Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate a case where the victims’ hands and feet have been severed and each have been branded with a strange symbol. While Sam does some research at a local university, Dean heads to one of his favorite places to investigate – the town bar. Dean strikes up a conversation with a local named Lydia (Sara Canning), and the two go back to her place. Sam discovers the symbol on the bodies is a sign of Amazon warriors.

Original Air Date: 3 February 2012 — Directed by Jerry Wanek and Written by Eugenie Ross-Leming & Brad Buckner.

Coming back off of another break, Supernatural brings us a tale that’s sure to remind everybody that everything has consequences — the major subject being Dean getting a woman pregnant. Very sensitive issues are brought back up and there’s a bit of a supernatural mystery going on that doesn’t have anything to do with Amazons.

With the leads on Dick Roman going nowhere, Sam and Dean follow a case where men are being murdered gruesomely and having a strange symbol carved into their chests. Sam notices Dean drinking from Bobby’s flask and after shuffling around with excuses for why he has it, Dean misdirects his brother’s accusations by talking about the absurdity of the case they’re following.

When Dean met Lydia

While examining the latest victim, the boys get a vibe that this is possibly their type of case by way of the evidence. Tthe medical examiner tells them that one victim managed to get a piece of the perp during the struggle but analysis came back negative noting nothing human in the DNA.

Dean ditches out on research by hitting the bar where he meets the very attractive Lydia. Talking it up over drinks Dean tells Lydia about his job (as an investment banker with a sufficient fortune) pouring on the charm while Lydia talks about a past of horrible dates and no need to rush settling down which immediately gets Dean’s attention. Sizing him up as a decent enough catch for a one-nighter, Lydia takes Dean home.

A new victim pops up the next morning and while the brothers investigate the crime scene they meet Charlene Penn (Kendall Cross) the leading detective on the case. The Winchesters realize they need an expert to figure this stuff out and Dean grimly muses that their expert (Bobby) is dead. After leaving the crime scene, Dean realizes Bobby’s flask is missing possibly still over at Lydia’s.

As he phones her, Sam starts in with the jokes about how Dean actually got a number from a conquest. Dismissing it as usual, Dean catches up with Lydia who is being super elusive with him and obviously lying about the flask. After hanging up the phone with Dean the camera pulls back and we get the exact reason why Lydia was rushing Dean off the phone…

The Expert(s)?

The boys meet up with Professor Morrison (Harry Groener), an anthropology professor who seems not too interested in their case and a little too quirky. After laying out an interesting bribe for the two FBI agents he thinks he’s dealing with, Morrison reluctantly decides to take on the work leaving Sam and Dean to ponder if he really is going to be any good to them. Arguing about why they’re using him in the first place,  it’s obvious that if Bobby was still alive, they’d be consulting him instead of anyone that appears to be certified on mythology.

Dean heads back to Lydia’s to recover Bobby’s flask. While there Dean meet’s Emma, the reason why Lydia has been so busy. Mistaking Emma for a babysitting gig, Dean finds out she’s Lydia’s little girl whom he was sure was in the picture the night before. Sam calls to check up and remind Dean that they’re meeting up with medical examiner Eddie and while Dean’s on the phone, he happens to catch crib sized Emma actually speaking and asking mommy “who the guy in the other room is” while Lydia tries to shush her and wait for Dean to leave. Dean’s Spidey-senses tingle big time and he hangs back, forcing Sam to meet up with the medical examiner on his own.

Sam gets no new leads from viewing the body but does discover that the last two victims had visited the Cobalt Room (where Dean and Lydia met). Both cases coincidentally happened to be at the bar within two nights of being murdered and there’s a 2-year pattern in different locations around the US. Detective Penn arrives and unceremoniously advises Sam that the case needs to be wrapped up quickly.

Contacting Dean, Sam tells him about the connection to the murders with the Cobalt Room and that Dean’s apparently dodged a bullet. While they talk, Dean is busy staking out Lydia’s place and watches as two women appear and meet up with Lydia. Dean can’t believe his eyes. The two women and Lydia return with Emma (who now looks like a grade schooler) and the two ladies take away to an old warehouse building where Dean follows them to.

The brothers meet back up with Professor Morrison and learn that the symbol left behind on all the bodies was the major clue. These women really are Amazons and that the men (Dean included) were apparently victims in a birthing/coming of age ritual.

The weird and strange keep coming for the boys. The Amazons procreate and the maturity cycle from fetus to adult is within a matter of days. Emma is Dean’s daughter (making Sam an unwitting uncle). Detective Penn is also a member of the Amazonian cult and has made both of the Winchesters as hunters — though they don’t know that part.

Scouring Bobby’s books and journals for more research, the one key piece of research they can use is blown across the table into Dean’s line of sight. The paper contains text written in Greek that neither of them can translate on their own and Dean immediately senses something is up and it wreaks of Bobby. Sam is quick to dismiss that there’s no way Bobby could be behind the revelation given that they burned his remains. Arguing that Dean is still emotionally compromised, Sam takes the paper to Professor Morrison and orders Dean to stay put because they know someone is on the way to kill him.

Keeping it in The Family

As Sam heads to the university, Dean gets a visit from Emma (Alexia Fast) who has come of age. Father and daughter talk about options and choices with Emma saying she’s torn between her heritage and how she wants to just live her own life.

Sam and the professor go over Bobby’s note discovering that the offspring of an Amazon and the male always satisfies the birthright by killing her own father. Realizes that Dean is in a lot more trouble than either of them imagined, Sam hurries back to get to his brother but is intercepted by Detective Penn. Penn catches him by surprise, hurling him across the hallway which smashes his phone and prevents Sam from calling his brother with the warning. Before Penn can make her move on Sam, he recovers in time to shoot her in the heart.

Emma and Dean wind up in a standoff, her with a ritual dagger and Dean with a pistol. As Dean tries to reason with his daughter, Sam makes it just in time to realize that his brother is very reluctant to kill her. As Sam zeroes in on his niece, Emma makes one last attempt at pulling Dean’s strings before Sam pulls the trigger.

Attempting to stop the Amazon operation, the boys move in on the warehouse only to discover that the tribe has moved on — nothing cluing them to where they have moved on to.

As the episode closes out, Sam and Dean talk about the situation with Emma where Sam reminds Dean that this is all too similar to the circumstances with Amy (The Girl Next Door) where Sam let the monster get away and Dean had to be the one to make the kill. Sam levels with Dean, telling his older brother that his emotions will get him killed evidenced by how Dean was ready to let Emma walk. With all of the turmoil of Castiel’s and Bobby’s death and the addition of Emma’s death, it’s now clear that Dean’s head isn’t in the game.

The biggest takeaway from The Slice Girls is how it pulled a reversal on a similar situation that took place during The Girl Next Door. Given how unraveled Sam’s emotional state is currently, having Sam with the opportunity to give Dean a lecture on keeping his head focused is a real twist. Supernatural has always been a story driven on emotion and while we see the brothers in the middle of some really hardcore stuff, someone is always facing the possibility of being hurt.

The Slice Girls was a good episode, but it didn’t really bring anything to the table outside of more thinking points about how the Winchesters function. The typical “Winchester flair” just wasn’t there, but the lack of it wasn’t a deal-breaker. Seeing Sam and Dean separating as much as they have done this season is almost as nerve-wracking as it is exciting because one of these days someone is going to pay a terrible price for working solo.

Sam seems to be becoming the more responsible one as of late while Dean is getting more and more emotional. I’m sure this is building up to something critical for the storyline as season 7 keeps moving.

Next week, it looks like Sam has to face his biggest fear (clowns) when Supernatural returns with Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magic Menagerie.

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) tangle with the God of Time (Jason Dohring), who sends Dean back to 1944, where he is immediately arrested by none other than the one and only Eliot Ness (Nicholas Lea). While trying to figure out how to retrieve his brother, Sam is surprised by the reappearance of an old friend (Kim Rhodes).

Original Air Date: 13 January 2012 – Directed by Philip Sgriccia and Written by Robbie Thompson.

The moment has arrived for one of those uncanny time travel episodes. Supernatural gets back into its stride this week as the boys come to blows against Greek god Chronos in Time After Time.

The episode starts off with Sam and Dean chasing down a man in a fedora who sucks the life out of his victims. When Dean manages to grab the guy, they both disappear in a red flash of light, leaving Sam with only guesses as to what just happened.

A Case of the Mummies

Two days earlier, Sam and Dean are alerted to a case from Sheriff Jodie Mills who’s started keeping an eye out for activities of the supernatural variety. Bodies of young and healthy adults are turning up mysteriously mummified, aged beyond recognition. Picking up the case, the boys head to Canton, Ohio but not before Sam takes the opportunity to tell his big brother that he’s going to torture himself staying up at night obsessing over Dick.

Trying to tie leads together, the Winchesters talk to the only eyewitness to the most recent incident (who local law enforcement have branded as “unreliable”). After a rather passionate account from the witness chock full of details about a guy in a fedora choking the life out of his neighbor, more clues manifest. The victim aged right before his eyes followed by a strange red energy passing from victim to assailant and even his watch stopped as it happened.

This isn’t the first time that fedora guy has been spotted. Canton is rife with similar incidents of shriveled bodies throughout history and the boys come across an actual newspaper article containing a photo of the mystery man. Using local camera feeds (a trick Dean picked up from Frank), fedora guy is discovered stalking around a gas station where Sam and Dean realize that this same man hasn’t aged a day in over 55 years when compared to the photo from 1957. After talking with a witness from the actual 1957 crime scene, the boys get fedora guy’s address, stake out his house, and move on him when they see him leaving the house.

Dean manages to catch up with him in an alley right as he’s claiming another victim and we’re back to where the episode begins…

After tackling the man and being enveloped by the red light, Dean struggles with the mystery guy and catches a glimpse of the ring he’s wearing which has the inscription of the infinite hourglass — the mark of Chronos. Fedora guy gets away and Dean is immediately spotted by local authorities (wearing retro police uniforms) and gets arrested.

After being grilled by his arresting officer, a new case detective takes over the interview. Dean tells his story (the actual truth) to the detective and quickly realizes he isn’t being written off as some sort of kook by this new officer. Learning that the detective happens to be 1944′s version of a hunter, Dean is floored when he shakes hands with Eliot Ness.

