“Werewolf by Night” pays tribute to classic horror.
The stunning, spooky Marvel one-shot captures that Old Hollywood feel.
The Short Take:
A love letter to Old Hollywood horror, “Werewolf by Night” offers a dazzlingly spooky atmosphere and a fun, self-contained story. Certainly gory, but with more heart than fright.
Image Credit: LA Times
[This review will be SPOILER FREE until the very end. No jump scares here; I will warn you in advance.]
The Long Take:
“Werewolf by Night” is dripping in ambience. Also blood.
As an unabashed Disney Parks fanatic, I will eternally associate the spookiness of the Halloween season with Old Hollywood because of the ride formerly known as The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The haunting echoes of big band tunes emanating from an old Victrola. Art Deco buildings with lavish furniture. The occult. Hitchcockian suspense. Glamorous horror. Horrific glamor.
Some of the most iconic monster movies of all time came out of this early Old Hollywood era of the 1930s and 40s. There are many, but the ones that come to my mind are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, and Dracula, which all came out in 1931, as well as The Invisible Man in 1933 and, most pertinently, The Wolf Man 1941. All in black and white, and all featuring a monster or a man who becomes monstrous.
The Wolf Man (1941)
Image Credit: The Hollywood Reporter
“Werewolf by Night” is a stunningly shot homage to these films. Long time composer and first time director Michael Giacchino luxuriates in high contrast shadows and silhouettes. We frequently see front-lit close ups and medium shots. The set design exhibits an impressive attention to stylish detail, yet there is a stark geometry to every setting. It all contributes to this je ne sais quoi vintage feeling that I gobbled up.
Image Credit: The Hollywood Reporter
Unfortunately, I’m not sure Marvel/Disney knows how to properly market this “Special Presentation.” The opening credits do harken back to bygone decades, with the technicolor stripes bouncing around the screen at the opening. But the genre of “Werewolf by Night” itself is from a different, much older bygone era. For those who didn’t watch television in the 70s and 80s, the reference to a “Special Presentation” may be meaningless, as TV specials are going the way of the dodo along with network television. But they can’t call it a series because it’s one of one. At 54 minutes, it’s too short to call a film. To me, it makes the most sense to think of it as a “one-shot” comic book adapted to the screen.
The trailer made this one-shot seem a lot more like pure horror, a lot scarier than it actually is. Regular readers of The Long Take likely know by now that I am a total scaredy cat when it comes to the horror genre. I like my entertainment spooky, creepy, atmospheric, and suspenseful, but I can’t handle most legit slasher films or full on horror films with jump scares. “Werewolf by Night” was perfect for me. I felt properly spooked but didn’t think I had to sleep with the lights on — far from it. So as not to spoil anything, I will vaguely say that the tone shifts from intense and suspenseful to relatively funnier and more heartwarming. I did not see that coming at all, but I enjoyed it. This is certainly the least MCU thing that Marvel has done, but I could still see tonal continuity in the light of day.
There are, however, very graphic and gory scenes sprinkled throughout, especially by the MCU’s standards. And that’s by virtue of “Werewolf by Night”’s premise. A secret society of monster hunters gather to mourn the death of their leader, Arthur Bloodstone. He possessed a coveted mystical artifact — very creatively named The Bloodstone — and his last wishes are that all the monster hunters gather for a ritual hunt. The one who kills the monster let loose on the Bloodstone estate will inherit the stone. I thought that Giacchino and company did a superb job establishing a rich and robust world in such a short amount of time. Each hunter looks very cool and unique, and I want to know more about this secret society. If you’re a fan of Netflix’s The Witcher (as I am), you’ll be into this too.
In contrast to the graphic violence, Giacchino also employs the classic horror technique of heightening the fright by implying rather than showing. Our imaginations often outdo anything a filmmaker can commit to the screen, and I appreciated that he took advantage of that. One scene displays a fight entirely through shadows on a wall. And a close up on the screaming face of Arthur Bloodstone’s wife, Verusa (featured below), was particularly effective. As an aside, the actress who plays Verusa, Harriet Sansom Harris, really understood the assignment. The whole cast is great, but she most embodied the over-the-top acting style of classic black and white horror films of yore.
Image Credit: LA Times
In short, this was a delightful Halloween viewing experience. If you’re a Marvel fan and planned to skip this, I’d reconsider. And, similarly, if you’re an old school horror fan but aren’t that into Marvel, I’d give this a chance.
[Boo! Here’s the SPOILER SECTION of this review, which speculates about how, if at all, “Werewolf by Night” might plug into the wider MCU.]
….
I don’t pretend to know much about Man-Thing or “Ted,” but I certainly did not expect him to appear in “Werewolf by Night.” Props must go to my partner, Jon, for identifying Ted as Man-Thing almost immediately. Once he showed me the image of a Man-Thing comic book cover, our tentacled pal looked more familiar. By the end, Ted became my favorite character in the story. The rapport he has with both Jack and Elsa was adorable, and very functional. I cared more about them because they cared about Ted.
Ted’s role in the story, as the misunderstood monster who doesn’t really want to hurt anyone, pushes “Werewolf by Night” past the horror genre and into more complex territory. It feels heavily inspired by some of Guillermo del Toro’s work because he too has a deep love for classic Universal monster movies — he has a giant Frankenstein’s monster head in the foyer of his “Bleak House” — and yet he riffs on the genre, often building empathy for the monster back into the story. The Shape of Water (2017) and Hellboy (2004) come to mind. My go-to Marvel comics expert, Colby, noted that Jack seemed “smarter and less wild” than in the select comics he had read, which fits in with this shift from classic horror to GdT-inspired classic horror 2.0.
Image Credit: Collider
Regardless of Giacchino’s inspiration, I want to see more with Jack, Elsa, and Ted. I would be happy with a monster hunter turned monster rescue spin-off series.
[Mild spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Eternals ahead. But really, if you’re still here, do I need to give you a spoiler warning for that?]
Image Credit: Marvel.com
Looking more broadly to the MCU, though, it’s more likely that we would see these characters again in the context of a team-up with other spooky Marvel characters. In the comics, there is a team of supernatural heroes (or anti-heroes, depending on your point of view) called the Midnight Sons. Looking at the line-up, I would guess that an MCU version of this team could include Jack, Elsa, and Ted, as well as Moon Knight, who first appeared in “Werewolf by Night” #32 in 1975, Blade, who will get a film eventually (after they work out who’s directing it), Wong (Wongeeerrrrs!), and Morbius (yikes).
Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch appear on the roster of past members, and since the Darkhold has appeared in the MCU and appears to be part of some of the Midnight Sons storylines, picking up where Multiverse of Madness left off to head towards the formation of this group might work. They’d have to substantially rehabilitate or replace Wanda Maximoff with a variant to make her a member and not a straight up villain (again).
Dane Whitman or The Black Knight, played by Kit Harrington in Eternals, could show up if Blade’s also there, since Mahershala Ali, who has been cast as Blade, speaks to Dane Whitman through the Ebony Blade in one of the post-credits scene in Eternals. (I actually almost forgot this.) So, as long as we’re speculating wildly, we might as well throw him in the mix too.
Even if Morbius shows up, I’ll be excited to see more spooky, supernatural stories in the MCU. “Werewolf by Night” did more for that than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did with twice the amount of time.