My biggest problem with Werewolf by Night is that there isn’t enough of it. Marvel Studios’ first ever Halloween special, directed by Michael Giacchino (yes, that Michael Giacchino), is an over-the-top, beautifully violent, and delightfully playful distraction from the superhero fare and multiversal hijinks that is usually thrown our way. It runs at just 53 minutes and features some of the tightest storytelling to come out of the MCU in years.
The plot here is a marvelous little throwback. Ulysses Bloodstone is dead. And his widow Verusa has gathered the greatest monster hunters from all over the realm to pay their respects and engage in one final hunt to honor their fallen lord. As they gather in a drawing room that’s adorned with the mounted heads of slain monsters, the reanimated corpse of Ulysses reveals that the winner of this hunt will be the new owner of a most precious Marvel MacGuffin: the ruby red Bloodstone.
The doors are opened and the hunters are lead out to a maze. The contest begins. One of them is not who they seem. And neither is the monster that they’re hunting. Blood is spilled, hands are chopped off, alliances are formed, and secrets are revealed.
Breaking the Code
Based on the comic book of the same name, this is the MCU’s first real excursion outside the domain of men and women in tights. Back in the 1970s, the Comics Code Authority began to lift many of their content restrictions, thus paving the way for monsters to return to newsstands alongside the likes Spider-Man and the Avengers. It allowed Marvel to once again dabble in the macabre and create a series of epic tales featuring some of the most well-known horror archetypes around. Some of which would go on to become important keystones in the Marvel Universe. The Tomb of Dracula would introduce us to Blade. Werewolf by Night would see the first appearance of Moon Knight.
Like Blade and Moon Knight, Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night, isn’t strictly a superhero. These characters hail from another corner of the Marvel Universe. A darker place that is populated by ghouls and dragons, were-beasts and vampires. It’s where the spirit realm converges with the real world. It’s home to all of the monsters that go bump in the night.
Growing up, reading these comics always felt a lot more exciting. They were forbidden fruit. They were gory, and gruesome, and ever slightly more grown up. Jack Russell had some real problems. He was dealing with the attempted murder of his mother, a family curse, and a potentially wicked stepfather, all while having to fight off issue after issue of crazies who desperately wanted to get their hands on the Darkhold. (Yes, that Darkhold!) This wasn’t Peter Parker and his friendly neighborhood struggles. This was serious stuff.
It is that exact feeling that Michael Giacchino manages to capture with this hourlong (ish) feature. Werewolf by Night breaks free from the MCU mold and runs amok. Giacchino shrugs off almost all the usual trademarks to deliver a magnificently desaturated adult outing that is steeped in blood and dismemberment. This is a movie that is unafraid to lean into everything that it is.
Beware, Here Be Monsters!
Werewolf by Night is a faithful homage to both The Twilight Zone and all of the Universal monster movies of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. But it is also more than just a love letter to genre. Giacchino doesn’t just shoot this in black and white and call it a day. The production design is rich in detail, forsaking CGI for practical effects, while embracing an old school cinematography. Jack Russell’s werewolf transformation, a callback to John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London, is just glorious. The lighting work mirrors those classic creature features, playing with shadow, and creating a real sense of lurking danger.
There is also a genuine focus on character. Despite its anaemic runtime, writers Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron have managed to craft a trio of lead characters who have established histories and believable motivations. Gael García Bernal brings to Jack Russell a humour and pathos that feels lifted directly from pages of the comic book. Laura Donnelly is ruthless, and sultry, and mysterious, and everything Elsa Bloodstone should be. And Harriet Sansom Harris is delightfully unhinged as Verusa.
In an impressive act of storytelling, Michael Giacchino has managed to successfully balance horror and comedy, with some exceptional action sequences, and a little romance (and bromance) thrown in for good measure. Werewolf by Night feels so damn accomplished it belies the fact that it is his directorial debut.
A Glorious Exercise in Camp
Here’s the thing. The Marvel Studios of today is very different from the one that gave us the first Iron Man movie. Would they cast a Robert Downey Jr. as their lead today? Would they hand over one of their tentpoles to a television director with little to no feature experience? There’s just too much at stake. So much so that the corporate had begun to slowly but surely creep into their product. There was something of a templated feel to a lot of what we’ve seen in Phase 4 and I had become concerned that their unprecedented critical and commercial success had made them risk averse.
I needn’t have worried. Thor: Love and Thunder, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and now Werewolf by Night, is proof that Marvel is still capable of whimsy. They’re looking to experiment. To play. To indulge in the quaint and the fanciful. Kevin Feige and company are calling Werewolf by Night “A Marvel Studios Special Presentation.” Here’s hoping it’s the first of many.
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