Supernatural: Monster Movie

Given the unrelenting dark and serious tone of the fourth season to date, Monster Movie was a pleasant return to the light-hearted nature of the some of Supernatural's earlier years.

Supernatural isn't the first modern show to film a story in black and white, and almost certainly won't be the last, but there was an air of verisimilitude about this episode which centred around an unbalanced shapeshifter obsessed with classic black and white horror movies.

The Winchester brothers arrive in a Pennsylvania town during Oktoberfest, following up reports of a vampire attack - delighted to be again on a straight forward monster hunt, "a black and white case" as Dean puts it.

Only they find it's not any vampire that's been seen but Bela Lugosi's Dracula. Dismissing it as a Gothic wannabe, the boys are preparing to leave town when a young man is torn apart by a Wolf Man-style werewolf and later a museum security guard is attacked by a Living Mummy.

While this has all been going on, Dean has been romancing an attractive barmaid, Jamie (Melinda Sward), who they later discover is the object of "Dracula's" attention - he claims she is the reincarnation of his great love.

Dean and Dracula tussle and Dean realises the vampire is really a shapeshifter, quickly deducing that all the monsters that have been attacking the townsfolk are actually one and the same.

Monster Movie may not have the great twists and turns we've come to expect from Supernatural, but the episode as a whole wrongfoots us nicely in the flow of the season without throwing out the overarching story entirely.

Once again, the story favours one brother over the other - in this case it's Dean who gets most time in the spotlight, but Sam still plays an active role in the tale, unlike In The Beginning where he was absent for 90 per cent of the story.

While this homage to "the old times" (both in terms of classic monster movies and the original format of Supernatural) was an interesting diversion, I was surprised to find that I missed the whole "angels versus demons" antagonism that is the driving force of this season.

Or maybe I'm just getting too excited about the release of Legion next January?