User Reviews

The Countess Ilona (Billie Whitelaw)was in her youth a woman much adored and sought after, she was a café entertainer and courtesan in Budapest, who would have struggled to get by, were it not for her gentleman callers from the highest reaches of Hapsburg society. These men it is fair to say took advantage of her situation to sate their own wanton lust. Ten years on and the Countess is living in a remote castle in Transylvania, surrounded by thick forest that for the most part even blocks out the sunlight during the day. She is now a widow, Count Tyrrh, her brute of a husband having been killed in a hunting accident on their wedding anniversary, leaving her with but one young child, Bela. And so it is that the Countess sent out invitations to four noblemen to attend her home on the 10th anniversary of her wedding, but the invitations bore little or no indication of what the occasion was or what was in store for those attending. First guest to arrive was the boisterous Zoltan Vinzenz (Ian Hendry) a Prussian revolutionary, who spent time in jail for his crimes, but one who always seemed to pick the right side. Since his release he had become a very rich and renowned arms dealer and a politician of note. The second guest is Dr Felix Krauss (Charles Kay), a specialist in rare diseases, now retired, he spends his time womanising and is a self proclaimed "Erotomane". The third guest is Hugo Hoffman (John Fraser) a renowned composer and piano virtuoso who it would seem has lost his gift and now lives on his laurels, he's a finicky sort who makes impossible demands on those he encounters. Castle Tyrrh is an imposing building, creepy at night and unsettling in the constant twilight of day. Its in the marble floored grand hall that the three guests sit down to dine at a luxurious buffet laid on for them by their curiously absent host. They immediately begin some boisterous discussions on Ilona's "Beast" of a husband, not least the possibility that he was a lycanthrope. They also discuss what the purpose of their visit could possibly be, for you see they are all former lovers of the Countess, countless theories abound and they agree to question their host when she turns up. Where is the fourth guest, well he's been delayed, his identity still unknown. The three men make themselves at home immediately, Zoltan, tucks into the wine and fine caviar and cheekily asks for more, Felix makes plain his needs as an Erotmane and makes his lustful advances on the maid Magda. Finicky Hugo irks the servants with outlandish requests. Upstairs preparing herself, Ilona tells her maid Magda, that the fourth guest will not come tonight as night has fallen, she tells her to "lock your door this night and what you see, you have not seen and whatever you hear, is but the wind.". Outside the woods are filled with a thick impenetrable mist, there unseen, something lurks, breathing heavily and circling the castle. The Countess makes her grand entrance and the revelry begins, they laugh and joke about the old days and the shameless summer they all shared ten years previous. The questions come thick and fast to Ilona, on the question of her husbands notoriety and beastliness, she replies he was much worse than his reputation. During dinner the demure Bela is introduced, it is then that Ilona drops the bombshell, that he may not be the Count's son and that one of the three present might be the father? Ilona retires to bed and leaves the trio to mull over the possibility, none of them can deny there is that possibility. The next morning Felix and Zoltan discover the badly savaged body of Hugo, again they discuss Felix's Lycanthrophy theory, they debunk the possibility of a werewolf but could a man with this affliction cause such damage to another man? The fourth guest arrives (Edward Hardwicke), he is the most esteemed of Ilona's guests for he is none other than the leader of the opposition, another politician of renown who shall we say preaches one thing while doing another. He is shocked by the goings on and immediately sets about solving the matter, but his request for the police to come or for that matter, a carriage, are laughed off by head servant Andras who says they will not come to Castle Tyrrh. The fourth guest is also killed that night, Felix and Zoltan make every effort to leave but its not as easy as they might think. Some childhood horror experiences when revisited and reviewed are a huge disappointment, this Gothic tale a two parter from the Supernatural TV series though is certainly not. The characters are given oodles of time to develop, Robert Muller's sparkling and witty dialogue is also intelligent and addresses some interesting topics of the time, politics, social commentary and sex. The build up is slow but riveting, despite the fact there is seemingly so little happening on screen, there is in fact loads going on. The performances from all are powerful and succinctly well executed, Hendry in particular is a pleasure to watch. The atmosphere is aided immeasurably by the creepy locations, the fog filled forests and the use of light and shade. Werewolf films usually falter on the believability of the werewolf, here though, I'm pretty sure because of financial restraints, the monster is not shown, we just see his shadow and his lurking point of view and hear his heavy disturbing breathing, as such you might say, well that's a bit of a con, but its not, everything is left to the imagination like all the best Ghost Stories and the film is all the better for it. This is low budget stuff, but it knocks the big budget werewolf films for six, the twist at the end is excellent and looses none of its charm even after many viewings.