Eliot takes Dean to meet his tailor, Ezra Moore (Linda Darlow) who is the era’s very own version of Bobby Singer all the way down to the sharp tongue. Ezra gives Eliot and Dean the scoop on Chronos, the God of Time while she decks out Dean in a new getup suitable for the era. Using Dean’s recollection of Chronos’ address from the future, the men raid his house learning that the God of Time has stayed wealthy by betting on sporting events that he knows the outcome to (Back To The Future style). They’re able to confirm this after (hilariously) working over the bookie that’s been handling Ethan Snyder’s (Chronos) gambling bets and get the location of Snyder’s favorite hang out.

Staking out Snyder from outside the diner, Dean and Eliot talk and we learn how Ness became a hunter and his motivation for staying in the profession. Spotting a young woman leaving the diner who is followed moments later by Snyder, the hunters suspect her as the next sacrifice Chronos has picked out. Making the move on Snyder, Eliot and Dean realize that the young woman is actually Snyder’s girlfriend and hang back long enough to figure out who she is and where she lives. Instructing Dean to swing back to Ezra’s for any new info she may have gathered on Chronos, Eliot elects to case the house of Chronos’ girlfriend Lila (Melissa Roxburgh), but gets ambushed by Chronos the moment he’s alone.

Back at Ezra’s shop, Dean receives the weapon that is guaranteed to kill the God of Time from Ezra along with a special “good luck” present from the wise hunter. Glancing over a stack of Ezra’s mail, Dean figures out a way he can get a hold of Sam in 2012.

Writing a letter to his kid brother, Dean leaves it in the house where he and Sam were squatting before he was zapped to 1944…

Back to the Future

Back in 2012, Sam is trying his best to connect the dots looking for some clue to where Dean has disappeared to. After another phone call from Jodie, Sam and the sheriff start working together on the case and Jodie uses her pull to break into one of Bobby’s storage units. They learn everything Dean, Eliot and Ezra has learned about Chronos, the God of Time along with Chronos’ motive behind the victims (sacrifices) he’s draining dry. Unfortunately, nothing they have solves the big mystery — where Chronos and Dean are actually at. The only way to figure out the next move is to learn how to summon a god.

Jodie finds lore indicating that Chronos can be summoned for a reading of the future which is good news until Sam delivers his bombshell. Sam has the spell to summon Chronos, but the deity has to be called when Dean is within range (hands on) to get them both together in the current time period. Stuck between a serious rock and a hard place, Jodie sends an exhausted Sam to bed to rest up and Sam makes the discovery of a lifetime as he’s about to close his eyes — Dean’s letter from the past.

Knowing where and when Dean is, Sam and Jodie still need an exact time from where to get Chronos and Dean together to make the spell work. With Dean’s letter mentioning Lila Taylor, the duo locates Chronos’ ex-girlfriend in a local retirement home and learns that in the 40′s, Ethan choked the life out of Dean right in front of her and Eliot Ness leaving every clock in the house stopped at exactly 11:34.

The Future is covered in Thick Black Ooze

Searching for Ness back at Lila’s place, Dean gets jumped by Ethan but the fight is interrupted when Ness shows up out of hiding having taken Lila hostage. Cornered, Ethan reveals that he is a god who has been killing to travel back and forth through time because of Lila who he is truly in love with. At the exact moment that Lila told Sam and Jodie about, Dean tries to come at him with the stake but Ethan intercepts him and starts to strangle him.

In 2012, Sam and Jodie incant the summoning ritual and  pull both Dean and Chronos through time back to the present. Before the two are yanked back to the future Ness makes sure Dean has the stake, calling the young hunter untouchable. Infuriated by being pulled back into the present, Chronos lashes out at Sam and readies to finish what he started in 1944 with Dean but is distracted long enough allowing Sam to deliver the fatal stab to the heart.

Dying, Chronos gives the hunters a reading on their future which is a direct foretelling of events to come for the rest of the show’s seventh season. “It’s covered in thick black ooze. It’s everywhere. They’re everywhere. Enjoy oblivion.”

While the episode ends very abruptly (no end scene where the boys sit on the car and talk about their feelings this week), we’re left with a very good episode of Supernatural that actually returns the show to its more classical formula of action, humor and solid storytelling.

Season 7 so far is turning out to be the “season of Dean” and this episode is no exception. Dean is once more brooding about Leviathans and drowning in the sorrows of his personal losses. Our boy gets some more advice on how to deal with the terrible pitfalls of his life as of late this time from the great Eliot Ness. His advice to Dean about dealing with life and loss comes on the heels of last week’s speech from Frank which basically reminds Dean that no one lives and sooner or later he’ll be dead, too.

Jodie Mills has come a long way since her introduction in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. It’s great seeing her character start to fit in better and better with the boys (and the hunter culture) and seeing her as she tries to unravel Bobby’s life puts a new spin to the take no attitude sheriff she was once introduced as. Watching how she interacts with the boys on this case we quickly get the impression that Jodie is going to become a bigger fixture in the series for a while to come.

If there’s one thing Supernatural time travel episodes do, its showing off how much of a dork Dean Winchester can really be. Whether he’s touting references to Untouchables or just relishing in the moment (“Is that a German name?”), seeing Dean geeking out and making a complete 180 from troubled Dean is always a sight to see.

Seeing the brothers also back in more of a light hearted spirit also let’s us know that they are trying to move past losing Bobby. From the classic Winchester rock-paper-scissors match (which always ends with Sam winning) to Sam’s teasing the Dean is “strictly into Dick,” we have ourselves a classic episode of Supernatural.

Supernatural goes on break for two weeks (reruns) before returning February 3rd with The Slice Girls. See you in a few weeks.

Still reeling after what happened to Bobby, Dean (Jensen Ackles) becomes dangerously obsessed over finding a way to take down Dick Roman (James Patrick Stuart). Meanwhile, Sam (Jared Padalecki) decides to help a teenage girl (Madison McLaughlin) look for her father (Ian Tracey), a hunter who has gone missing. Sam traces his last steps to a truck stop where the help (Meghan Ory) turns out not to be so friendly.

Welcome back, Supernatural! It’s been a long 5 weeks since we saw the turn of events from last December’s Death’s Door. Let’s go ahead and come out with it: Bobby is dead. Death’s Door showed the stark reality that awesome characters die — and there have been tons of awesome characters (Ellen, Jo, Rufus, Castiel, Pamela) throughout the seven seasons of Supernatural.

Three weeks have passed since Bobby used the last of his time to write out 5 numbers (45489) on Sam’s hand before passing away and the boys are coping with the loss while trying to plan their next move on the Leviathan menace. While Sam and Dean are going to miss Bobby, ultimately, the fans themselves will miss him more. Adventures In Babysitting focuses on the Winchesters and how they deal with Bobby out of their lives.

A Hunter Gets Snatched

At the beginning of the episode Lee Chambers is sitting in a diner stalking something supernatural that carries the guise of a working girl named Sally (Once Upon A Time star Meghan Ory) who is setting up trysts with truckers coming in and out of the diner. His server refills his coffee and tries to make small talk when Lee sees his target moving on with a truck driver in tow. As he follows the pair between some parked 18-wheelers, he is surprised to find that his server has followed him outside the diner…

The server alerts him that she’s slipped him something in his coffee — her own venom. Feeling the effects of the toxin, Lee is easily overcome as he realizes that what he’s hunting is not simply one creature but a pair.

Sam and Dean are coping with their Loss

Back at Rufus’ safe house, the boys have started working on the singular clue Bobby left them. They’re both dealing with Bobby’s death in their own way with Sam turning it all inward and keeping it bottled up (like he has countless times before) while Dean goes to his typical ‘turn angst into revenge’ mode. Sam breaks the ice first by wondering if they should start contacting Bobby’s people and Dean immediately objects to the idea passing it off to Sam who is just as reluctant.

Having taken all of the information they have and turned it over to conspiracy kook Frank Devereaux, Dean is feeling the strain from not hearing from Frank yet. As the boys are talking it over, Bobby’s cellphone rings and Sam takes the call, speaking to Lee’s daughter Krissy who was left with specific instructions to contact Bobby Singer if he doesn’t return. Sam senses trouble and wants to check it out but Dean wants to find out what the hell happened to Frank. As they discuss splitting up, Dean’s freshly opened beer is suddenly sucked dry mysteriously (while in his hand) but they dismiss it pretty quickly.

Sam meets up with Krissy and after checking things out, he leaves her with Dean’s number to call in case she doesn’t hear from him (ominous instructions for the teenager at this point). Sam figures out that Lee was after a vetala, which happens to be similar to vampires. And that trail leads him to the same rest stop diner where Lee was taken. He makes a call to Dean (who is passed out from exhaustion) and leaves him a message about his discovery before making his move.

After having a conversation with Marlene (the waitress that handled Lee), Sam is led to Sally who lures him directly into an ambush where this time Sally is revealed to be a vetala. Sam is bitten and overcome leaving the two creatures another hunter to feed on.

Dean meets up with Frank

Dean shows up at Frank’s place which is completely ransacked and abandoned. Taking that as a bad sign, Dean doesn’t get long to investigate before Frank has gotten the drop on him (twice in as many episodes). Having been exposed to the information on Leviathans, Frank is overly suspicious that Dean may be a Leviathan and is ready to start shooting. After providing a simple blood screening (Leviathans bleed black goo) and then making Frank prove the same, they start talking and Frank takes Dean to where he’s relocated — an RV equipped with every piece of electronic equipment he owns. Frank gives Dean both the good and bad news about those numbers from Bobby.

Bobby had been short one number as he was dying but Frank managed to figure out the missing number which made up the coordinates (45″4′ 89″3′) to a patch of land in Wisconsin of special interest to Dick Roman. Dean and Frank, dressed up as telephone technicians, go out to investigate the plot of land and discovers that the whole area is under surveillance. After tapping into the rigged equipment, Frank makes the discovery that there’s something up with the site that has Dick very interested but there’s no clue to what it all amounts to yet.

Frank gives Dean some advice about the Bobby situation: fake your way through the rough stuff. Sharing with Dean the moment that changed his own life (seeing his wife and children heinously murdered), Frank tells him that he has to exercise professionalism if he wants to make it. As Dean listens, he get’s Sam’s voicemail about the vetalas and realizes that Sam has made a terrible mistake.

Dean gets to babysit Krissy

Already set to panic, Dean gets a phone call from Krissy telling him that Sam is missing. Dean gets a shot of reality when he meets up with Krissy as he realizes that the girl has a lot in common with both him and Sam. She’s plugged into the life and is just as cynical (if not more) as Dean. After Krissy proves that she can handle herself, Dean has no choice but to bring her along to find Lee and Sam tricking her long enough to handcuff her to the steering wheel so she can’t get hurt with what happens next.

