As he expands his horror work to more family-friendly territory with Fright Krewe, Eli Roth explains how Scooby-Doo and Goosebumps inspired the show. Co-created by the genre vet and I Am Number Four author James Frey, the animated show centers on a group of New Orleans teens who inadvertently awaken an ancient demon and must use the special abilities granted to them by the mystical Loa to stop him. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, Fright Krewe marks a rare dual release across Hulu and Peacock in time for the Halloween season.
In anticipation of the show’s premiere, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with Roth to discuss Fright Krewe. When asked about the initial concept for the show, the co-creator explained how he and Frey looked back on their love of watching Scooby-Doo as kids and felt there was “nothing scary for our kids” currently on the air, thus wanting to create a gateway into the genre for older viewers and their kids. See what Roth explained below:
Eli Roth: It was actually before House with a Clock in Its Walls, weirdly, this started in 2015. James is a friend of mine, a dear friend, a writer I love, and we sat down, and we were talking about how there was nothing scary for our kids, and how the show that that still is the greatest [for that] is Scooby-Doo. There’s nothing animated scary that we remembered after school, or on Saturday mornings, watching episodes of Scooby-Doo, and watching them go through haunted houses, and how much fun that was, that the teenagers solve the mysteries without parents, that they were all these groovy kids driving around in a van. We thought, “What if we did a show where it was kid solving supernatural mysteries set in New Orleans, and what if we could do our own Scooby-Doo, or our own Goosebumps, and maybe it’s an animated series, and a series of books or whatever it is.” We wanted to create this world where it’s something that is for kids, but that is fun, and teaches you that you can Trojan horse life lessons and things about friendship, and bravery, and all these great things that you can do in a scary story. It just it took years to get done, but we could not have had a better team, and a better crew, and the amazing studio at DreamWorks Animation, and now Hulu and Peacock releasing it, and our showrunners Kristine Songco and Joanna Lewis, and our director Shane Acker. We just have an incredible cast, it really couldn’t have turned out better, it was so much better than we ever originally imagined it, but we just loved the idea of doing something set in New Orleans, and using that as a basis for a great scary series, except in our series, the monsters had to be real.
Fright Krewe Can Carry On Scooby-Doo & Goosebumps’ Legacies
On paper, Fright Krewe‘s setup offers immediate comparisons to Scooby-Doo and Buffy the Vampire Slayer with its focus on a group of teens fighting supernatural threats. More akin to the Sarah Michelle Gellar-led show, though, Roth and Frey’s project actually pits its young protagonists against real monsters rather than people in masks pretending to be creatures.
What ultimately sets Fright Krewe apart from Scooby-Doo and closer to R.L. Stine’s beloved Goosebumps franchise is its leaning into outright horror. Though not going so far as to traumatize younger audiences, the show doesn’t pull its punches either, especially in regard to its central antagonist, Belial. Largely appearing as a cloudy apparition for season 1, the demon is a truly menacing threat for the titular group, especially when he appears to feed on fear in the hopes of restoring himself.
With its deft blend of lighthearted humor and genuine scares, Fright Krewe seems poised to carry on the legacies of both the Scooby-Doo and Goosebumps franchise for modern audiences. It could be argued that both legacies are still ongoing as new incarnations of both continue to be developed, including a new Goosebumps show at Disney+ premiering in October, but Roth and Frey have delivered something new that, should it find its audience, could expand into something new.
Fright Krewe is now available to stream on Hulu and Peacock!
