she was about to step into quicksand. She thanks him, but she ''still'' sees him as a suspect. He takes it in stride.
240* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler:As told via {{Flashback}} by Lena and Simone -- they originally gained dark powers to get vengeance on the pirates that destroyed their home, but the price of the power turned them to evil.]]
241* StatusQuoIsGod:
242** Mystery Inc. has broken up? Not for long.
243** Averted with the events of Zombie Island, which saw the series introducing more real monsters for the gang in many of their future adventures to come. At the very least, compared to the sporadic encounters with genuine supernatural entities from earlier times that were for the most part, harmless, these monsters are legitimately more threatening.
244* TheStinger: At the end of the film, Scooby BreaksTheFourthWall by cutting open the black screen. After Scooby gives milk to Simone's cats as an act of reconciliation, he lets out his "Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" CharacterCatchphrase.
245* StockAudioClip:
246** There's a particular audio clip of Shaggy struggling that's used about four or five times throughout the movie. Once you notice, it's very distracting.
247** There’s another clip of Scooby saying "Yeah" that’s used three times in succession and throughout the rest of the movie.
248* StrippedToTheBone: [[spoiler:Simone, Lena, and Jacques rot away into skeletons that are then ReducedToDust when they fail to drain any life forces for their CelestialDeadline. Afterward, the zombies turn into piles of bones after having their avenged spirits leave for the afterlife.]]
249* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
250** The gang splits up because they got fed up with all the ideas of fighting people in masks. Turns out that no matter how good you are with people, when it comes to doing the same thing over and over again, the group will split because someone wants something different. Given that Daphne was the one who split first, even if it isn't stated exactly on screen, it quickly led the other gang members to part ways, albeit reluctantly.
251** [[spoiler:Simone and Lena]] were able to kill large amounts of people from several centuries in large part due to the fact the area was remote, the time period usually had people die from the disease, ships sinking, and war, and if it wasn't that, they were usually fugitives who no one would mind. Once it becomes obvious more modern tourist people start disappearing on the island, it doesn't take long for the cops to launch an investigation, and given [[spoiler:Beau was TheMole for them working as a gardener]], it quickly becomes obvious they were considered prime suspects. [[spoiler:Beau mentions this, that the number of disappearances in the area was unusual and he was sent to investigate]].
252** Why are most of the zombies in the area of the swamp or near them? [[spoiler:Simone, Lena, and Jacques]] realized very quickly that while pirates and colonists, along with soldiers could be washed away, large amounts of people from the modern era could not, so they threw the bodies in the swamp for several reasons. Number one, the alligators are a massive deterrent. The quicksand, while the zombies seem to be smart enough to move around it, force lengthily detours that are long enough to delay from getting to the chamber. But thirdly, in the event the cops suspected them of murder or launched an investigation, they threw them into the swamp to ensure that it wouldn't be an area close enough to the house to portray them as potential murderers.
253** The bayou alone is shown to be much more dangerous than the zombies, with Shaggy almost being eaten by an alligator and Scooby almost getting stuck in quicksand.
254** The Scooby Snax Velma has been saving for Shaggy and Scooby since the gang broke up have gotten stale.
255** When Scooby and Shaggy both jump into Fred's arms, he can't actually hold both of them up and so they fall over instead of having one of their usual carry-and-run scenes.
256* TimeSkip: The movie begins with a flashback of a routine mystery, then progresses several years after the disbandment of Mystery Inc. Daphne hosts a popular talk show, Fred produces her show, Scooby and Shaggy work as security at an airport, and Velma owns a store selling mystery books.
257* TookALevelInBadass:
258** Sure, she would lose them in the next few movies, but ''Daphne.'' Now she's an investigative reporter, determined to find a genuine supernatural event. [[spoiler:She goes toe to toe with three werecats, and helps stop them]], becoming a DamselOutOfDistress in the process.
259** Really the entire gang. The Moat monster from the beginning and the various fakes from "The Ghost is Here" scene are knocked out and captured through dumb luck and clumsiness. The villains at the end of the movie get fought by the gang with some real resourcefulness and grit.
260* TrailersAlwaysSpoil:
261** One of the alternate posters for the film features [[spoiler:Jacques in his were-cat form.]]
262** In addition, the trailers promise "this time, the monsters are real", and at least one used the tagline during the scene of the vampire bat monster chasing Scooby and Shaggy... but just a few moments before, it showed the monster being unmasked as a fake.
263* TransformationSequence: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena have one as they transform into werecats and prepare to drain the gang's life forces.]]
264* TruthInTelevision: While it may be harsh on Scooby’s part, when Snakebite Scruggs says how his hunting pig, Mojo, has a better sense of smell and is smarter than any dog, he is actually correct. Pigs actually do have better senses of smell and are more intelligent than dogs.
265* UncannyValley: [[spoiler:In their normal guises, Lena, Simone, and Jacques have [[NonstandardCharacterDesign more subdued and realistic designs compared to the main cast]], which [[{{Foreshadowing}} retrospectively seem like unexpressive masks hiding something]]. Then in their midway transformation, they develop yellow eyes and feline-like features which create an abnormal eeriness to Simone and Lena's faces. And finally, the full transformation, looking like a nightmarish mixture of feline were-beast and human-like features that looks unnatural to look at]]. Of course, given the tone of the film, it's fitting.
266* UndercoverCopReveal: [[spoiler:Beau, although not in a way that matters to the plot.]]