Having established the Supernatural format with 'Ghost of Venice', Muller follows the first episode with the series' only two-part story, 'Countess Ilona' and 'The Werewolf Reunion'. If the previous instalment was silly but well made, this takes its promise and delivers on it: with more time to tell a story, Muller delivers Supernatural's finest tale.

The gothic roots of 'Countess Ilona' and 'The Werewolf Reunion' are obvious from the title of the second episode, and Muller's dark tale sees the eponymous Countess Ilona invite four former suitors to the Transylvanian castle that she inherited from her late husband. The visitors think they are attending a party, but as the story leisurely unfolds, it becomes apparent that she has a far darker fate in store for them, as each is brutally slain by an unseen monster that enters the castle at night. Whilst the deaths of the four men are inevitable, Muller avoids the predictability of 'Ghost of Venice' thanks to a brilliant climax that reveals exactly why Countess Ilona has unleashed such terrible vengeance on her ex-lovers.

'Countess Ilona'/'The Werewolf Reunion' shows Muller providing his best scripts for the series, partly because the basic monster story at the heart of the episodes is timelessly effective, but also because his characterisation of Ilona and her four guests is excellent. The ex-lovers are each quite distinctive, from the gluttonous Zoltan, to the womanising Felix, the self-absorbed Hugo, and the humourless, self-righteous Josef. The cast is exemplary, consisting of some of Britain's finest stage and television actors of the time, including Muller's wife Billie Whitelaw as Ilona, Ian Hendry as Zoltan, Charles Kay as Felix, and John Fraser as Hugo.

Like 'Ghost of Venice', 'Countess Ilona'/'The Werewolf Reunion' would easily translate to the stage, and although it benefits from a small amount of location filming, it is once again mostly shot on studio sets. But they are once again very handsome sets, and director Simon Langton makes the best possible use of the limited budget. The dinner scene with Ilona, Felix, Hugo and Zoltan is particularly effectively shot, with close-ups capturing the actors' expressions at key moments. The point-of-view shots in the dark forest are very atmospheric and the simple harmonics of the soundtrack help. The scene of the drunk Hugo staggering down the stairs and stumbling to the organ is also very well staged. Wisely, the werewolf is kept entirely off screen, with not even a hint of a claw in front of the camera; the horror of its attacks is realised entirely by the performances of the actors playing its victims, or reacting to their deaths.

This story is narrated by Sandor Elè's "He", and the eventual revelation of who "He" is works well, although it makes the identity of the narrators in future episodes much easier to guess and results in the actors playing the aged club members gurning in a way that is unintentionally hilarious. But overall, 'Countess Ilona'/'The Werewolf Reunion' is Supernatural's best story by far and makes a fine showcase for Muller's desire to tell gothic horror stories.

This second episode of the series is even better than the great first episode. This is half of a two part story and finishes on a note of Suspense. The cast is a great ensemble of classically trained theatre actors, some of whom are well known to Horror fans. The dynamics between the guests, servants and the eponymous countess all work well and the story unfolds neatly. Again the visuals are stunning from the sets, costumes and filming. I can't understand why the series overall was never popular when first broadcast as criticisms I have have heard about lackluster stories and slow pacing have not been evidenced by myself and I would argue that the weight of the production and its strong Gothic ethos make it a great series.