Dean manages to get the drop on the vetalas before they can drain Lee dry but Krissy shows up and nearly blows everything when she is taken hostage by Sally. The interruption turns out to be well choreographed as Krissy winds up being the one to save them all by taking out Sally and distracting Marlene long enough for Sam to make the kill.

Family Matters

Leaving Krissy and Lee safely behind in the hospital, Sam and Dean hit the road. In the final scene of the new episode, the brothers talk about the situation they face. Sam admits that he’s not alright with what’s happened to Bobby and Dean is right there with him. Agreeing that they should get to work and figure out how to kick Dick Roman’s ass, the tone changes as Sam tries to sleep and Dean drives. As the scene closes out, you can see in Dean’s eyes that he is starting to accept the reality that the closest thing they had to remaining family is dead.

Adventures In Babysitting didn’t see the return of the normal action packed show that is Supernatural, but it brought back enough heart to the story to set us up for the future of where the rest of the season can only go. It would have been a terrible slap to the face if the show went immediately back to its standard humor/action formula in the wake of losing another major character. How people deal with life is just as important as how they deal with death, and we get to see the Winchesters dealing with something almost as profound as when they lost John.

The highlights of Adventures In Babysitting are Dean’s interactions with both Frank and Krissy. Frank helps to keep Dean grounded while Krissy gives Dean a vivid look back at where he came from. Seeing the boys in another emotional tailspin is a theme that we’ve seen throughout the show since season 1 and the hits keep on coming for Sam and Dean.

Dean’s suffering from exhaustion is also a key factor for the episode. As evidenced by his beer being drank dry without him realizing it, his confusion that it’s only been days since they contacted Frank about the Leviathans and his sleeping an entire 36 hours in the RV, Dean continues to struggle more and more as the series goes on.

Seeing Lee and Krissy’s future also helped out the Winchesters’ state of mind as well.

Next week, we’ll see Dean taken back to 1944 where he’ll hunt side-by-side with Elliot Ness (yes, that Elliot Ness). See you next week.

Since departing NBC’s Law & Order: SVU, fans everywhere have been wondering what’s next for Christopher Meloni (who played main character Elliot Stabler for 12 seasons).

Wonder no more. Meloni will be making a jump to another TV show that’s just as controversial (if not as riveting) as he officially joins the cast of HBO’s popular supernatural show, True Blood.

Series creator Alan Ball mentioned to TVLine that the former Law & Order: SVU front man will play, “An ancient, powerful vampire who holds the fate of Bill and Eric in his hands.” [<-- spoiler for Season 5]

As more True Blood news pops up, be sure to stick with us for more details (and more spoilers).

As Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) race the clock to help Bobby (Jim Beaver), Bobby seeks the help of an unlikely old friend to solve one of the most personal cases of his life.

This is the big one. After the events from How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters came to a boil with Bobby taking a near-fatal gunshot wound in the head thanks to lead Leviathan Richard Roman (James Patrick Stuart), we now find ourselves with the last episode before Supernatural goes on a mid-season break. And it is a doozy…

Death’s Door is the most emotional episode of Supernatural this season. The episode, written by series front-runner Sera Gamble, pulls you in the entire 40 minutes from the opening ‘previously seen’ scenes right to the end roll of the credits. I’ll warn you now: if you hated the cliffhanger ending from How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters, you’re really going to hate this one.

The episode opens up with Sam and Dean racing to the nearest emergency room urgently trying to get their friend and substitute father some help before he dies. While all of this is taking place, we get to see glimpses of Bobby’s past in a life flashing before your eyes montage that brings back some of the key players in Bobby’s life including Rufus Turner (Steven Williams) and Bobby’s wife, Karen (Carrie Anne Fleming).

First off, it was awesome seeing Rufus again! I was among the giant chunk of fans who were really upset when he died in …And Then There Were None because Rufus’ old school wit and humor not only fit in perfectly with Bobby’s, it made the show click tremendously. It’s very true how they say that in Supernatural, being dead doesn’t mean we won’t see you again. Getting to see him crusading beside Bobby, even if it is all in his head as a comatose dream, was a big time win for the season.

The first flash we get is of Bobby, Dean and Sam from last episode as they were hunting down the Jersey Devil and Bobby realizing something is awfully wrong. The hunters meet back at the shack they were huddled in and Bobby tells the boys that he knows that he’s inside his head and that in the real world, he’s been shot and he’s dying. Grabbing pen and paper, the hunter scribbles down some numbers (coordinates, possibly) telling himself that he has to relay a message to the boys about the plans the Leviathans are cooking up. As he makes the connections, Bobby suddenly finds himself talking to his wife about their future and Bobby skips out before one of the most important events of his life plays out. If that isn’t bad enough, a Reaper has come to collect him and help him into the afterlife.

Throughout his mental quagmire, Bobby keeps seeing a young boy running in and out of each one of his memories and right as Bobby trips into a memory of one of his earliest hunts with Rufus, the boy stops him saying, “God is going to punish you.”

Every flash of memory Bobby has is a breakdown of the good and the bad of what he’s seen in his life and his mental image of Rufus helps him discover how to snap out of his coma and get back to the living world. The major clue in the whole ordeal comes from Rufus following his own life and death battle on the table after the hunt he and Bobby had almost went south. He tells Bobby that the worst memories of his life are the key to getting out. Bobby suddenly realizes that the kid he keeps seeing is himself and that he’s running back to the events that make up his worst memory.

We see his memories of Sam and Dean and how the two boys he calls his own sons helped him past the demons of his terrible childhood. On the trip, the Reaper let’s Bobby know that he’s treading the line on becoming the very thing he’s hunted most of his life and that if he dies without resolving himself to his own death, he will become a ghost.

In the real world, Sam and Dean are trying to come to grips on the situation. Sam is already coming to the realization that this may be it, while Dean isn’t ready to open that door. Stepping outside to try and clear his mind, Dean runs across Dick and the two have a standoff while people all around them video the confrontation. Dick smugly warns Dean the leviathans can’t be killed and they aren’t afraid of the hunters.

When Bobby finally makes it back to his worst memory, we get to see Bobby’s first kill. While I give out a lot of spoilers in these episode breakdowns, I’m refusing to give up the big punch line this time. When Bobby makes it past his worst experience (it wasn’t killing his own wife after Karen was possessed by a demon), he wakes up in the hospital and gets his chance to deliver his message to the boys. Writing out the numbers on Sam’s hand, the last thing he says to them basically stops the clock. “Idgits.” Bobby flatlines and the trauma team gets to work.

As the episode closes out, Bobby and the Reaper have one last talk and Bobby sees his final memory of the boys as they are all watching movies and arguing over popcorn, licorice, Chuck Norris and Jet Li. It all ends with the Reaper asking Bobby what his choice is, and the ticking of his pocket watch.

Death’s Door is another cliffhanger episode (as is the trend of this season of Supernatural) and now we all find ourselves waiting until the show returns January 6, 2012. I keep finding myself noting how much any episode dealing with Bobby is always my favorites (Weekend At Bobby’s, Appointment in Samarra, Tall Tales, …And Then There Were None) and this is no exception.

A big shout out goes to the crew of Supernatural for bringing Rufus back to help Bobby out one more time with another case. We don’t know for sure what the future holds for Bobby just yet, but I will say that the cliffhanger ending was very disappointing as we had to wait 2 whole weeks just to get to this. It was truly heart-warming hearing Bobby say that Sam and Dean are his sons, and that’s a testament to the magic of the writing for this show.

See you January 6th.

Sam (Jared Padalecki), Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Bobby (Jim Beaver) become actual hunters, in the true sense of the word, when they set up camp in a New Jersey state park to track a creature that has been attacking people in the woods. The townsfolk claim it is the real Jersey Devil. Meanwhile, Dean is beyond thrilled to find a Biggerson’s restaurant in town, but is devastated when he discovers the restaurant’s special sandwich seems to be making people crazy…

Nobody plays God quite like series writer Ben Edlund! How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters wreaks of a style unique to long time writer Edlund with all of the disgust and humor mixed in with a good hunt that can only be fan favorite Ben Edlund. You’ll also get a serious dose of suspense this round as one of the best characters of the cast gets into some serious trouble twice this episode and the leviathans make their return to the series.

The episode starts off on some of the weirdest nonsense I’ve ever seen with a loving couple indulging themselves in an activity known as glamping (look it up). I won’t spoil this one for you, so let’s just say that the first death of the night involves a man getting strung up and eaten alive in the woods.

Sam, Dean and Bobby are still following Frank’s advice (Slash Fiction) — or should I say have finally started to follow — of continuing their ‘below the radar’ shtick  this time squatting in a completely run down house. Up until now, the boys have only really seemed to stick to not driving around the Impala and wasn’t Becky tweeting her illicit love affair to Sam Winchester all the time last week?

Dean, who’s feeling all of the strain of the past weeks, delivers his next ‘the world is screwed and our life is crap‘ speech and gets a spiritual kick in the ass from Bobby for his troubles. Getting down to business, the hunters find themselves in New Jersey following the leads from a rash of disappearances and killings. The locals already have a name for what’s on the loose — the Jersey Devil. After interviewing Ranger Rick, a completely stoned (and not believing the State Trooper reports that it’s anything more than a bear) Park Ranger at a Biggerson’s restaurant, the boys encounter a completely wound too tight server and Dean meet’s his new favorite sandwich, the Turducken. Over lunch, the only option they see is to go on a bonafide hunting trip.

In the woods, Bobby and the boys take a quick trip down memory lane to the days when Bobby was taking care of them in their dad’s absence and actually teaching them how to hunt. The boys come up on the remains of Ranger Rick’s partner, and after Rick himself is nabbed by the Devil, we see that Bobby is most likely the most dangerous person in the world with a hunting rifle. Definitely not the ‘Jersey Devil’, the hunters realize they have nothing more than a mutated man turned cannibal after performing a very comical autopsy. The only thing they can really take away from it all is some black goo (different from the leviathan black goo) in the poor devil’s (pun) system before Dean starts acting a little strange and hurrying the guys up so they can eat dinner. Dean gets himself another Turducken Slammer from Biggerson’s while acting like a complete fool and Sam and Bobby quickly realize that it’s something in the food doing to people and everyone in the restaurant is chowing down on the TDK slammer.

