Hidden Haunts #3: More Seldom Seen Halloween Specials

The proper Halloween diet must be a balance of bite-size chocolate bars and an oversized amount of binging Halloween specials.

Continuing an annual tradition of looking back at some overlooked or forgotten Halloween specials (2022 & 2023) here is a third round of some “Hidden Haunts.” These are seasonally appropriate, or, at least seasonally adjacent, TV specials and episodes.

Readers of the Cartoon Research blog suggested the first two, while the last two are some additional suggestions…

Shnookums & Meat – “Night of the Living Shnookums” (1998) – Suggested by “Beat” Vidalia

This was a cartoon short on The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show, a Ren & Stimpy-like series that served up cartoon shorts, including those about a cat named Shnookums (Jason Marsden) and a dog named Meat (Frank Welker), who are rivals.

In “Night of the Living Shnookums,” directed by Jeff DeGrand, the two are inside on a stormy night watching the “Late Night Horror Crypt of Mystery Theater,” which is showing “Planet of the Undead Haunted Bugs.”

Meat is scared while watching the movie, and Shnookums makes fun of him, which angers Meat to the point that he hops on a model railroad and rams it into Shnookums. After, Shnookums fakes his death. Panicked, Meat tosses Shnookums into the trash, but that night, feeling uneasy and guilty, he looks out to see the trash can is empty and hears a “meow” at the front door.

When Meat opens the door, he finds a decrepit, zombie version of Shnookums, who greets him with a menacing, “Trick or treat Meat!” The terrified Meat soon finds out that Shnookums, wearing a mask, is faking and is indeed still alive.

To make Shnookums feel guilty, Meat fakes a heart attack and his death. With the tables turned, Shnookums looks to get rid of Meat’s body by throwing it in the river, even though Meat tells him he is still alive.

Back at home, on his throne and eating sardines, a zombie-like Meat walks to the front door and bellows, “Trick to treat, Shnookums!’

Alternately creepy and clever “Night of the Living Shnookums” contains sharp writing from Bill Kopp, which includes such touches as a movie entitled “Zombie Cats from Brooklyn.”

Mad Mad Mad Monsters (1972) – Suggested by Frederick Weigand

From the world of Rankin/Bass comes this 2D animated companion piece to their stop-motion (“Animagic”) feature, Mad Monster Party (1967).

This originally aired as part of ABC’s Saturday Superstar Movie, an anthology series showcasing different hour-long animated films from different studios each week.

In Mad Mad Mad Monsters, Baron von Frankenstein makes plans for a wedding at the ‘Transylvania Astoria Hotel,” after he creates a bride for the Monster (a/k/a Frankenstein’s Monster).

He invites Count Dracula, the Wolfman (referred to as “Ron Chanley,” in a nod to Lon Chaney,Jr., who originated the role), the Mummy, The Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Also along are Count Dracula’s son, Boobula, and The Invisible Man’s family – his wife, Nagatha, and his son, Ghoul.

At a pre-wedding dinner, Frankenstein unveils the bride, who is so gorgeous that the monsters begin fighting over her. She then gets kidnapped by Igor, who tries to hide her, but she ends up in the hands of Modzoola, a giant creature that looks like a purple-tinted King Kong.

The monsters then team up to save the bride from Modzoola, but the large creature’s wife convinces him to give up the bride.

Written by William J. Keenan (Krofft Productions, Hanna Barbera) and Lou Silverstone (Mad Magazine) and directed by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass, Mad Mad Mad Monsters is buoyed by the design of the legendary Paul Coker, Jr., a Rankin/Bass stalwart, whose versions of the monsters are very unique.

Additionally, there’s great voice work from true all-stars, including Allen Swift, (known for an extensive career providing animated voices, including those on Underdog), playing most of the monsters. Bob McFadden, whose many voices included Milton the Monster and Franken Berry, is Baron von Frankenstein, and Bradley Bolke, well known as Chumley the Walrus on Tennesse Tuxedo is very funny as Norman the Bellop, a fan of all of the monsters, who isn’t afraid of them, but instead is constantly trying to get their autograph. “Dracula, the Mummy, the Creature! Oh boy, those old stars still have that old magic,” Norman exclaims after guests in the hotel run away. “They still drive the people wild!”

The Halloween Tree (1993)

Author Ray Bradbury adapted his 1972 novel and narrated this Hanna-Barbera movie, directed by Mario Piluso.

Four young friends, Jenny, Ralph, Wally, and Tom, are on their way to visit their friend Pip and go trick or treating, but they find out that Pip has been taken to the hospital. They take a shortcut through the woods to go visit him, encountering what looks to be the ghost of Pip and wind up at the creepy mansion of one Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud (the voice of Leonard Nimoy).

Outside Moundshroud’s house stands The Halloween Tree, a mammoth, gnarled tree full of jack-o’-lanterns. Pip’s ghost steals a jack-o-lantern with his face carved on it. Moundshroud sets off to retrieve his pumpkin from Pip and brings the four friends with him on a trip through time, where they will learn the history of their costumes – a witch, a mummy, a monster, and a skeleton.

The Halloween Tree translates the adventure of Bradbury’s work while adding nice visual touches, such as the look of the Halloween Tree itself and the ghoulish character design of Mr. Moundshroud. The movie also doesn’t shy away from the darker elements of death, the afterlife, and one’s soul, which are appropriately part of the Halloween tale. The Halloween Tree deservedly won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program.

The Last Halloween (1991)

Technically, this is a live-action special, but Hanna-Barbera produced it and it includes computer-animated characters.

Directed by Savage Steve Holland, of Eek! The Cat fame, the special centers on four aliens: Gleep, a colorful, Gremlin-like creature (Paul Williams); Scoota, a deep-voiced lizard-looking being (Frank Welker); Romtu, looking like a cross between Marvin the Martian and Gazoo from The Flintstones (Don Messick) and Bing, who is shaped like a spring and constantly makes a “bing” noise (also Welker). They are sent to Earth to find something called “coobi.” They arrive on Halloween night and are mistaken for trick-or-treaters.

They befriend two kids, Michael (Will Estes – credited as “Will Nipper”) and his sister Jeanie (Sarah Matinek), who are also out trick or treating. The kids learn that “coobi” is the alien’s word for candy.

Michael and Jeanie team up with the aliens to find more “coobi” while outsmarting the special’s villains (played by Rhea Perlman and Richard Moll), townspeople who are performing experiments that are draining the river and threatening to shut down the local candy factory.

Bill Hanna himself is the narrator. The aliens, created for The Last Halloween by Industrial Light and Magic and Pacific Data Images, won the special Emmy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects. Gleep, Romtu, Scoota, and Bing are creatively designed to blend admirably with the live-action setting, and it’s nice and nostalgic to see computer-generated imagery from its nascent days.

There you have it, four more animated Halloween “treats” to add some viewing balance to your diet before the bag of candy (that you purchased for trick-or-treaters) helps your actual diet go out the window.