Saturday Morning Massacre (2012)

Just don't go for it. Please... If you loved Scooby-Doo and that type of fun, please avoid this. Otherwise you will hate original. I really don't know what the team meant by this movie. Was it horror? Comedy? Or a horror comedy combination? You really kidding me. Everything slipped out of the hands from the movie team. They were not sure what they were doing. Just some shots with so called fun and horror. In no place of the movie, it can entertain you. Such a waste of time. i can't give you even a single reason to watch this movie. Even the stars and the dog must give some entertainment. But none. This one in o means is good for entertainment.

So yeah, Hollywood has made a mess out of Scooby Doo. Honestly...and I'm just keeping it 100, the damned Scooby Doo cartoon wasn't that great to begin with. Let's get it out of the way first; yes, this is a Scooby Doo homage/parody. The names have been changed and the archetypes updated but the influence is 100% Scooby Doo. Ironically, the Scooby character, the dog ( I can't recall it's name) is almost an after thought in the movie...and I'm pretty sure this was done intentionally. The focus is what and how would the Mystery Team from Scooby Doo actually act if the cartoon was a reality. In other words, why would they see the bizarre things they see, why would they come to some of their outlandish conclusions, why and how would the old gag involving everyone chasing the fiend through multiple doors work??? Clever stuff. The cast is eccentric and marvelous. They flesh themselves out through character acting and very little to no back story. The cinematography is ideal for the slasher movie breathing down the necks of our characters and slyly sets up tension and creates a slow burning doom that may or may not be awaiting our protagonists. The score is very well done but the sound effects are some of the best I've heard in some time. If you do check this great little flick out, listen for those sound effects...they're remarkable. There are a few small problems however... It might be a bit too long as some have suggested, but my theory is the movie kicks gears towards the end and it sort of guts any emotional investment we might have been brewing. It goes from a sort of edgy comedy to a survival/slasher movie much like "Behind the Mask : The Rise of Leslie Vernon" and I felt the same way as a viewer of that great little movie as I did with this one. Very interesting collection of talent involved with this one...I'll be following what they do in the future.

As a horror film Saturday Morning Mystery is nothing special. It's not particularly scary or innovative in the 'who, what and how'. The bit that IS innovative is the use of an ersatz version of the gang from Scooby Doo... and that is the film's only real talking point. It lives or dies by how well that is pulled off. Sadly it's a mixed bag of nuts. The first half is great, I enjoyed seeing the real-life version of the characters I watched as a kid... worrying over having no real source of income, having to deal with the police, uncovering criminals whose motives are a bit nastier than 'old man Geezer trying to keep kids away from his gold'. They run into a few quirky characters (what's up with the couple in the diner?) and a haunted house with a bad history. So yeah, the setup is fun. Naturally, I favored the 'Velma' character Nancy. She's brave, perky and smart just like she oughtta be. To my mind the movie took a turn for the worse when the obligatory 'Shaggy'-induced drug sequence goes down. It took me a moment to realize what was going on and somehow it just didn't sit well. It felt forced... or something. After that, and the equally obligatory 'Fred' and 'Daphne' sex scene it felt like the writers had shot their wad. The trick of the movie is that it tries to go where Scooby Doo never went... where, as a kid, I always wanted it to go, by giving the kids some REAL monsters to uncover. Unfortunately this is where it pretty much completely drops the Scooby Doo setup and goes straight into 'coeds meet rabid hillbilly' territory. There are no surprises or interesting moments from this point on that haven't been seen in dozens of other fright flicks. I have a larger issue with horror films in general that throw up their hands when it's time to get scary and resort to just chopping up the cast rather than coming up with more creative ways to say 'BOO!'. Death and dismemberment are nasty but a lot can be said for more subtle character-based scares as well. The monsters in Saturday Morning Mystery just are not worthy of their adversaries. For one thing they bear no resemblance to the ersatz spooks the cartoon gang had to thwart... which is fine, but they're not a particularly interesting pack of ghouls in any other way either. They're just there to sneak around in the background and then leap out and kill. Not surprisingly the kids on their own are much more fun to watch. There is a confused attempt to do the signature 'hallway chase scene' that was often in the old cartoons... but if it was meant to be funny it wasn't.Really, if it weren't for the first 45 minutes or so of this movie it wouldn't even be worth a discussion because it would be just another slasher flick.

I loved this film! From the character play to the location filmed, everything kept me on the edge of my seat--wondering what would happen next. Suspenseful, thrilling and fresh-fully spooky; this is one folk tale I could watch again. This film throws viewer prediction out the window and keeps you guessing in this twisted Texas town where things go unnoticed until a gang of pesky kids arrives. You won't believe your eyes or your senses when you try to take in all that is going on.It's good to see young artists develop some Americana heritage into a visually stunning and mind bending work of moving art!Kudos and two thumbs up for Saturday Morning Massacre!