We get ourselves another gross-fest after the hunters investigate the remains of Dean’s sandwich and see what’s inside of Dean (literally). The only real option now is to try and find out where the mystery meat is coming from. Tracking Biggerson’s meat and poultry shipment back a wholesale warehouse (scary, when you think about it…), the pieces of the puzzle finally start to come together when they spy Edgar (Benito Martinez) arrive to meet up with Dr. Gaines (Cameron Bancroft) and it all comes full circle that leviathans are up to no good. Gaines is the mastermind behind the Turducken and is in charge of creating these special sandwiches that are designed to fatten up the population and make them completely complacent for harvest (scary again). Edgar’s appearance is really just to warn Dr. Gaines that Dick (James Patrick Stuart), the leader of all the leviathans, is coming to pay a visit and is none too pleased that news has gotten out about the crazed flesh eating people that are the small side-effect of Gaines’ experiment.

Dick arrives and Bobby makes him pretty quickly. This is the guy that Crowley has been talking about and the reason why the demons haven’t been up their asses this entire season (Season Seven, Time For A Wedding!). Presented with a perfect opportunity to find out what the leviathan’s true agenda is for the human race, Bobby goes out to spy on Dick and we finally learn what the term ‘bibbing‘ (Slash Fiction) really means! For his troubles, Bobby gets caught witnessing the horror and we have yet another tense moment for the night.

Sam and Dean learn real fast that Bobby has been captured and need to go to work to rescue him before the leviathans can gobble him up. As luck would have it, their best weapon falls into their laps when a cleaning truck arrives. When the screams of his fellow leviathans reach him, Dick leaves Bobby to stew while he investigates the conundrum and Bobby goes for a gun on the desk stopping to rummage through files to try and see what the plan is. Basically, the only thing Bobby can seem to figure out is that Dick’s plans involve taking over everything and he takes all the files he can carry and escapes. The Winchesters finally make a face-to-face with Dick and eventually manage to escape by the skin of their teeth, but there’s a serious price to pay. Dick chases them out the door with his newly purchased gun and he manages to shoot Bobby. In the head.

How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters is a terrific episode. Ben Edlund delivers up a winning script that’s funny, deep and intense and brings us to one hell of another cliffhanger for the seventh season (the third so far). This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of Biggerson’s as it appeared before in Bad Day At Black Rock (another Edlund episode) and has been referenced throughout the series.We get another look at how Bobby regards the boys and we learn how the boys regard each other. Dean is still a mess lamenting over their losses (Castiel and Sam’s metal stability) while Sam appears to be coming away pretty well-adjusted. Bobby delivers the heartfelt moment of the show by telling Dean, “You die before me and I’ll kill you.”

With the show back on its leviathan storyline, I’m glad that the producers are sticking a little more closely to their guns this season. As far as the preview for the next episode, Death’s Door, I don’t really see Bobby punching his time clock for the final time, but I didn’t see Ellen, Jo or even Rufus biting the bullet last time they made appearances either. Everyone knows for sure in two weeks as Supernatural takes a break for Thanksgiving and then returns December 2nd for the mid-season break.

Oh, and seriously, I really hate when shows announce mid-season breaks as mid-season finales. I mean, really? Just say you’re going on a goddamn break and not try and make it some obscure event like the show is coming to an end!

This week’s episode is the classic Supernatural caper episode! While on a hunt, Sam (Jared Padalecki) runs into someone from his past and a confrontation ensues. Meanwhile, Dean (Jensen Ackles) reluctantly teams up with a quirky, laid-back hunter named Garth (DJ Qualls), when he finds himself in a situation that he just cannot explain.

A caper is just what the boys have on their hands when ‘super fan 99‘, Becky Rosen (Emily Perkins) makes a return to the series. Dean is pouring his heart out to a bartender in Vegas when Sam texts him with instructions to wear his FBI suit and show up at a chapel. Flickering lights inside the chapel convinces Dean to pull out his gun only to find himself ambushing Sam at his wedding. Sam is pretty ecstatic about the festivities and after giving his brother a quick briefing on what’s going down, Dean is introduced to Becky — the bride.

Dean is quick to read Sam the riot act about this knowing for sure that somewhere Chuck has to have written about this and Becky has the inside scoop but Sam quickly dismisses the notion because he is truly in love with Becky. After the wedding, Dean gets on the phone with Bobby, relays the news and then shadows Sam and Becky to Delaware to see what’s really going on.

No sooner does Becky get back home does she start showing off her trophy husband. After RSVPing for her 10 year class reunion, Becky runs across Guy (Leslie Odom Jr.), her token Wiccan who just happens to be a guy hooking her up with some sort of strange mojo juice. Guy and Sam trade quizzical stares before Becky drags Sam off for home to a honeymoon dinner. Dean is still following the couple and just happens to glimpse a newspaper with a front page article about a freak accident involving a lottery winner crossing the street and truck. Definitely sounds like a case…

While having dinner, Sam has a quick episode of disorientation and we get our chance to see Becky using her mojo juice in Sam’s champagne. Making Sam swig the spiked champagne, Sam stops asking questions and is back into being in love with Becky. Obviously, Becky is using a love potion to get Sam in the sack and make him love her (typical stalker move). While all of this is going down, another freak occurrence happens when a guy is killed while at batting practice.

Dean catches up with Sam and while bringing up the two mysterious deaths he finds out that Sam and Becky are already working the cases. Figuring that the same thing that took out the other two victims may also be somehow connected to the strange love affair with his brother and Becky, Dean tries to warn Becky that the only thing that may be in the future is her dying (duh) and that he will get to the bottom of the mystery. Sam quickly lashes out at Dean, reminds his big brother that he’s talking to his wife and, following another one of Supernatural‘s patented “I don’t need you anymore” speeches from Sam, tells Dean to get over it. Dean gets the gist and leaves while calling Bobby for help on the case. Bobby recommends him Garth, a quirky hunter to say the least, as backup and they take on the mystery chasing a new lead about a man that leapfrogs up the corporate ladder and becomes CEO of a company.

While waiting to talk to Craig Burrows about his promotion, Dean and Garth cross paths with Sam and Becky and after some awkwardness, they interview the newly appointed CEO and run across his extremely ambitious and high strung wife. Craig didn’t even seek out the promotion and it just suspiciously landed in his lap but Marsha (his wife) is taking it all very seriously. After confronting Marsha about it, everything falls into place after a light fixture gives way (after some prodding using powers to manipulate inanimate devices by the same creepy guy seen at the baseball accident) and nearly falls on her. Marsha fesses up that she made a deal to push her husband up the ladder after having been drinking and complaining about her husband’s job. Garth and Dean realize immediately that a crossroads demon is at work but the crossroads deals are expiring way too fast (less than 10 years).

While trying to tie together all of the lead sin the case, the love potion on Sam starts wearing off again and Becky panics. Making a desperate scramble for more of the elixir, she flips out after finding out that her social lubricant has leaked out of the bottle into her purse. Becky knocks Sam out and ties him down to the bed (minus his pants) — yes, it’s just as slapstick as it sounds. Sam, after coming to, lets her know that the bad guy of this story is Guy and that he is a crossroads demon who has her damning her own soul over her obsession with him. Becky doesn’t believe it (why should she?) and finds Guy for some more elixir where soon enough it all comes together and Guy makes her a special deal — her soul for 25 years instead of the usual 10 without fast forwarding the collection of her own soul. Tragically, as with all obsessed people who deal their soul for their deepest desires, Becky agrees…

The real pleasure of the episode is the return of Ruby’s knife. Becky’s agreement to trade her soul turns out to be a trap for Guy which also lures out his understudy/intern that’s been moving all of his crossroads deals forward ahead of schedule. After a confrontation at the high school reunion, Crowley (Mark Sheppard) makes an appearance and things take a turn for the strange. Letting the hunters know that Guy has been violating some serious ethical codes from downstairs, Crowley tells Guy that his own apprentice actually sold him out. The Winchesters aren’t quite convinced that’s its truly this easy for them until Crowley tells them that they haven’t been knee-deep in demon problems because he’s on their side against the leviathans and can’t stand their leader, Dick (Slash Fiction). He even offers up a gesture of good will by cancelling all of Guy’s contracts with the condition that they turn over Guy to him for special punishment.

The episode closes itself out with Becky and Sam getting an annulment and Dean letting Garth know that’s he okay in his book. Season Seven, Time For A Wedding! is a welcome back for the series after last week’s kind of lackluster episode. The brothers patch up their differences once more, and they ride off in the Dodge Charger that’s been playing standby for the Impala since Slash Fiction from two weeks ago.

DJ Qualls as Garth adds a new comedic element to the episode along the same lines as Bobby’s character yet minus the trademark ‘old man’ humor. It’s always funny when we see obvious dork characters as hunters and Qualls makes the character very bearable. Perkins’ reprisal of Becky is just as spot on and disturbing as previous appearances and you really see that darker side of obsessed fan girls this time around (just in case you forgot what it looked like from the episode The Real Ghostbusters from season five). Director Tim Andrew delivers up a fine show from Andrew Dabb’s and Daniel Loflin’s script and we come away with a very enjoyable episode. Overall, it makes you hope that next week’s dealings with the Jersey Devil can stack up.

The recently announced patch for console versions of Dead Island is available today and with it the level cap is being raised to 60. This patch isn’t just bringing better stability and adjustments to the interface as well, but also adds some new features to the game.

Weapon crates will now contain ‘improved rewards’, Purna will now be able to carry nearly 50 percent more ammo (finally) and kicking now expends stamina giving the game some much more needed realism. Enemy levels can also be adjusted for different co-op players independently.

Hopefully, a lot of these tweaks from the patch will help ease the frustration seen across the board from tons of players. Some of the issues were true blue problems. It’s always good to see that the developers (Techland) do care.

