This was another vintage but obscure British horror TV series soon to be revived on DVD by the BFI; as with DEAD OF NIGHT (1972; TV), I came across two episodes on "You Tube" and opted to include them in the current Halloween Challenge. Here, we get the well-worn theme of lycanthropy, albeit played out in mystery terms – with the titular figure (Billie Whitelaw, who had just scored as the evil Mrs. Baylock in THE OMEN {1976}) even constituting something of an old world femme fatale. The plot, in fact, deals with Countess Ilona extending an invitation to four ex-lovers to spend the night at her country estate; the three who turn up all have different but distinguished professions and temperaments: these include perennially famished arms dealer Ian Hendry and handsome musical virtuoso John Fraser (from the successively-viewed A STUDY IN TERROR {1965}), one of which ultimately falls prey to the inevitable attack by the werewolf. For the record, the protagonist also has a son kept all the time in his room upstairs under the watchful eye of an old local woman; the whole, too, is bookended by a man (Sandor Eles) recounting the tale at some exclusive club. Here, we are basically treated to a Gothic fairy-tale, with the order of the day being mistrust, confession and retribution; the end result is undeniably engaging and reasonably stylish (given the limitations of the medium)
except that I then realized, to my obvious consternation, that this was actually only half a film – as events would segue into the next episode, namely "The Werewolf Reunion", and which I have been unable to track down at this juncture...but will, hopefully, remedy that once the DVD is released!