Goofy Ghosts and a Treasure Hunt: Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987)

Goofy Ghosts and a Treasure Hunt

So every year I review an animated film, and here we are with Scooby-Doo and the Boo Brothers.

This was the first of three Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy stand alone films. It followed The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo which featured a smaller number of the Scooby crew with Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, and Scrappy-Doo.

This however, is my least favorite of all the Scooby-Doo films. It was followed by Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School and Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (both of which I think are far superior). Really the reason I don’t like this is because of the second half of the title, the Boo Brothers. The Boo Brothers are fashioned after The Three Stooges, and while I liked them (espechially as a kid), I don’t like the Boo Brothers.

So annoying

I also remember there being this weird girl that bothers Shaggy.

So annoying

I do remember there being a pretty good treasure hunt that involved all these riddles to find where the treasure was hidden. I really enjoyed that part and I wish they had included more of it-or just featured it and cut out the Boo Brothers.

Shaggy’s uncle, Colonel Beauregard has passed away and left his house and all his belongings to Shaggy. Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy head down to the South.

They run into Sheriff Rufus Buzby who warns them of a curse on the property, and leaves when he gets a call about a derailed circus train and an ape that got out. Of course Scooby and Shaggy are scared but Scrappy urges them on.

When they do get to the property they are attacked by a headless horseman, ghost wolf, and ghost colonel.

Ghosts are bad, but the one that’s cursed,
Is the Headless Horseman; he’s the worst!

They also meet the creepy manservant Farquard who lets them know that there is a fortune buried on the estate.

This sounds so familiar…

Hmmm…

A distant relative leaving someone their spooky house, a creepy housekeeper/butler, buried treasure somewhere on the large estate, an escaped “creature” chasing them on the property…

This is The Cat and the Canary!

This is basically the same film except they threw in the three stooges ghostbrothers.

Shaggy wants to leave but can’t as his truck is stuck in mud, so they have to spend the night there. To get rid of the ghosts they call some ghostbusters, (not the Ghostbusters). Why didn’t he just call a tow truck?

Seriously

Surprise, surprise they are the most annoying things ever. This movie isn’t that bad, it’s just the Boo Brothers are really annoying and dumb. The film would be better without them.

Basically they stink at their job and just do a lot of dumb things that are supposed to be funny.

Ugh…

Sadie Mae Scroggins comes calling and falls for Shaggy, and her brother threatens him as the Scroggins and Beauregards (Shaggy’s uncle) have a terrible feud.

The guys are starving, as always, and do what they always love to do, eat. They make a sandwich and bite into a clue.

Dear Shaggy, knowing your appetite I thought this would be the best place to hide this message and this jewel. It’s only one of many in my fortune, which I hid to keep them away from my enemies. To find the next clue to their hiding place, go outside. Then look for the part of the house with its knee out.

This leads them to the Chimney where they find a diamond. This is the interesting part of the film.

You’re nearer the family jewels than before. A broken key unlocks the next door. – Piano

Look for a relative who is quite old, whose face cannot look, and whose hands cannot hold. – Grandfather Clock

There is no pendulum in this clock. So, what does it lack besides a tock? – Attic

For the next clue, don’t look any higher. Think what you are when you’re not the buyer. – Cellar

The next clue you seek is large and flat. It’s the kind of stone you use as a hat. – Colonel Beauregard’s headstone in cemetery

You’re nearing the end of this obstacle course, so if you go buggy, you won’t need a horse. – Barn

To get to the bottom of things is the trick. Think how you’re feeling when you are not sick. – Well

At the end of this tunnel, are many more pearls but on the way, many more perils. – Basement

There’s no mystery about this clue. Inside Bear Cave, the jewels are in plain view.- Bear Cave

Go to a place that covers the tide. To find the last clue, just “pier” inside. – Boathouse

As they continue the Boo Brothers have crazy antics that don’t help at all, the gorilla keeps coming, the Scroggins are driving Shaggy crazy, and multiple ghosts are attacking them,

They go to the last place and find the final clue.

No more riddles, here ends the chase. The treasure’s in the fireplace. – Fireplace

They go for the treasure but the Ghost holds them at gunpoint, the real ghosts finally come in handy-all are saved and unmask the ghost to be the Sheriff-who is unmasked as the Sherif’s twin brother who wanted the money.

Shaggy decides to give the mansion to the Boo Brothers, give the money to orphans, and takes off. His next plan is to be a gym teacher at a girl’s school, but you know Shaggy-he doesn’t always pay attention.

So yeah, it was okay. I liked half of it, but the Boo Brothers killed it for me.

For more Scooby-Doo, go to  To All the Ghouls I’ve Loved Before: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985)

For more ’80s films, go to Holy Smokes! Your Mom’s a Werewolf!: My Mom’s a Werewolf (1989)

For more animated films, go to In the Spa House of the Spirits: Spirited Away (2001)

For more hidden treasure, go to Trapped in a Mansion in the Middle of Nowhere with a Psycho: The Cat and the Canary (1939)

For more ghosts, go to A Psychic Arrives and a Ghost Haunts the Ship: High Seas Season Two (2019)

Book Club Picks: The Secret Of Chimneys

So remember when I said I started a book club?

