Werewolf By Night Is Retro Fun – Maybe To A Fault
Marvey Studios’ first Disney+ special is Werewolf By Night, based on the comic book character Jack Russell who first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #2 in 1972. This one-shot special premiers tomorrow, Oct. 7. Below is my spoiler-free review of this seasonally appropriate mini-movie.
The show starts with an exposition dump that, since it doesn’t spoil anything, I’ll explain. The monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone has died, leaving the leadership of a clandestine group of monster hunters up for grabs. That position is decided by a monster hunt in the maze-like garden of the Bloodstone estate, and whoever kills the unnamed monster gets to take possession of the magical jewel the Bloodstone. Any more description of the story setup will get into spoilers.
The show is almost exclusively shown in black and white with very few spots of color. But it is not the high contrast black and white of Sin City. It is designed to evoke the classic Universal monster movies from the 1930s and 1940s. In fact, everything about Werewolf By Night is supposed to make us think it is one of those movies. Like WandaVision before it, Werewolf By Night commits to its bit completely — the opening credit fonts and art style, the lighting, and even little split-second things that only people of my age who have friends who were movie projectionists would get.
Gael Garcia Bernal (Mozart In The Jungle, Coco) as Jack Russell is quite good, as is Lauren Donnelly (Outlander, The Nevers) as Elsa Bloodstone. Most of the rest of the cast are solid, with one surprising exception. Harriett Sansom Harris, a character actor with tons of experience in movies (Nurse Betty, Memento) and TV (Frasier, Desperate Housewives) plays Verusa Bloodstone, and is completely wrong for the role. Or, the first-time director Michael Giacchino allows her to make acting choices that widely miss the mark for the tone of the special. I’ve liked Harris in most things I’ve seen her in, Frasier particularly, but she is something to get past in this special to be able to enjoy everything else about it.
Speaking of director Giacchino, he is a composer for movies and TV, and wrote the very atmospheric music for Werewolf By Night. As a new director he does a decent job with the story and performances (above criticism aside), and absolutely nails the retro tone. In fact, that slavish devotion to making the special feel like a classic Universal monster movie is also its weakest aspect. Giacchino even includes what have to be deliberate production “mistakes” that wouldn’t be seen in any studio movie made after, say, 1960. Someone my age who grew up on those kinds of movies shown every Saturday on Monster Theater on a local TV channel would recognize them and — as I did — get a chuckle out of them. Many of the younger MCU fans might think they are actual mistakes.
Ultimately Werewolf By Night is enjoyable, and after a slow start becomes a tense and exciting action monster short film. Even with its minor problems it is a lot of fun, particularly as Bernal’s performance really gets rolling. At one point, he says a single word in response to a question, and Bernal puts an entire backstory of tragedy in that single word.
I give Werewolf By Night (Marvel Studios, TV-14, 52 mins) an 8 out of 10. I just wish it was a full-length feature film.
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