Here’s a more complete list of what the patch offers:

1 — Gameplay improvements

• Level cap raised to 60
• New blueprints for weapon mods added
• Infected damage reduced
• Infected no longer interrupt player attacks
• A series of improvements to subsequent playthroughs implemented:
• quest XP rewards adjusted
• XP rewards for challenges adjusted
• in subsequent playthroughs XP is awarded for all quests completed in co-op
• Purna’s ammo carrying capacity increased by 50%
• Character state from a save game can now be loaded when using the Start from Chapter option
• New balancing option added: enemy levels can now be adjusted independently for each co-op player
• Players respawn with more health
• Picklock skill level required to open a lock is now clearly indicated
• Improved rewards in weapon crates
• All weapon crates now contain rewards
• Kick ability balanced, now requires stamina
• Items can now be picked up instantly; this is reflected in adjusted animations

2 — Fixes and interface improvements

• Fix: players are no longer left without a weapon after dropping the equipped item and healing with a medkit.
• Fix: equipped items no longer swap mysteriously after drinking an energy drink
• Tweak: healing with medkits from inventory works better, makes smarter choices of medkits
• Fix: loot from dead enemies is now always identical for all co-op players
• Fix: Purna no longer finishes her Fury with fists equipped
• Fix: map tracking after death
• Fix: zone info in the quarantine zone (City of Moresby)
• Tweak: respawn point selection is now smarter

3 — General

• Improved stability and network performance in co-op
• Quest and reward fixes implemented

One of this season’s best television shows that you aren’t watching is having a marathon Halloween night on FX. Offering the perfect chance to check out (and get caught up on) American Horror Story, FX will rerun the first four episodes making for the perfect Halloween night and setting up for the conclusion of the 2-part episode titled Halloween on it’s regular night, Wednesday, November 2.

American Horror Story is a violent, erotically charged horror story about a troubled family in a haunted L.A. mansion, from producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk (Nip/Tuck, Glee). The Harmons are a textbook dysfunctional family who have moved cross-country from Boston trying to get their lives back in order. The house that they move into unknowingly is the epicenter of a murderous history and a variety of twisted and frightening creatures. As Ben (Dylan McDermott) and his wife Vivien (Connie Britton) realize that something is very wrong with their home, stranger and stranger events take place that convinces them to move out.

Since debuting on FX October 5th, the show has gotten serious buzz and has seen steady growth in the ratings. I’ll warn you now, the pilot episode is anything but lukewarm and the rest of the episodes will have you hooked and ready for Wednesday night’s episode which guest stars Zachary Quinto (Star Trek, Heroes) and leave you asking a ton of questions. I’m not going to serve up any spoilers for the show, just know that American Horror Story is a truly brilliant and chilling show that plays just as many head games with you, the audience, as the spooks play games with the Harmons.

The show also stars Denis O’Hare, Jessica Lange, Taissa Farmiga and Evan Peters to round out the cast and each character is just as bizarre and messed up as the undead denizens of the house. Get more information about American Horror Story by visiting their website now and then tune in to the Halloween marathon starting at 10pm EST to try and solve the mysteries of the Murder House.

In tonight’s episode written by Robbie Thompson and directed by John Showalter things are very peculiar for the Winchesters…

Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) are once again on the FBI’s Most Wanted list when two leviathans clone the brothers and go on a killing spree. The subject of a nationwide manhunt, Sam and Dean need to drop off the grid so Bobby (Jim Beaver) sends them to Frank Deveraux (guest star Kevin R. McNally), a quirky surveillance expert, for help. Meanwhile, Bobby continues to search for a way to kill the leviathans, or at least slow them down, so the real Winchesters can stop their evil doppelgangers.

Okay, first things first. The title Slash Fiction is definitely a play on words with the pop culture phenomenon that is Supernatural. Hearkening back to more than a few episode references, when I actually saw the title of the episode, I literally did a double take. If you have no idea what slash fiction is, just head to urban dictionary real fast — this episode breakdown will still be here when you get back…

Getting started, Slash Fiction shows the brothers walking into a bank and after Dean puts on the charm to with the teller, automatic rifles are brandished and the Winchesters commence to robbing the place. After rounding up all the bank patrons and personnel into the safe deposit room the brothers massacre everyone there while making sure their own faces are seen on security cams. Welcome to bizarro-world as Slash Fiction gets under way…

At Rufus’ safe house, Bobby is busy working on Chet the leviathan (Sean Owen Roberts) who Sam and Dean captured with the help of Donald Stark (last week’s Shut Up, Dr. Phil) trying to figure out what ultimately makes them stop ticking. Chet remains calm knowing that nothing can harm him and lets them know that Edgar (Benito Martinez), whom they thought dead after dropping a car on him in the episode Hello, Cruel World is still alive and pissed off. After explaining how the leviathans were able to track them down, Chet tells them that the leviathans can’t be killed by anything humans have. Cluing them in to how boned they really are, Chet tells them to tune in to the news and see what’s going on in the world around them.

The boys learn that they are officially part of a nationwide manhunt led by the FBI after seeing footage of the doppelgangers at the bank robbery. Chet lets them know that the leviathans can clone themselves just by sampling DNA which, for Sam and Dean, they used hair from a motel shower drain. Taking it very personal, Sam and Dean decide they have to go after the leviathans and stop them. Bobby gives them the location of someone that can help them out with laying low while they’re on the job and the boys take off. The FBI tasks Agents Morris and Valente onto the Winchester case and they begin working on the two robbery/homicide incidents while trying to figure out both the motive and the next move for the duo and a race starts off between the Winchesters, the leviathans and the law.

After being made at a gas station following another robbery, Sam and Dean make it to Frank Devereaux’s house and get ambushed by Frank (who is an apparent conspiracy theorist nutcase). The alum from Pirates of the Caribbean fits right in with the many guest stars that have seen tenure on Supernatural and it’s great to see him as something other than Jack Sparrow’s first mate Mr. Gibbs. After a small round of questioning which almost results in Frank plugging the brothers with an assault rifle, Frank agrees to help the brothers out as a favor to Bobby. Arming the brothers with new fake identities, instructions to use cash from now on and humorously replacing Sam’s laptop, Frank sends them on their way with a map indicating the areas evil Sam and Dean have hit and the advice that’s there’s nothing random about what the clones are doing. And he makes them ditch the Impala…

Bobby still hasn’t gotten any closer to figuring out how to stop the leviathans, but after some taunting from Chet, he does discover that they shut up after taking a machete to the leviathan’s neck. Bobby gets an unexpected visit from Sheriff Mills (Kim Rhodes) who wanted to personally thank him for rescuing her from her liver eating surgeon. Bringing the peace offering of beer, the Sheriff offers to keep Bobby some company while he deals with the leviathan in the basement while insisting he calls her Jody.

It’s always a pleasure whenever we get to see Bobby outside of his element (and women always seem to do that) because it immediately makes the episode that much more hilarious. The moment is short-lived once Bobby returns to the basement and discovers Chet’s head has reattached itself to its body. So, in typical Bobby fashion, he lops Chet’s head off again.

Heading down the road in the loaner vehicle Frank gave them, Dean is stewing in his own frustration’s and our quote of the episode comes from Dirty Dancing. The highlight of the night is not Dean’s use of the Patrick Swayze line but rather the moment when Sam decides to calm Dean down with the radio but the only thing playing All Out of Love by Air Supply and actually catching Dean earnestly singing along to it. Trying to get the disturbing vision of Dean being a bitch out of his head, Sam studies Frank’s map and sees the pattern of the leviathans path of terror. The leviathans are hitting every area the brothers hunted in the exact same order from the moment Dean pulled Sam out of college. Next stop, St. Louis and Dean’s favorite diner.

In St. Louis, the leviathans are already at Dean’s favorite diner having a quick bite to eat. After talking about their disgust of humans and the many flaws of both of the Winchester siblings, the clones whack off the diner. Bobby gives the boys the scoop that they should keep moving and th next stop Ankeny, Iowa (Hook Man episode). Meanwhile, Agents Morris and Valente watch the footage of the diner crime captured on a cellphone camera and learn where they’re heading next. Making it to Ankeny just in time to get spot their evil twins in the Impala replica, Sam and Dean can’t make their move before getting collared by local authorites.

Still unable to figure out what to do with Chet, Bobby mistakenly touches him and meets up with his own doppelganger afterwards. Chet (or should I say, Bobby) starts to play more head games with Bobby and we learn more Bobby history. Pissed off even more, Bobby is ready to decapitate Chet once more but something starts dripping from the ceiling and literally eating right through the leviathans flesh. Running back upstairs, Bobby ceremoniously asks Jody what she was using to clean with because they now have a way to slow the leviathans down!

After he manages to get the Sheriff (Battlestar Galactica‘s Michael Hogan) to give him his phone call, Dean learns from Bobby that borax (found in household cleaners) will stop the leviathans in their tracks and keep them stunned long enough for the next part — take off their heads. Sheriff Osborne isn’t entertaining any more sick talk from Dean and his friends and hangs up on Bobby. Stumbling upon one of his own deputies eating another and then witnessing him and another officer turn into the two people he just put into custody, the Sheriff realizes what he’s gotten himself into and scrambles back to Dean where they agree to work together to save their lives.

While the Sheriff is going for borax, Dean finds a gun in just enough time to get jumped by evil Sam. Evil Dean finds the real Sam in the interrogation room and has a quick talk to him about what the problem is the Winchesters have with each other and even reveals Dean’s secret about Amy. Sheriff Osborne delivers a borax bath to the leviathan giving Dean the chance to chop off his head and then they rescue Sam before he becomes dinner. Agreeing to help the real Winchesters disappear, Osborne files a report to the FBI agents and even has a coroner’s report (thanks to his own daughter) ready in time to convince the Bureau that two thought-dead fugitives are officially dead.

Back at the cabin, Bobby has another awkward moment with Jody that ends with a kiss and the request for her to take a box (with Chet’s/Bobby’s severed head) and throw it into the river before heading back to South Dakota. Agent Valente heads back to the coroner’s office where we learn that leviathans also have an inside man in the Bureau (by killing Osborne and his daughter). Valente reports back to his boss who is revealed to be businessman Richard Roman (James Patrick Stuart) who decides that something else has to be done about the Winchesters. Inside his limo, Roman gets a visit from Crowley (Mark Sheppard) who tries to make a deal the leviathan leader. Roman quickly lets Crowley know that the leviathans have a lower regard for demons than humans and that there will be no deals between the two.

Hitting the road, Sam and Dean have a talk about everything that happens and Sam confronts Dean about the Amy situation. Unable to deal with the fact that Dean has lied to him again and again about it, Sam walks away, telling Dean to go the opposite direction.

We knew that sooner or later, Sam was going to learn the truth about what Dean did to Amy because the current trend of the past seasons have always been that the brothers have a divider between them in the first episodes of every new season. Now that the other shoe has fallen, we can see where the next story arc will take us and see the next phase in the war with the leviathans.

