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13Halloween Movies for Scaredy Cats
Velma: This Halloween Needs To Be More Special! is Max‘s first attempt at a holiday special for their somewhat controversial original series Velma, an adult animated comedy mystery that has managed to divide critics since its January 12, 2023 premiere. This special brings back Mindy Kaling, Glenn Howerton, Sam Richardson, and Constance Wu to voice the members of Mystery Inc. (and yes, still sans Scooby-Doo) for this paranormal Halloween adventure.
VELMA: THIS HALLOWEEN NEEDS TO BE MORE SPECIAL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: We open on a haunted house as Velma Dinkley (Mindy Kaling) asks, “Do you want to hear a scary story?” There are chanting voices, a door opens, and we see Velma lying down on a gurney, surrounded by hooded figures as she reveals… “I’m dead.”
The Gist: The hooded figures turn out to be the mystery gang, Velma’s parents Diya (Sarayu Blue) and Aman (Russell Peters), occult bookstore owner Thorn (Jennifer Hale), and Thorn’s goth teenaged kid Amber, and the haunted mansion is just Fred’s (Glenn Howerton) house. Their Halloween day chanting was an attempt to bring Velma back to life after she’s killed by a dog who appears to be Scrappy-Doo (Jason Mantzoukas). But instead of coming back to life, Velma awakens out of her body as a ghost.
Their last hope to revive Velma is Thorn’s old dark magic spellbook, known for its corruptive power. And apparently sometimes demanding blood sacrifices on All Hallows Eve. The gang — sans Fred, who is tasked with watching over Velma’s body — then goes to find the book at the historical society at 5 am, where they immediately walk in to see the dead body of an old docent dressed as a sexy cat.
It turns out that the likely killer is a local legend called the Black Knight, which many of the younger generation brush off as a silly story parents made up to keep kids from going to the big Sexy Halloween Party in the graveyard. Apparently, at the first Sexy Halloween Party, a “loser” dressed in a clunky black knight’s costume tried to get into the party and was eventually chased off a cliff to his death by the popular kids. Since then, every couple of years on Halloween someone in a sexy costume falls to their death.
What ensues is a winding chase to sus out the real Black Knight killer, face fears, throw a successful Sexy Halloween Party, and ultimately, bring Velma back to life, all before Halloween night comes to an end.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Tonally, the Velma special is sort of reminiscent of Rick and Morty in that tries to be similarly self-aware, quippy, and boundary-pushing.
Our Take: You perhaps need to be an avid Velma fan to know what’s going on and who is who, because Velma: This Halloween Needs To Be More Special! makes very little effort to make sure its audience is on the same page about who’s who and what’s going on. Instead of some helpful exposition, we get various plot points and words like Sexy Halloween, the Black Knight, dark magic spellbook, facing your years, raising zombies from the dead, and the appearance of rapper Saweetie, all thrown our way too quickly to fully process the events taking place.
There are definitely some moments of playfulness, fun, and levity, but the special is ultimately weighed down by its clunky plot and ironic detachment. You can’t help but wonder why these people are friends or dating when they seem just a bit too glib with each other, begging the question of why they’re going to such great lengths for Velma in the first place (heck, even Fred let his cleaning lady throw away her body before). The revelation of the killer was a bit underwhelming (or at least felt somewhat random) as well, and this, plus Velma’s miraculous return to life, felt like signs of the special’s overall low emotional stakes and made the whole thing ring a little hollow.
Sex and Skin: The whole theme of this special is sexiness so there are a lot of cartoon people making out with each other and cartoons in sexy costumes but that’s about it.
Parting Shot: We’re at Velma’s funeral, and the tone is somber. Suddenly, Daphne swears she can hear Velma’s voice so she opens the coffin to reveal… an alive Velma. The mourners are in shock at this apparent miracle and evidently, so is Velma, who says, “Oh my God, I’m alive! But how?” Immediate cut to credits.
Sleeper Star: Although the special does have a talented regular cast with lots of big names, I’d like to shout out guest stars Saweetie and Richard Kind for being good sports and fully committing to the bit while portraying themselves. Saweetie’s moments as the headliner for Sexy Halloween Party and Kind’s brief segment narrating the audiobook of the dark magic spellbook definitely felt a bit random but the two did great with what they had.
Most Pilot-y Line: “That’s it! We can combat the fear with sexiness!”
Our Call: SKIP IT. With too much going on, unclear justifications, and a goofy cliffhanger, Velma: This Halloween Needs To Be More Special is merely a ghost of the Scooby-Doo franchise on which it’s based.
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