Well the first book we choose to read was The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie.

I love this book, but sadly very few have ever heard of it, let alone read it.

So when I brought out three suggestions for us to choose from-The Westing Game, The Looking Glass Wars, and The Secret of Chimneys I was ecstatic they choose Chimneys as it would finally give me people to talk about it with!

As I already reviewed it in December, as part of my 30 day challenge, I will only give a quick review here.

Anthony Cade is working in Africa when he happens among his old friend Jimmy McGrath. Jimmy has been hired to deliver a manuscript in London, and has some letters he wants to return to a woman who was blackmailed, but can’t do either as he has a mining deal set up. Anthony goes in his place and discovers that everyone from Parliament, to rebels, nationalists called the Red Hand, and more are after that script. It appears he really got himself stuck in the middle of a serious mire.

What have I gotten myself into?

He prepares to return the letters to a Mrs. Virginia Revel, to stop her blackmailing, but they get stolen and he sets out to try and help her.

Just another thing to get involved with.

Meanwhile, politician George Lomax is worried that some old secrets, especially those of a missing jewel, will come to light with the publication of the memoirs. He enlists the Lord Caterham to use the stately home of Chimneys as a place to secure an oil deal, and weasel the memoirs out of McGrath. He also engages the assistance of his beautiful, charming, cousin-Mrs. Virginia Revel, a widow.

As Virginia prepares from the weekend, she is blackmailed by a waiter who has letters with her signature, but ones she did not write. Weird.

She agrees to meet with the blackmailer again, only to find him dead in her house.

Not sure what to do, she asks a veteran she spotted on the sidewalk selling tracts to help her. He checks out the scene; deduces that someone is trying to keep her from Chimneys for some nefarious reason, recognizes the blackmailer as the thief of the letter, and helps remove the body. Who is this man? Why, Anthony Cade.

Virginia heads on to Chimneys to help smooth things over with McGrath and Prince Michael, the one brokering the oil deal.

That night, Anthony follows a note he found in the dead waiter’s pocket and heads to Chimneys. Exactly at the time specified he hears a shot. Who has been murdered? Who in the house is the murderer? Will they find the missing jewels? And who is this Anthony Cade?

So I don’t want to give the whole book away as you should really read it yourself. Instead I am going to go over our discussion, but there will be some spoilers.

**Spoiler Warning**

So the book contains 5 different plots

1. The Memoirs of Count Stylpitch
   1. Everyone is afraid of what they might say and reveal to the world. All are after it to publish, surppress, discover, etc.
2. The Blackmail of Virginia Revel
   1. Anthony is given letters written to a lover by a “Virginia Revel”. He hopes to return them, but they are stolen by a waiter who tries to use them to blackmail her.
   2. But in the end, it turns out that they are not really written by Virginia Revel at all, but someone is using her name.
3. Vying for the Throne
   1. After the King and Queen of Herzoslovakia were assassinated, this left an empty hole on the throne. Prince Michael is a cousin to the deceased King and wants to become next to rule, but there is his cousin Nicholas who has a stronger tie and is in America who is also after the throne.
   2. But is his cousin really alive, or is this an impostor? And what about the revolutionaries who want no king?
4. Missing Jewels
   1. Before Lord Caterham’s brother died, he had all the responsibilities of the land and parliament. He used to bring all kinds of officials to his home, Chimneys, and the King and Queen of Herzoslovakia stayed there, the Queen hiding the crown jewels that she stole somewhere on the property. They have been looking for them for years, but now hopefully Count Stiplych’s memiors will give them great clues to find the hiding place.
5. Murder of Prince Michael
   1. Michael is shot in the night, but whodunit? With a household full of people there are plenty of suspects.

Something Agatha Christie always likes to stress in her books is how we never know people we meet, only what they tell us about them. When you meet someone for the first time and they tell you their history, you take it as is, never questioning them, but in reality they could be anyone. This is stressed in this book as well as their are numerous multiple identities. While all present themselves as something, a few characters hide who they really are:

• Two characters are actually a prince
• One is  a thief
• One is a Pinkerton agent
• One is an actress

Virginia is an amazing woman. She is living in the 1920s, but she does what she wants, refuses marriage for single life, assists in hunting down the murderer, is intelligent, capable, collected etc. She’s nobody’s fool.

“Why?’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘I said why? You don’t boom the real English gentlewoman with every stray Canadian who sets foot upon our shores. What is the deep idea, George? To put it  vulgarly, what do you get out of it?’

‘I cannot see that that concerns you, Virginia.’

‘I couldn’t possibly go out for an evening and fascinate, unless I knew all the whys and wherefores.”

Virginia is a strong character who us not afraid to be feminine as well. I just love her.

And then Anthony Cade. Anthony is amazing. You just can’t help liking the man.

For more on The Secret of Chimneys, go to There Wouldn’t Be Any Difficulty in Finding a King: The Secret of Chimneys

For more Agatha Christie, go to With a Little Luck of the Irish: 17 More Irish Heroes

For more on my book club, go to I Started a Book Club

For more mysteries, go to Someone is Killing By Copying Old Murders!: Real Murders