Make no bones about it, this week’s episode Shut Up, Dr. Phil is seriously going to give you your dose of gross out and it all begins with the random death of a real estate broker, Wendy, in a hair salon who gets hers brains fried in a salon hair dryer. Maybe it could have been written off as a malfunction if it wasn’t for the fact that when she tries to get out the seat, some unseen force anchors her to the chair. When her hairdresser discovers that something is wrong. the sight is not particularly for the squeamish. Thus starts the next adventure for the brothers Winchester.

Still wracked with guilt and seriously rocked by Castiel’s death, Dean is on the path to becoming a full blown alcoholic. Sam knows something is up and tries to get Dean to let it all out, but Dean deflects it all back to Sam’s current mental state (which is actually very clear for this episode). Dean starts to piece together a connection to two freakish deaths in the town of Prosperity, Indiana (the first being a man boiled alive in a hot tub) within a two week span and the boys take off on the case.

The episode gives TV watchers a small Buffy The Vampire Slayer reunion with guest stars Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and James Marsters (Spike). co-written by Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming and directed by Philip Sgriccia, has a few twists and surprises and also brings back the main baddies for this season, the leviathans. Chet the leviathan (the guy who used to monitor credit card transactions) is seen talking to one of his masters while making a quit pit stop at a supermarket. He’s already gotten an idea where the brothers are and assures his boss that he’ll be caught up to them within 2 days.

I’m glad to see that the break with the leviathan storyline is over and is at least getting more play than last season’s lackluster ‘Eve, mother of all creation‘ story arc. While it made the season a little more interesting (wasn’t the angelic civil war enough?) that may have been a missed opportunity with how rushed it turned out.

Once they get to Prosperity, Sam and Dean split up to start tying things together. Sam is unable to determine any connection between Wendy and the man from the hot tub but Dean discovers a rare and unknown coin nearby the salon hair dryer. With the leads being so far-fetched, the brothers immediately start suspecting hexes and witchcraft. Given how much we know about Dean’s hatred for witches, you already have good idea what’s in store for the episode. As they piece together the clues they have, another freakish death happens to a man using a porta-potty (you have to watch the episode for this one because it is grisly).

Dean finds another coin at the porta-potty site and Sam is finally able to find a tie-in to the three deaths — businessman Donald Stark (James Marsters). All 3 victims were part of a real estate project with Don that recently fell through so the next logical step is to talk to Don himself and see what’s going on. While talking to Stark, Sam and Dean quickly learn that the man is a womanizer and that’s he’s separated from his wife. Sam scopes out the home and discovers that Stark’s wife, Maggie (Charisma Carpenter) is a practicing witch. A witch who just happened to have caught her husband having an affair with Wendy. The boys give Don the advice to make up with his wife quickly and take off to try and find a way to vanquish Maggie.

Sam and Dean scope out Maggie’s home. Dean does the break-in and learns that Maggie has a real hit list of people throughout town that she’s going after with Don’s secretary, Jenny, next on the list. Maggie shows up and Sam has to improvise to keep her out the house long enough for Dean to escape. The brothers make it over to Jenny’s, just in time as Maggie’s next spell starts to work and manage to save Jenny’s life. Once the shock of her near death wears off, Sam and Dean explain to Jenny that she was hexed by a witch and she needs to run away — and cut things off with Don. Jenny quickly assures them that there’s nothing going on with Don, her reaction is really simple, “Ew!”

When Don tries to talk to Maggie about the deaths (obviously knowing that she practices witch craft) an argument breaks out between Don, Maggie and Maggie’s friend Sue (who apparently has the hots for Maggie). The couple start really lashing out at each other and Maggie also alerts Don to the fact that Sam and Dean (the FBI agents) are actually hunters.

After Maggie destroys Don’s statue, the sparks really fly and the town is caught in the crossfire. Don has a couple of tricks up his sleeve as well and redoes Maggie’s paintings (and Sue’s head), ruining her charity auction. When Sam and Dean check out the art auction scene, they realize that Don is also a witch and they hasten to catch both witches together in the same place.

Things are really heating up between Maggie and Don as the two of them face off with each other, but it’s a little short-lived as Sam and Dean barge in and attempt to invoke a spell against them. The vanquishing spell goes awry (of course), Don and Maggie start to work out their frustrations on Sam and Dean. With the witches beating them up one side of the house and down the other and being completely out of options, the Winchesters decide to try and counsel the couple while trying to save their own asses. Realizing that the couple are over 800 years old, there’s big history between the two which all leads back to jealousy and a failure to communicate — as well as Don’s affair. Sam and Dean put down the War of The Roses and manage to escape another incident in one piece while managing to get the Starks to realize that they are still in love with each other .

Back at their motel room, Chet makes his move, ambushing the Winchesters. At the last second, an outside force intervenes and Don saves their lives by immobilizing the leviathan with a spell. And then saves their lives again by removing the coin Maggie left behind to hex them. With the spell Don put on the leviathan, this revelation gives them a big opportunity — they can finally learn what makes leviathans tick with Chet being in suspended animation.

Throwing Chet in the back of the Impala, Sam takes a moment to try and get Dean to unload his demons, but Dean isn’t having any of it and once again, nothing gets resolved.

Overall, Shut Up, Dr. Phil turns out to be a decently paced story and returns the Winchesters to the situation of dealing with the leviathan menace. A pretty strong story, more opportunities for comedy (though it’s not on the same lines as last season’s Weekend At Bobby’s), some unanticipated gore and a bit of star power with Marsters and Carpenter adds another episode to talk about in the Supernatural arsenal.

Sam and Dean investigate a string of gruesome murders and discover the Egyptian god Osiris is behind the deaths. The vengeful god is putting people on trial for their past mistakes and killing them if found guilty. Osiris homes in on Dean’s guilt and decides he’s the next to stand trial. Sam steps in as Dean’s lawyer, but both brothers are unprepared when Osiris calls an unexpected witness – Jo.

The boys get a break from the hell that the leviathans are causing in Defending Your Life. Written by Adam Glass and directed by Robert Singer, this episode is a cleverly disguised clip episode detailing some of the major plot threads that got Sam and Dean to this point.

Dean is finding it bizarre that they have a run-of-the-mill case compared to their recent leviathan woes when he and Sam arrive to investigate a rather ‘normal’ case but find it’s very abnormal to say the least. A car has apparently killed a man in his 10th floor apartment and the only clue the boys have is some red dirt in the apartment. While they are handling the investigation of the car hit, Sam thanks Dean for his understanding about not killing Amy (last week’s episode, The Girl Next Door) which Dean conveniently forgets to mention has been taken care of.

After another man is killed, this time in an apparent dog attack while in the restroom of a diner, Sam and Dean try to line up the clues. Outside of the red dirt, it appears that the two men are dying under curious circumstances that surrounded their lives. The first guy was a sober alcoholic that killed someone in a drunk driving related accident while guy #2 was a convicted man guilty of running dog fighting rings (insert appropriate Michael Vick joke here) who had thus reformed and was an animal rights activist. The red dirt leads the boys to an apple orchard where they encounter a completely spooked man running into open traffic running from a farm where he was just put on trial.

Dragging the man back to their motel room, Sam and Dean hear out the man’s story about an abandoned barn with a man presiding over a makeshift court with no jury and only one true executioner. The judge is even making ghosts appear of the man’s murder victims from a liquor store robbery from 1981 — an act that he served 30 years for and just recently gotten paroled of. Warren the ex-con explains that he was at the same bar that one of the men whose death Sam and Dean were investigating. He got jumped and then found himself in the barn on trial. Dean’s basically had enough of this case because it seems that all the dead people had it all coming to them in the first place, but Sam knows it’s a real case. Offering Warren some protection, he leaves him in the motel room in a circle of salt with the television running and calls Bobby.

Because he’s tired and doesn’t want to devote time investigating the case anymore, Dean decides to check the bar and tells Sam to check out the barn if he wants. Sam gives one warning: DON’T DRINK. Dean, being Dean, goes to the bar, starts getting hammered and begins hitting on his lovely bartender while at the same time starts baring his naked soul to her in earshot of a bar patron that earlier bumped into him.

At the barn, Sam gets a phone call from Bobby who identifies their latest perp: Egyptian God Osiris. Osiris likes to weigh in the guilt of the human heart, being judge, jury and executioner. If Osiris finds you guilty, you’re dead. And Sam just let his own brother, a person notorious for feeling remorse for any and everything he does, go off alone to a bar. Sure enough, Dean gets snatched while waiting to get lucky from the bartender as the guy from the orchard accidentally breaks the circle of salt Sam left him in four his own protection and gets executed by the ghosts of the two people he killed in the robbery. After going into a small panic, Sam gets the news that Dean’s disappeared and heads back to the barn to find Dean before it’s too late.

Osiris (Faran Tahir — Warehouse 13, Star Trek) plays it pretty straight letting Dean know that the chains he’s in are definitely Houdini-proof and that he has a very loose tongue when he’s drunk. As the trial for Dean starts, Osiris calls out Sam who decides the only way to help is to defend his brother in court. Osiris throws his weight around swiftly with threats of death and removal of tongues for contempt of court before calling witnesses to Dean’s trespasses, starting with Jo (Alona Tal).

Having died in the Season 5 episode Abandon All Hope along with her mother Ellen while trying to thwart Lucifer’s summoning of the Horseman Death, Osiris asks Jo compelling questions that pulls out Dean’s feelings of guilt behind her death. Sam cross examines Jo, and they quickly discredit Osiris’ case by proving that the real reason she became a hunter was because of her father, not Dean, and that her death may have very well happened whether she knew Dean Winchester or not. Osiris quickly dismisses Jo and puts Sam on the stand next to testify. Trying to use Dean as the ultimate fall guy for why Sam is the way he is, Sam makes a case by simply saying that Dean is not the reason he would have been pulled back into the life of a hunter.

Osiris reveals that people want to be judged for their actions and that their feelings of guilt measure their lives. Sam gets Osiris to concede to letting Dean take the stand and gets Dean to realize that he’s not really remorseful for the people who have had bad done in their life, just that he feels deeply for what has happened. Osiris manages to bait Dean into succumbing to his feelings of guilt by dangling the possibility of calling Amy to testify and sentences him to death.

Bobby comes through with a solution that’s temporary, but will definitely keep Osiris off their trail for the rest of their lives and Dean knows that Jo’s coming to execute him. While Sam hunts down Osiris, Dean and Jo have a conversation and Jo tells Dean that it’s not all his fault for how any of it turned out. Unable to really shake the fact that he seems to be at the center of so much personal loss, Dean is ready to die when Sam makes his play for Osiris, ending the game. Jo disappears and Dean’s life is saved.

