Radish4ever Its a crime that this BBC series, Supernatural (1977) never got repeated or had a legitimate DVD release. 8 episodes where broadcast. The opening credits were chilling, organ music to shots of gargoyle type statues. The story was simple, there exists a club of the damned, for membership the applicant must tell a true horror story, and the story must be very scary. The club consisted of a small room of cigar smoking English gentleman. If just one of them was not scared, or did not believe the story was real, then the penalty was death. As you can imagine each episode had a twist in the taleThe opener Ghosts of Venice, while good, was a little slow, Countess Lionna & Werewolf reunion was a 2 parter. The countess got together all her ex lovers in one room in ep 1. In ep 2 (the werewolf reunion) The last shot of the shadow of the werewolf moving towards the last victim, is one of the scariest scenes I have ever seen, I was 10 but it stuck with me seeing this, this episode made me a lifelong fan of the show. Mr Nightingale was Jeremy Brett at his best in a Jeckyll and Hyde story. The other stores where lady Sybill, Viktoria (with chilling last scene of a doll walking into the club with a life of its own), Night of the Marrionettes and Dorabella. Of these Dorabella was the best. A episode similar to the works of of Bram Stoker.My favourite anthology horror series, I have wrote countless letters and emails about this, mostly to the BBC asking them to repeat it. Seems its going to stay lost in their vaults. I hope it somehow gets a DVD release as any true horror fan needs to own this series. Anyone under 45 probably wont even know it ever existed. Criminal.

a-dobbs I too vaguely remembered this from my childhood (even though none of my mates of the same age do) - specifically, images of a man with white eyes laughing creepily and a coffin full of maggots, both of which caused me a few sleepless nights as a 9 year old. I knew it was screened once in 1977 and never again, but all other information (especially in the pre-internet days) was scant to say the least. After a long, long search, I recently tracked down a copy of the complete series and, with the organ music and images of gargoyles on the titles just as I remembered them, I settled down to a nostalgia fuelled extravaganza.So is this series some lost masterpiece? Sadly no. The few remembered images I mentioned above all come from the last episode 'Dorabella' which is the best of the lot by a country mile and is an offbeat vampire story with a genuinely creepy atmosphere. The rest are rather hit and miss, and at 50 minutes each, some of the extremely flimsy stories stretch well past breaking point. This is especially noticeable in the two part 'Countess Ilona/Werewolf Reunion' which could easily have been done and dusted in 30 minutes flat. At virtually 2 hours, it's almost unbearable.Although it features a veritable who's who of British TV stars of the 70's (Billie Whitelaw, Ian Hendry, Robert Hardy, Gordon Jackson, Leslie Ann Down et al), production values on the series are noticeably low, with all the action happening in one or two sets per episodes and with the camera virtually fixed in one place. There isn't much in the way of a suspenseful soundtrack, and any sudden close ups or panned shots are invariably accompanied by an over the top blast of organ music. The stilted dialogue is rather wooden and pretentious too; the writer (Robert Muller) seems to have aspirations toward the MR James end of the horror market but sadly, his talent seems to suggest more of a Clive James, but without the wit.Ultimately, the series is worth sitting through on it's own merits, and these just about drag it above the curiosity/novelty value of watching a long forgotten series, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to sit through them all again.

tetsuo This one was extra hard to get but eventually I did get my hands on clear complete set of this show....But it was well worth it...Too bad it got cancelled early and was ahead of its time.I highly recommend the following eps: 2. & 3. Werewolf Reunion and Countess Ilona: an excellent ep. with excellent acting especially from Billie Whitelaw. Interesting that the werewolf is not really shown fully but this adds to the flavour.7. Night of the Marionettes: Gordon Jackson is just excellent in this ep.(he is just an excellent actor). An interesting twist on the Frankenstein story.8. Dorabella: Dare I say probably the best ep. of the bunch. Excellent acting, story, atmosphere make this an original vampire tale and a very excellent twist ending.

Theo Robertson When I first found this website about four years ago I remember trying to get information on THE SUPERNATURAL but there was none and it's only very recently someone has gone to the time and trouble of registering it . Hopefully someone can contribute more info at a later date .As for myself I can remember bits of it . The title credits start with a blast of organ music with the camera panning across Gothic images of gargoyles . I remember it seemed very effective at the time when I was aged ten or eleven years old . Each episode was self contained with someone being invited to an English Victorian club where they had to relate a true supernatural event in their life to be allowed membership and as with all these type of anthology stories they'd be a twist at the end . One of the stories was spread over two episodes and featured several gentlemen staying at a remote mansion in central Europe where a werewolf stalks them , another featured a doll that comes to life while another episode stars Gordon Jackson in a tale that reworks Frankenstien . It's interesting to note that this episode is unique in that the club members think this tale has no basis in fact , it's a made up storyThe production values were typical of the BBC of the time , ie it was made rather cheaply with very obvious studio exteriors . I also recall letters to the Radio Times were very mixed with some viewers thinking THE SUPERNATURAL was a load of rubbish while some thought it was a fairly good drama . I personally liked watching it on a Saturday night but there again I was still only a child and it should also be pointed out that the BBC dropped the series after one season while the IMDb hasn't exactly been deludged with either info or reviews for this show which unfortunately may say something about its qualityUpdate Nov 2014 . After seeing the BBC 4 repeats it's as I suspected . Painfully slow , stagey acting and static directing and twists you can probably see a coming a mile away