Arriving on Disney’s streaming service as Marvel Studios’ first Special Presentation is Werewolf By Night. With over 50 installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from feature-length films to television, one may wonder. Just what exactly is a Special Presentation? Presumably, it’s a studio banner to serve as an umbrella for more tonally adventurous additions to the MCU. While critical naysayers debate whether or not the MCU has destroyed cinema. Or Disney has conquered pop culture, this banner might be the studio’s saving grace. Or an interesting development at the very least.
With an hour runtime, Werewolf By Night is too crowded for a short but too light for a feature film. Thankfully, it’s built around a fairly simple premise.
Following the death of an underworld-renowned monster hunter, Ulysses Bloodstone, an elite group of slayers are assembled to compete for his legacy. These would-be successors are tasked with hunting both a supernatural entity and maybe each other. Included in the group is Ulysses’ own estranged daughter Elsa, there against the family’s wishes to claim what’s rightfully hers. Unknown to the group, there is a monster lurking among them. Elsa and this group of conspicuous slayers will spend most of the cold, dreary night fighting tooth and nail. Uncovering secrets of the Bloodstone estate while surviving attacks of both man and beast.
First and foremost, Werewolf By Night is visually striking and quite possibly the most interesting stylistic choice of the greater MCU.
Directed by legendary composer Michel Giacchino (Star Wars: Rogue One, The Batman) and shot by cinematographer Zoe White (The Handmaid’s Tale, Westworld), Werewolf By Night is a love letter to the silver age of monster movies. Not only black and white but exposition and framing shots are filmed in such a way as to take advantage of a smaller screen. Not out of necessity but to look closer to films such as Frankenstein or The Wolfman. Adding to the stylistic flair is fuzzy lighting and screen debris selling the idea that this is, in fact, an old creature feature and not a big-budget Disney film. At its core, Werewolf By Night is a straight-up horror film.
While there’s plenty of the MCU’s almost self-aware dry humor, all the performances are presented in a psuedo-wooden style as if the actors come straight from a stage production. Both tough and tortured, lead actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Laura Donnelly, have a classic, early Hollywood vibe that illuminates each scene they’re in. Supporting roles from Harriet Sansom Harris and Kirk Thatcher ham it enough to reach Hammer Films levels. A nice addition to the otherwise brooding and dreary storytelling.
Being directed and scored by Giacchino, it’s no surprise Werewolf By Night excels in the sound department.
Much like John Carpenter and Halloween, the correlation between sound and tension is astonishing. During dialogue-heavy scenes, you could hear a pin drop. But during scenes of action and horror, the orchestral score swells with gasps and shrills. Obviously, classic horror movie composers of the silver age were a major influence on Giacchino just as much as cinematography.
Speaking of horror, Werewolf By Night is easily the most violent of all MCU endeavors. To my surprise, limbs are severed, throats slashed, and bodies incinerated. Of course, being shot in black and white means the film isn’t as stomach-churning as it sounds. Shockingly, Werewolf By Night is far more gratuitous than you would expect for Disney Plus and it rarely turns away. One particular scene involving a battle sword sinking into a person’s forehead is one I thought I’d never see in a Disney production!
But visuals and audio aside, where does Werewolf By Night fit in the grand scheme of things?
One of the biggest complaints of MCU-related television is awkward pacing. Shows like WandaVision and Hawkeye felt like really long movies cut down to episodes. While others like Ms.Marvel and Falcon & The Winter Soldier spent far too long on paper-thin stories. The Special Presentation moniker could be used as a way to find a good balance between exposition and action. It’s obvious the characters of Werewolf By Night will show up again somewhere down the road. But now we know enough about them that any scene in a film or episode won’t be bogged down by their introductions.
As for Werewolf By Night itself? If anything, it’s an interesting one-off introducing a supernatural side of the MCU.
Elements and characters that will fit in beautifully when they inevitably introduce the likes of Blade, Black Knight, or any of the Midnight Sons. But even if you aren’t interested in any MCU projects, past or present, Werewolf By Night is a wonderful love letter to a sub-genre of films of a bygone era. We’ve seen a resurgence of slasher and possession horror in Hollywood as of late, so why not the classic monsters? As the MCU looks to be embracing the weirder side of its brand, perhaps that’s been the plan all along.
Whether you’re a diehard MCU fan filling the void between cinematic exploits, or a casual horror fan wanting a breezy romp for the weekend, Werewolf By Night is just what the doctor ordered. Strange or otherwise…
Werewolf By Night is currently streaming on Disney Plus.
