Editorials
Six of the Strangest Episodes of “Supernatural”!
These days, it’s hard to imagine that Supernatural once dominated the CW as one of the highest rated programs on television. Featuring urban-legend inspired monsters of the week, angsty hunters and an iconic cast, this used to be a show that united horror geeks and TV drama fanatics alike on a weekly basis.
Of course, thirteen seasons and several end-of-the-world scenarios later, the once-beloved show has since become entangled in the ever-expanding web of its own mythology, slowly transforming into an over-the-top telenovela with occasional conflicts with God, the Devil and everything in between.
That being said, in the span of nearly 300 episodes, the writers have had to come up with some seriously weird stuff in order to keep things interesting (which is partly why I still watch this glorious mess of a show). In light of the long-anticipated ScoobyNatural crossover, I thought that this would be a great time to highlight six of Supernatural’s strangest (and most fun) episodes!
Of course, this list is subjective, and several great episodes weren’t quite weird enough to make the cut (Yellow Fever and The Monster At The End Of This Book come to mind), but I’d love to read about your favorites in the comments below.
6. The French Mistake (Season 6, Episode 15)
The French Mistake may not exactly be the strongest episode on this list, but it’s certainly a fun time for fans of the show’s behind-the-scenes antics. Transported into a parallel dimension in which their adventures are nothing more than a television show, Sam and Dean must impersonate the real Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles in an effort to evade an angelic assassin.
Again, not one of the best episodes of the show, but I definitely recommend this one to fans of meta-storytelling, as it features several tongue-in-cheek fourth-wall breaks and clever nods to the series’ past. Also, the twitter-addicted Misha Collins always cracks me up.
5. Monster Movie (Season 4, Episode 5)
A spooky black-and-white homage to the Universal Monsters set during Oktoberfest? Sign me the hell up! While The X-Files may have done the classic monster throwback shtick first with The Post-Modern Prometheus, this lovable romp serves as a love letter to Supernatural‘s horrific roots while also managing to be a genuinely amusing piece of television.
The script does occasionally go a little overboard on the references, but Monster Movie remains thoroughly delightful. The monochrome cinematography is stunning, the effects are lovably cheesy and Sam and Dean are charismatic as ever, making this a must-watch for horror and television enthusiasts in general.
4. Mystery Spot (Season 3, Episode 11)
The Groundhog Day scenario has been aped numerous times in several forms of media since Bill Murray’s original predicament (most recently in the surprisingly fun Happy Death Day), but Supernatural‘s take on the trope is entertaining in its own right.
When Sam becomes trapped in an infinite loop of a particularly awful day, it’s up to the confused Winchester to solve this paranormal mystery on his own as Dean keeps getting horrifically murdered. Featuring sadistic trickster gods and a clever soundtrack, Mystery Spot is a fun self-contained story that also highlights our main characters’ unhealthy codependence as their greatest weakness.
3. Ghostfacers (Season 3, Episode 13)
An unconventional spin on Supernatural tropes, Ghostfacers pits the Winchesters against their most formidable foe yet: Reality TV! Starring Travis Wester and AJ Buckley as Harry Spengler and Ed Zeddmore, Ghostfacers puts two previously minor characters in the spotlight as we get a chance to see Sam and Dean’s antics from a different perspective.
Not only is this a clever spoof of ghost hunting shows, but it’s also some damn original television as well. Wester and Buckley are naturally charismatic, and it’s no wonder that they later got their own spin-off Ghostfacers web-series (which I also wholeheartedly recommend). It’s a real shame that later seasons of the show would come to ignore these fascinating side-characters.
2. Bitten (Season 8, Episode 4)
One of my personal favorites, and a rare example of a genuinely chilling episode from the show’s later seasons, Bitten is another radical departure from the tried-and-true Supernatural formula. Barely featuring the Winchesters at all, this tragic Found-Footage inspired episode stars three youngsters forced to deal with the catastrophic aftermath of a werewolf attack.
Similar to films like Chronicle and Afflicted, the Found-Footage approach brings another level of relatability to what could have easily become a clichéd monster-of-the-week story. Some of the characters even returned later on in an episode of Season 10, though it lacked Bitten‘s creative script and presentation.
1. Changing Channels (Season 5, Episode 8)
Any habitual internet user has undoubtedly come across the iconic “I’ve got genital herpes” clip from this hilarious episode. Once again featuring Richard Speight Jr. as The Trickster, Changing Channels transports the Winchesters into the wonderful world of television, forcing them to reenact absurd scenes from Game Shows, Sitcoms and even ridiculous commercials.
This insanely creative satire represents Supernatural at its best, pitting well-written characters against incredibly bizarre situations while still finding time in between laughs and thrills to discuss the finer points of family and loyalty.
They sure as hell don’t make them like this anymore.
The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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