As the episodes closes out, Dean tells Sam that he would have probably made a decent lawyer, all things considered. Dean still doesn’t fess up to the situation with Amy, but in the end, it’s Sam that tells him that he doesn’t really feel guilty about his past because it’s behind him and that he has to move on.

Next week, Dean and Sam encounter a pair of witches having the mother of all domestic disputes in the coming episode Shut Up, Dr. Phil.

Dead Island‘s first DLC pack which was delayed to allow time to fix issues with the horror action title following launch has been greenlit for a mid-November release.

Game Informer Magazine revealed the release window, and reminded gamers that the DLC will be free to those who pre-ordered Dead Island at GameStop and $10 for the general public. The “Bloodbath Arena” DLC, a wave-based survival mode, adds four new areas and some weapons, and allows players to transfer XP into the core game.

The 2011 remake of the vampire flick Fright Night is in theaters and bringing with it a fresh take on the extremely campy 1985 original. Modernizing the story about a teenager discovering that evil lives next door to him into something more contemporary, this horror film is definitely less B-movie keeping the storyline to the basics but adding new and deeper plot twists. No complaints though — this movie retains that hilarious funny appeal that made the original an instant classic.

Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) really can’t have it any better than he does right now. He’s one of the popular kids and is dating the hottest girl in high school. The only thing that’s probably holding him back is his not-so-cool childhood best friend, Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). So, after trying to avoid Ed, it’s only natural that Ed bribes Charley to go out with him on a search after a rash of students in their class start to go missing.

After he and Ed finish their investigation, Charley heads back home where he meets his new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) having a conversation with his mom (Toni Collette). Jerry is an extremely handsome jack-of-all-trades handyman that seems to have Charley’s girlfriend (Imogen Poots) and mother both smitten with his charms. It isn’t until after witnessing some very unusual activity that Charley comes to one frightening conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on his neighborhood. When all options run out for him, Charley seeks out the help of Peter Vincent (David Tennant) to find a way to get rid of the blood-sucker.

If you’re familiar with the original 1985 Fright Night, there’s a few points in the remake that follow with that movie (I won’t spoil them here). Director Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock, United States of Tara) literally reworks the film from the ground up and tells a much more solid story. A round of applause is deserved for Gillespie’s knack for keeping the plot’s comedic roots intact while crafting a truly edgy horror film. The plot for Fright Night revolves mainly around Yelchin and a gym-buffed Farrell’s portrayal of Charley and Jerry. Both actors sell their roles dead-on as they play out a serious tug-of-war with Charley on one side trying to keep his mother and girlfriend safe and Jerry on the other executing a far more insidious scheme for everyone around him. Peter Vincent’s role seems minor at first but the vampire hunter takes on an extremely important role as the second half of the movie pans out.

Fright Night is featured in 3D, but the 3D elements are minor and don’t do a whole lot to contribute to the experience of the film. The real meat and potatoes of Fright Night is in the storytelling and the action that is a sheer rollercoaster ride. If you’re a fan of the original film and are wondering exactly how the vampire effects come off, don’t fret. The CG effects for the vampires closely mimics that of the original with the wide mouths and the grotesquely jagged teeth. The transformations from human to vampire is very impressive and almost believable (if vampires were real).

Fright Night isn’t your typical vampire tale. You won’t find any sluttish telepathic faeries, roided-out tattooed werewolves or angsty sparkly-skinned teenage vamps here. What you’ll get is a very sexy blood-sucking good time with enough chills, thrills and laughs to separate Fright Night from the apparent norm of vampire storytelling.

If you are looking for a good horror flick to keep your summer going strong, head out to theaters and check out Fright Night. This is one movie that should definitely NOT get lost in the shuffle of this summer’s rush of blockbusters.

The Locke children–teenagers Tyler and Kinsey and kid brother Bode–are trying to put their lives back together after being terrorized by Sam Lesser, who brutally murdered their father. They’ve moved to an idyllic New England community, they’ve made new friends–including charming fellow student Zack Wells–and Keyhouse is full of new discoveries.

Like keys that turn humans into ghosts. Or open heads. Or open the Black Door, which just might lead to an unspeakable horror. Did I mention that Zack Wells is actually the reincarnation of Lucas Caravaggio, an old friend of their father’s who mysteriously disappeared more than 20 years ago, and who will stop at nothing to get all of the keys in his possession?

Locke & Key is an excellent horror read because while the artwork is fantastic and the mystery intriguing, the focus is squarely on the characters. You’ll get to know the Lockes and become invested in them, so when all hell breaks loose, you won’t be able to wait until the next issue! For more details about this awesome series, make sure to check out our interview with Joe Hill last October.

To get started, pick up the first two hardcovers, Welcome to Lovecraft and Head Games. Or, if you’re already a fan, make sure to snatch up each issue of the current story arc, Crown of Shadows. You won’t be sorry!

Questions? Opinions? We know you have them! Post them below!

Year: 2009
Running Time: 107 Minutes
Rated: R
SRP: $ 39.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 3, 2010

Film/Feature: C
Jennifer’s Body doesn’t aim much higher than a B-movie throwback, but unfortunately doesn’t get out of the C-class of mediocre shlock. It is written by Diablo Cody who arrived on the scene and won an Oscar for the sharp-witted indie drama, Juno (2007) and is directed by Karyn Kusama who earned her own accolades with Girlfight (2000). So Jennifer’s Body gets the unique opportunity of being a horror film that’s driven creatively by two women. What was the most terrifying thing they could come up with? High school girl-on-girl hate–something that can be truly terrifying, and can reach incredulous levels of cattiness, but doesn’t pay off as one would hope.

The setting is Devil’s Kettle High School and Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) and Anita “Needy” Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) are childhood friends who grow up to be BFFs (Best Friends Forever) but realize that they may have outgrown their bond. Jennifer keeps her around because her good looks allow her to stand out even more against Needy’s frumpy Ugly Betty syndrome. Needy has a stable and faithful boyfriend, Chip (Johnnie Simmons) who struggles with her timeshare away from Jennifer. One night, Needy is dragged out by Jennifer to see a band called Low Shoulder at the nearby Melody Lane tavern. The girls are separated after a fire brings down the bar. Jennifer goes with the band, led by front man Nikolai (Adam Brody) leaving Needy to drive home alone. The band mates intentions are not good, and it’s not what you think. Trying to ensure they hit it big, Low Shoulder wants to sacrifice Jennifer because they think she’s a virgin. And this is where the wheels come off the tricycle.

It takes a great suspension of disbelief to think that Megan Fox can play the role of a girl in high school–no one walks around with that kind of confidence, even when they look like Fox. But to convince me, that this band thinks that Jennifer is a virgin when she’s built like that, and chooses to sacrifice her, is one of the several far reaches this story makes. The town “goes to shit,” so to speak, when she survives, and surprise-surprise, Jennifer’s not a virgin. Instead of performing a proper sacrifice, Low Shoulder unleashes the succubus onto the boys of Devil’s Kettle. Jennifer seduces those willing boys into her various lairs around town and makes them look like like a pile of pizza vomit.

After Jennifer explains what happened to her, Needy gets the inkling to search the “Occult” section of their library–because every school library has one of those–and realizes that she’s the only one who can stop her. From there the film kind of falls apart and doesn’t know when to end. It suffers from Cody’s all-too-cute dialogue with dated references that will make future viewings groan-worthy. I liked that boys were the prey, and the sexual tension between Needy and Jennifer made for both an interesting complication and teasing motive, but Jennifer’s Body needed to go either more on the shlock, or more on the serious horror. There’s too much of a juggling act that’s being performed here with attempts at witty high school comedy, gothic stylings, and absurd situations and it’s really unclear what kind of film Kusama and Cody were trying to make.

The one saving grace of the film for me came at the end when Needy hunts down Low Shoulder and gives the film a proper ending. Sincerely, it’s one of the slickest closing credits I’ve seen all year, shot mostly in high contrast and super-saturated still images of the revenge scene in its aftermath. Had a majority of Jennifer’s Body was shot like that, I’d be raving about this film. Contrary to Fox-haters, she isn’t bad in the film, and neither is the more talented Seyfried (Mamma Mia), but this script is pretty bad. I stood on the side of the fence with those who enjoyed Cody’s script in Juno, and still do, The United States of Tara is clever, but Jennifer’s Body is a real letdown.

Video: B+
Megan Fox fans will have plenty to droll over seeing her in this high definition 1080p AVC-encoded transfer in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Viewers will also find a color-rich picture that’s flips between high-detail images and stylistically soft shots. Primary and secondary colors jump out nicely on the screen, skin tones and the varying complexion quality in the high schoolers are clearly visible. In certain scenes, there is some filtering and de-saturation going on, my favorite scene is when we see Needy in the correction facility where everyone is wearing orange jumpsuits in this dank and dirty jail. Lighting is well-balanced whether the scene is outside during the middle of the afternoon or under moonlight. Night scenes are very good but admittedly could go a tad darker. Contrast is especially strong at daytime and naturally lit scenes and shadow delineation is spot on where it needs to be.

Audio: B+
Stomping into your home theater, Jennifer’s Body gets a 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. It starts out subtle with a front and center channel-heavy, dialogue-driven but bursts into style when the fire at the Melody Lane tavern eventually builds to a first-class explosion. After that there lots of activity in all five channels to add atmosphere in each scene. I liked how there wasn’t too many horror score cues to tell you when something scary was coming. That can be really overused, but the songs in the soundtrack are pumped up and aggressive whenever they make their way into the film. While the film is hit or miss, this blu-ray is technically on solid ground. Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Thai.

Extras:C+
If you really love this film, there are two commentary tracks to sift through, but what made this category suffer in the rating was the quality of the remaining supplements as well as the lack of replay value.

Audio Commentary by Director, Karyn Kusama and Screenwriter, Diablo Cody Kusama pushes the commentary and Cody adds to her comments. These two truly believe in this film, and that’s a good thing, but they tend to have a very high opinion of every detail of the theatrical cut of Jennifer’s Body. One of the more refreshing things, however, is getting the perspective of the genre through the eyes of two women.

Audio Commentary by Karyn Kusama is found on the Unrated extended version of the film and her comments are preceded by a small red clapper icon at the bottom right in scene specific moments. Kusama discusses mostly the differences between the two versions of the film and I found this to be a tighter, more concise and more enjoyable.

