Did you ever wonder how your life would be if you were one of The Monarch’s many foot soldiers? Yeah, me neither. “Viva los Muertos” begins from the perspective of a new recruit in Monarch’s not-so-mighty army of butterfly-winged lackeys. The Monarch’s men are trying to kill the Venture family once again. It doesn’t go well. The new recruit becomes an ex-recruit, thanks to his quick and heartless murder by one Brock Samson. He awakens as a reanimated corpse wearing overalls dubbed "Venturestein."
Venturestein is a part of the latest in Dr. Venture’s schemes to get paid off for his inventions by the US government. Who wouldn’t want a former corpse to work in a sweatshop tirelessly making sneakers or clothing for you? Brilliant idea, really. If only Dr. Venture wouldn’t have his undead creations sitting at the breakfast table.
The Venturestein monster is having an ill effect on Brock Samson, and he looks to Dr. Orpheus for any help he can offer. Brock’s losing his murderous mojo, which is bad for a man who protects a family from insane aggressors all the time. In other parts of the Venture Compound, a gang of aging hippies in their Mystery Van decide to sneak around, looking for supernatural activity. They have definitely found the right place. The leader is an ultra-religious nut job. He has his submissive beau in tow, along with a lesbian feminist and a pill-popping stoner and his Son of Sam-esque dog who talks with a creepy German accent. They all believe they’ve wandered upon a “Dracula factory,” but they couldn’t be any more mistaken.
Venturestein gets lost in an abandoned section of the Venture laboratories, as does the gang of hippies. Hilarity ensues. And by hilarity, I mean people freaking out, coupled with random gunfire and a bit of violence for good measure. It’s not good to be a hippie these days. If you have good memories about the Scooby Doo cartoon, you’d better steer clear of this episode. As I recall, a gun was never used, much less fired when Scooby and the gang went on mysteries together.
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