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Supernatural returns to rare form in this stunning monster mash tribute.

The episode is almost exactly like a horror movie deep within the Warner studio vaults – with the iron gray Warner Brothers seal, the dramatic music, the stark credits, and above all, filmed in black and white. After facing off with ominous hints at apocalypse, the Winchesters are off to a hunt in Pennsylvania (though the sign reads Transylvania in-between lightning bolts). Their target is a mysterious killer who drained a young woman of blood.

Sam and Dean start by perusing the local Oktoberfest, where Winchesters – under guise of FBI agents - briefly greet a beautiful waitress named Jamie as well as the local sheriff. Jamie is quick to note Dean doesn’t seem like your typical FBI agent, but points the Winchesters to the crime’s sole witness – Edward, a hard-drinking introvert who claims it was a vampire who killed the woman. But Edward isn’t convinced it was just any vampire, but instead, Dracula himself – complete with cape, funny accent and slicked-back hair.

At this point, Edward has passed even the Winchester weirdness threshold, and the two are even considering packing up and leaving. Ordering drinks at the bar, Dean hits on Jamie while Sam notices the lipstick-glossed napkin left by Jamie’s friend Lucy. Sitting at a table, Dean reveals his audacious plan to Sam – since he’s been brought back from Hell without a scratch, he figures his virginity is similarly intact – something Dean plans to rectify as soon as possible. While Sam disputes if that is indeed the case, he vows to stay out of his brother’s way – but not before things get much, much weirder.

At a local lover’s lane, a girl is making out with her boyfriend in their car along a foggy patch of forest. The girl hears howling in the distance and becomes distracted, while the boyfriend lectures his lover about his needs as a man – right before a shadow lurks behind him and hairy arms breaks through the window, dragging the unfortunate boyfriend into the night. The next day, Sam and Dean talk to the girlfriend, who is an awful state of shock, but not too broken up to matter-of-factly state it was a werewolf that attacked them, complete with ripped shirt and pants.

Sam and Dean confirm this isn’t the case though, because werewolves eat the heart, something this Wolfman neglected. Still, the crime lab tests confirm there is dog hair on the victim’s mauled and mutilated form. Fortunately, it’s not all bad news – Dean is able to score a date with Jamie after she ends her shift at midnight. But the case takes one truly bizarre turn, as a local security guard at a museum calls his boss about a late night shipment – and is promptly killed by the mummy held within. At the museum, Sam and Dean confirm it was no mummy at work – with the shipment even loaded with dry ice to produce the eerie fog. Sam wraps up at the crime scene while Dean goes to meet Jamie – who is soon confronted by Dracula himself.

Pursued by Dracula, Jamie flees down the street as the apparent vampire chases after his “Mina.” Still, even pitted against Jamie, this vampire has a few screws loose, as he gets blinded by her pepper spray trying to mesmerize her. Dean arrives and fights off Dracula by ripping off his ear. Dracula flees by jumping a fence and fleeing on a moped - yes, a moped. 

At the bar, Jamie and Dean meet back up with Sam, with Dean now closer than ever to solving the mystery – the key to it all being the ear he ripped off. Upon touching it, Sam realizes the truth – their culprit is a skinwalker reenacting his favorite movies with some help from the local costume shop. Sam deduces Dracula is fixated on Jamie, as he called her “Mina” and Dean “Harker” – both characters from the novel. Jamie wonders if Dracula could be Edward, who has always had a crush on Jamie and who also happens to work at the local movie theater.

While Sam goes after Edward, Jamie talks to Dean about what he does. She knows he’s not an FBI agent, and after tonight, she now knows monsters are real. They talk about how tough it must be for Dean to scour the country looking for horrible things to fight, but Dean says he has found clarity following his (exceptionally) near-death experience a few months ago. They start to kiss – only to be interrupted by Lucy. Dean invites Lucy to have a drink with them, but Sam soon discovers Edward isn’t the skinwalker. Back at the bar, Dean realizes too late their drinks are spiked – and Lucy is the skinwalker. After a brief fight, the skinwalker captures them both.

Dean wakes up – in Oktoberfest dress – on a metal slab facing Dracula, who completely invented the Lucy persona. He prepares to electrocute Dean but is interrupted by the doorbell – and the arrival of pizza. After Dracula has an awkward transaction with the pizza delivery boy, Sam arrives at the bar and puts the pieces together between the signs of struggle and Lucy’s napkin, racing off to help his brother. Dracula tries to seduce Jamie – without any luck – and winds up yelling at her. Apologizing, the skinwalker begins to talk about his real life – being beaten by his father upon the emergence of his ability until fantasy was his only escape. But he is soon distracted by the sound of Sam entering the house.

Sam frees Dean and the two begin to search for Jamie – only to be attacked by the skinwalker. As the skinwalker fights both Winchesters, he is shot in the back by Jamie – who has picked up Sam’s silver-loaded gun. After recanting the last line of King Kong – “It was beauty that killed the beast – he dies. The next morning, Jamie thanks the Winchesters, who head on their way. Dean mentions how he’d like to see all their cases have a movie ending, but Sam says he knows what movie Dean is thinking off – Porky’s 2. Dean replies “Lucky guess” as the “The End” appears upon the gray-toned screen.

When it comes to theme episodes, “Supernatural” goes all out. It’s a shame they weren’t picked up by NBC, or then we could have seen the real Universal monsters, but Robert Singer, Ben Edlund and Eric Kripke have more monster movie references than Van Helsing. Nearly everything about this episode feels old, from the circular cut scenes, and the ample shadows and the suspenseful yet playful score.

A lot of praise has to go to Dracula himself, who I didn’t realize was Todd Stashwick of The Riches until the very end of the episode. His mannerisms are directly pulled right off of Bela Lugosi, which leads to a rather decent impersonation. Fortunately, Ben Edlund and Robert Singer are smart enough to make the Lugosi impression the sole joke of the episode, and supplement the imitation with hilarious situations and settings. Stashwick himself also provides a draper, more-down-to-Earth antagonist in the final scene of Monster Movie, further tying the episode into Supernatural’s working class feel.

Overall, this is one of Supernatural’s best episodes ever – one more episode making Season 4 one of the strongest yet. With a feel ripped from the 40’s and Supernatural’s trademark humor and dynamics intact, Supernatural is the perfect Halloween episode.

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