267* UsedToBeASweetKid: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena were part of a group of settlers who made Moonscar Island their home, until Morgan Moonscar and his pirates invaded the island and drove everyone into the swamp except for themselves. They begged their Cat God to put a curse on the pirates for what they did to them. The wish was granted, the two became cat creatures and destroyed the pirates; but it wasn't until then did they realize that invoking the Cat God's power had cursed them as well, requiring that they drain life forces of those lured to the island every harvest moon at midnight to preserve their immortality.]]
268* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:Despite not being the main villain, Morgan Moonscar and his pirate crew are the reason why the movie even happens in the first place; When they raided the island two centuries ago and had most of the islanders eaten by alligators. As a result, the two surviving settlers, Simone and Lena, prayed to their cat god for a chance to get revenge, and they were transformed into life-draining cat creatures that ended up draining them of their life force, and then the life force of several innocent victims simply to stay alive after, turning all of them into zombies.]]
269* VillainOfAnotherStory: The various criminals unmasked during the "The Ghost is Here" montage.
270* VillainsOutShopping: [[spoiler:Simone, Lena, and Jacques]] are shown to lead perfectly normal lives outside of the day and night of the harvest moon, working normal jobs, buying groceries, etc. [[spoiler:This arguably makes them more revolting and terrifying, as they’re so conditioned to their annual murder spree that they ''can'' still carry on with mundane lives when they don’t need human sacrifices.]]
271* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena invert wearing a monster costume like previous Scooby-Doo villains by being monstrous werecats underneath their human disguises.]]
272* VoodooDoll: Used by [[spoiler:Simone and Lena]] at one point. Daphne and Velma then turn this around, using the dolls on ''them''.
273* WalkIntoCameraObstruction: With Lena as she is showing Fred to his room.
274* WarningMistakenForThreat: [[spoiler:The ghost of the pirate captain Morgan Moonscar carved the words "GetOut" and "Beware" into the kitchen wall of the mansion. Mystery Inc later learns that he was simply trying to warn them about Simone and Lena's true nature as life-draining werecats.]]
275* WhamLine:
276** Velma makes an interesting observation that foreshadows [[spoiler:what Lena and Simone are planning]].
277--->'''Velma''': [[spoiler:Her story about Simone getting dragged away by zombies wasn't true. I saw the footprints of Simone's heels. She wasn't ''dragged,'' she ''walked'' down that tunnel!]]
278** Afterwards, when [[spoiler:Simone and Lena reveal their true colors]]:
279--->'''Daphne''': You won't get away with this!\
280[[spoiler:'''Simone''':]] [[EvilAllAlong I've been getting away with it for]] [[spoiler:''[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld two hundred years!]]'']]
281* WhamShot:
282** Fred encounters a zombie, and attempts to remove its mask:
283--->'''Fred''': It's the gardener!\
284'''Daphne''': No!\
285'''Fred''': It's the fisherman!\
286'''Shaggy''': No!\
287'''Fred''': It's the ferryman!\
288'''Scooby''': No!\
289'''Fred''': Maybe it's... ''[[[NotAMask Pulls the zombie's head off]]]'' [[OhCrap Real?]]
290** [[spoiler:Lena worriedly informs the group that Simone was kidnapped by the zombies and escorts them to where they had allegedly taken her. Velma has trouble believing Lena's story when she examines the footprints, and when she turns to interrogate her, Lena's expression has changed to a smug look, revealing that it was indeed a lie and that they had been lured into a trap.]]
291* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: A RunningGag throughout the movie is Scooby chasing Simone's cats every time he sees them. The leader of Simone's cats is a [[LightIsNotGood white cat]] that torments Scooby more than the others, but it suddenly disappears from the movie while the others are still constantly seen. [[spoiler:Even during the ending where the cats are shown to have boarded the ship with Scooby and co., leaving the island, the white cat is nowhere to be seen, not even in the post credits scene where Scooby makes peace with the cats.]]
292* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: [[spoiler:Within the midnight hour of a harvest moon, the cat creatures must drain the visitors' life forces to preserve their immortality.]]
293* WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena do. Every harvest moon at midnight, they must drain the life forces of those lured to Moonscar Island to stay alive.]]
294* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: From [[spoiler:Simone and Lena's]] flashback, they appeared to originally be perfectly normal individuals, albeit ones who worshiped some pagan cat deity, and they only [[spoiler:prayed to be transformed into werecats to get revenge on the pirates for slaughtering their village. However it appears that the process drove them mad with power, and they continued to drain the life-force of innocents for centuries even after their vengeance was complete.]]
295* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Simone and Lena were peaceful settlers until pirates ransacked their home and killed the other settlers in horrific fashion. They asked their god for a way to avenge them, and they got it.]]
296* WrongGenreSavvy: Fred. All his theories and guesses about who could be faking the ghost and zombie appearances on Moonscar Island, and why they'd be doing it would probably be right, if it wasn't for the fact that this film is a {{Deconstruction}} and {{Reconstruction}} of the Scooby-Doo formula by showing what happens when the usual ScoobyDooHoax gets averted.
297* YellowEyesOfSneakiness: [[spoiler:Simone, Lena and Jacques' eyes all turn into yellow cat's eyes when they transform.]]
298* YouMeddlingKids:
299-->[[spoiler:'''Simone''':]] [[VillainousBreakdown I've had enough of that meddling dog!]]\
300'''Scooby:''' ''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint (looks around in confusion)]]'' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Dog? Where?]]
301* YourCostumeNeedsWork: When the gang captures a lone zombie, they initially believe it to be an obvious fake, an unusual case of savvy for this franchise. Unfortunately for them, in this case they're WrongGenreSavvy.
302----
303-->''"[[TheStinger Scooby-Dooby-Doo]]!"''

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