Hook Man

In Iowa, amidst a community of dissolute frat students and strictly religious preachers, the fabulous supernatural crime-battling Winchester brothers encounter the most famous of all gruesome urban legends. During her first date with the most popular guy on campus, the shy preacher's daughter Lori hears eerie scraping noises atop of the car and senses a weird presence. Her boyfriend leaves the car to see what's out there, but traditionally ends up butchered and hanging over the roof of the car from the branches of a tree. The bloody incident immediately catches the attention of Sam & Dean, as the legend of the Hookman originally started with a preacher who killed persons of whom he thought they were immoral sinners. Especially after Lori's lurid roommate Taylor becomes the second victim, the brothers fear that the girl's father somehow summons the murderous spirit of the Hookman to kill for him. The only way to destroy the Hookman is to dig up his bones and burn them, but where to look for those? "Hookman" is another very exciting and remotely scary entry in Eric Kripke's great show "Supernatural". This episode has a recognizable killer, a couple of very impressive and straightforward action sequences and less humor than any of the previous episodes. The scene where Lori discovers she spent all night next to the bloodied dead body of her roommate ("Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the lights...") is effectively eerie and atmospherically choreographed. The make-up effects in this episode are particularly raw and gritty, and this Man with the Hook is a lot scarier than the sad killer in "I Know What You Did Last Summer". The script features a plausible and ingenious twist near the end, which makes this series all the more admirably and entertaining.

This is my biggest guilty pleasure episode of the whole show. I'm not going to defend the episode as good because it's certainly not. But there is some good stuff in the episode. For instance the episode is very well made and has really good production value. And the idea of bringing in The Hookman is a good idea. But unfortunately they don't do anything knew with the legend. They repeat all of the legends about The Hookman. The main reason why I gave the episode a passing grade is because of nostalgia and if you just want to have fun. And if that's all you want then you'll probably have a good time watching the episode like I do.

One of the better lores and mysteries in supernatural.

In Iowa, while dating in a car parked nearby a river, the Theta Sorority pledge Lori Sorenson (Jane McGregor) and her boyfriend hear a sharp noise on the body and top of the car. When the boy leaves the car to see what is happening, he is attacked by an invisible being and killed. Dean and Sam decide to investigate the phenomenon in their hunting trip and arrive in the University of Iowa. When Lori's roommate is also attacked and murdered, the brothers realize that they have to face the evil and moralist Hook Man.

In spite of having some scaring moments, like for example when Lori reads on the wall "Aren't you glad you didn't turn on the light?", I found this episode one of the weakest of "Supernatural". My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Homem Gancho" ("Hook Man")

The show would eventually make much better use of theological themes than this is episode. It is not so much bad-it is an effective 80's style slasher-as underdeveloped. The ideas around religious zealotry and hypocrisy are mentioned and used to further the plot but not enough time is given to flesh them out. The college setting is also wasted as Sam doesn't spend enough time being wistful about the life he ends up missing.

I must say that the joke/trope of the boys getting thrown across the room only to drop their weapon is really, really used here way too much. In retrospect it is quite funny in this episode.