There are six Deleted Scenes HD (13:55) reveal a handful of scenes that don’t add a great deal but the inclusion of them shows how they slowed down the pacing even though they added information that helped to connect a few scenes in a more coherent manner.

Video Diaries HD (12:51) These aren’t as cool as they sound or as inclusive as one would hope. It’s mostly clips done by a hand-held camcorder with poor quality shooting behind-the-scenes stuff following cast members and Diablo Cody around the set. There’s not much worth a second viewing here honestly.

Jennifer’s Body: The Dead Pool HD (14:00) Is a breakdown of the climax of the film, the pool scene. Interviews are done with Kusama and Cody but there’s an in-depth look at how the Fox’s special effects “jaw” was created.

Megan Fox is Hot HD (0:56) An absolutely pointless montage of Megan Fox scenes.

Megan Fox “Peer Pressure” PSA SD (0:40) Okay, while the last extra was lame, this though, was funny.

Gag Reel SD (4:55) Again, not usually an extra that’s going to get a lot of viewings past the initial screening, the gag reel shows the cast and crew clowning around but too much of the “gags” are drowned out by the “Low Shoulder” song used in the film.

Fox Movie Channel–Life After Film School With Diablo Cody SD (26:26) is one of the more substantial extras. I’ve never been a fan of these Life After specials as the questions are usually softball questions served up by three film students and in this episode, they interview Cody about her career path, her creative writing process and the inspiration behind Jennifer’s Body.

Trailers for Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead, (500) Days of Summer, and Something, Something, Something Darkside.

Disc 2 is a Digital Copy Disc for downloading Jennifer’s Body into laptops, iPhones, and other portable media devices. The expiration date is 12/28/11.

Overall Shock Value: C+
Jennifer’s Body tries to toe that line of 80′s shlock and modern-day trips down horror lane but misses the mark on both fronts. While Cody’s pop culture-filled script and voice worked in Juno, that same kind of poetic flair didn’t match the tone of Jennifer’s Body, which tries very hard to create brooding fright through style and atmosphere. Technically, the film shines, but the extras are best explored by devoted fans of Jennifer’s Body. This isn’t a total loss, but I’m reserved to recommend this blu-ray (or DVD) as a Rental.

Multiple Eisner Award-winning creator of The Goon Eric Powell teams with acclaimed colorist Dave Stewart to bring this tale of humor, horror, and heartbreak to a close. Prepare for the usual weirdness, as only Powell and The Goon can provide: the living dead (children, priests, and pretty ladies), pretty living ladies, gypsies, backwoods children . . . “dogs” . . . crazy-weird cats, pimps peddling animal love, animals on the receiving end of said animal love . . . evil Shredded-Wheat men, more evil-undead burlesque-house owners, guys with tails, a woky (a woky?) . . . and more!

You can order The Goon Volume 9: Calamity of Conscience TPB now for $14.35, and make sure to check out our Horror Month page for most ghastly gifts!

Questions? Comments? We’d like to hear from you!

Contributors:
Kayode Kendall, Mary Brickthrower, JD Lombardi, Eric Blair, Heather Buzby
Introduction: Mary Brickthrower
Closing Thoughts: Kayode Kendall, JD Lombardi

A couple months ago the “all things media” rag Entertainment Weekly composed a list of the “20 Top Horror Films of the Past 20 Years”, and my friends and I found ourselves…unimpressed. After collectively cocking our heads, we decided to produce our own definitive list.

Our process was thorough, paring down individual lists into a master list. While you will see some similarities between our list and EW, you’ll notice that movies which aren’t really “horror” are omitted. For example, Shaun of the Dead is a great movie but it’s really a comedy. Silence of the Lambs is primarily a psychological thriller, as with From Hell. Finally, we sat down to discuss our Top 20 favorites, both our similar picks and random barbs tossed in for glaring differences.

For fans of horror, here are OUR Top 20 Horror Films of the Last 20 Years!

» 1. The Ring

Her explanation? Zombies!

Unable to ignore Cynthia’s information, though not sharing her beliefs, Derrick and others in the town explore the mystery as weeks turn to months and the death toll rises. Could Cynthia be right or has she finally gone insane?

Now just $14.96 (25% off the cover price), it’s the perfect time to pick up Awakening by Nick Tapalansky and Alex Eckman-Lawn. Check out other cool horror stuff on our Horror Month page.

Year: 2009
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Rated: PG-13 Theatrical/Unrated Director’s Cut
SRP: $39.98
Studio(s): Universal Studios

Film/Feature: B+
Remember when filmmaker Sam Raimi didn’t have Spider-Man attached to his name? It was a long time ago, and for those who don’t know or remember or don’t know your film history, Raimi was the mastermind behind the Evil Dead Trilogy (Evil Dead I & II, Army of Darkness) and in this world where geeks have taken over the entertainment world, Raimi is as American as baseball and apple pie. Surely stuck in big studio and corporate character suffocation, Raimi cleanses his palette with something new. After ten years with Peter Parker, we get a sample of our old Sam back, sans Bruce Campbell, in Drag Me to Hell, a simple and casual trip back down memory lane for his most ardent of fans.

Allison Lohman (Matchstick Men, Where the Truth Lies) plays Christine Brown, a loan officer in Los Angeles, from small town roots, is only a few hard-earned hours away from earning a promotion at the bank she works at. She’s got a great boyfriend, Clay played by Justin Long (Apple guy from Apple vs. PC commercials), who is a doctor and comes from a well-to-do family. Before she ties the knot on a big account, she has to do one small, but difficult task in the eyes of her boss. She has to deny a gypsy woman, named Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) the chance to keep her house. With a firm upper lip, determined to get everything that she’s been denied in life to have, she sends the gypsy packing. Boy, did she fuck with the wrong person.

The gypsy curses Christine on the way out who now has only a few days to shake a terrifying spirit called the Lamia from her life before a door opens up from hell and grabs her for eternal unrest. This isn’t torture porn horror films like Saw and Hostel, but rather a more finessed, campy horror flick that still tortures the protagonist but in a much more classic way. Christine is a classic do-nothing-right character who can conquer one thing in her life whether it’s her job, her love life, or even shaking a gypsy curse. Lohman was a champ though and took everything Raimi throws at her, or projects at her. Raver, too was legendary as the repugnant Mrs. Ganush.

I can’t recommend this film across the board because truthfully, it’s not a great film for everyone across the board, when you take a very close look at it. I know things were supposed to be scary, but I found myself laughing more than anything else, which Raimi allows room for, but believe me, sometimes the absurdity of horror films is lost on me. It was much too easy to forecast what was coming next. The conventions were as fundamental to the genre, as it was disappointing in terms of hoping for something a little more original.

It is, however, a solid horror flick for the fans of shlock, and despite my own apprehensions on this genre, I can appreciate what people do like about these films. There is a bit of sophistication in what Raimi does by building a rather complex web of circumstances with a very simple premise and then just tugs the main character through the mud the entire film. Never at anytime do you want things to get better for Christine, or want them to stop; even though she probably didn’t deserve any of it. Okay maybe just a little bit. By the end you’ll find yourself whooping at your screen. There is a lot of skill involved in manipulating a crowd like that and because of that I do recommend Drag Me to Hell.

Video: A +
Get a load of high definition fun on Drag Me to Hell’s 1080p VC-1 encoded transfer in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It’s a high quality relay where I could start with the enveloping deep blacks, then go to the extraordinary detail of skin and the surrounding objects, and end off with eruption of color of the flames of hell in an otherwise natural-looking, mute set design. The image is stable throughout the story, even during the classic Raimi speedy closeups. Everything that’s gross in the film, including Mrs. Ganush is doubly-gross in this blu-ray. I’ve rarely ever had a problem with Universal’s post image enhancements, noise reduction, black crush, contrast or lack of shadow delineation, and you won’t hear me complaining about anything with Drag Me to Hell.

Audio: A+
Once again, Universal spares no expense with a 5.1 English DTS-HD audio track that is one of the most active tracks I’ve listened to in months. After watching lots of dramas lately, I jumped out of my seat a few times because my subwoofer had been awoken, and every time the hole to hell opened up, I thought the bottom of my floor boards busted out. All of the spoken dialogue is tight and clearly understood, and the dynamic range is full and powerful. The directional sound is the most notable part of the audio experience, whether it’s a hair-pulling, scream-filled fight in a car, or when all chaos breaks during the séance. Other audio selections include: 5.1 French DTS, 2.0 Spanishdolby Digital, Portuguese, German, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean 5.1 Dolby TrueHD DTS Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Extras: C-
The first “extra” would be the unrated version versus the theatrical cut and as usual when it comes to horror films, the difference we’re talking about is a few scenes that show more gore and guts than what was shown in the theatrical cut. As far as running time, we’re talking about 14 extra seconds. I think I would have been more satisfied if they had they just put the unrated version only, and gotten Raimi to do an audio commentary.

Production Video Diaries HD (35:00) is a nice compact behind-the-scenes look behind some of the memorable scenes of Drag Me to Hell. For those of you who want to hurl again watching the maggot scene can watch Lohman nearly lose her lunch actually performing it. For those who were hardcore fans will recognize this from what was available on the official Drag Me to Hell website so we’re not talking about anything new here, it is a nice special but the greedy person in me wanted much more.

There’s a Digital Copy Disc for those who just gotta have Drag Me To Hell on the go.

BD Live is enabled for those want to peruse through Universal’s library of trailers, online content, and share your favorite clips with your friends.

D-Box motion code is available to those who have it.

Overall Shock Value: B+
I wasn’t blown away by Drag Me to Hell as much as Sam Raimi loyalists, especially those are calling it “the best horror films they’ve ever seen,” but as I’ve stated before, horror is the one genre where I can honestly say I’m not particularly warm to or am extremely hard to please. I do think that fans of the Evil Dead Trilogy will love this film to no end, and I do think it satisfies that gross urge one needs during the Halloween splurge and beyond. Really though, we’ve reached a point where horror, in all of its different sub-genres is enjoyed throughout the year and not just in October. It was awesome to see Raimi kick up dirt in the old playground where he grew his initial following and those who have been there from the beginning or who discovered those early indie gems will be pleased. Extras could have been much meatier but there’s not much to complain about the blu-ray on a technical level. Drag Yourself into viewing this Sam Raimi joint on blu-ray with a bunch of friends, turn it up, and let the popcorn fly into the air.