When ‘Scooby-Doo’ satirised ‘The Blair Witch Project’
When Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez popularised the found footage genre with The Blair Witch Project, a Scooby-Doo spin-off likely wasn’t what they anticipated. But seizing on the film’s success, Cartoon Network aired their own version, The Scooby-Doo Project, as part of a Halloween marathon. Drawing from the impact of the original film’s marketing campaign, the special played in sporadic segments during commercial breaks, only to be aired in its entirety at the end of the marathon.
A blend of the familiar cartoon and live action, the spooky special saw the gang thrown into the same situation as the student filmmakers of the indie horror were, opening with: “In October 1999, four teenaged sleuths and their Great Dane got lost in the woods while in search of a mystery. This is their story.” Taking on the role of Heather Donahue, Velma decides to film their latest case, and the gang packs the van with snacks before filming interviews with real-life locals.
It sits somewhere between a parody and a remake, given directors Larry Morris, Chris Kelly, and Steve Patrick followed the original plot to the letter. The suburban shots were filmed at a producer’s family home, and most of the forest scenes were done in the backyard. It was a big group effort, and given there were so many Blair Witch spin-offs airing at the time, there was a real rush to get everything filmed for the crucial Halloween slot.
The all-hands-on-deck approach extended to the Mystery Machine car, which was in Canada on a promotional tour throughout filming, so the producers flew up to get all their footage of it done in a day. Footage of a press conference explaining that Scooby and the gang are missing was done in a conference room and featured several Cartoon Network executives who happened to be in the office that day.
The Scooby-Doo Project remains a cult favourite because its devotion to the source material made it bizarrely unsettling. Sometimes, there were comedic twists – likely to justify recreating an R-rated horror on a children’s cartoon channel – but almost every detail of the original is recreated. The moment when Shaggy stands in a corner waiting to be murdered should look silly, given he is a 2D animation, but the effects marry together with surprising impact.
After enjoying a revival in 2022 after being uploaded to the Cartoon Network YouTube channel to mark the network’s 30th anniversary, even more fans were left stunned by the special. It’s still unclear if it was intended to be enjoyed as a horror or a parody. Still, either way, the special was a unique aesthetic take on a horror classic that speaks to the cultural phenomenon The Blair Witch Project was.
