Marvel, a corporation known for its expansive film universe, has produced the television special, Werewolf by Night. Compared to the company’s bread-and-butter superhero movies, this is not one of these types of films. Instead, Marvel dishes up a horror flick that features — you guessed it– a werewolf.
This film is a welcome change from the formulaic Marvel pattern, and there are many good things about it. As there is with everything, there are also some not-as-favorable qualities, but the former heavily outweighs the latter.
In my opinion, one of the best aspects is the cinematography; it is absolutely astonishing. The entire movie is black and white and feels like a love letter to the classic Universal monsters of the 60s, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and their respective movies.
Werewolf by Night has no pacing issues, as it runs quite smoothly despite its surprising and less-than-average runtime of about 50 minutes. Due to this, the entire film is fast-paced, along with the character arcs and plot, because the characters in this are not preexisting from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As it stands now, Werewolf by Night is a completely independent film, a big change-up from the MCU, which heavily relies on preexisting characters.
While some modern Marvel fans may be surprised to see Marvel making non-superhero movies, the company has been doing things like this before they were even called Marvel. In the 1950s, when Marvel went by the name Atlas Comics, they created a lot of horror comics, including ones featuring Dracula, Frankenstein, and a werewolf. The comic Werewolf by Night is the origin of this movie. Following the recently released Marvel movie, this one feels fresh and unique.
Another approving part of the short film is that the acting and score were astounding. Every actor portrayed their role nearly perfectly, especially the main character, Elsa Bloodstone, played by Laura Donnelly. The score, written by Michael Giacchino, perfectly fits the film atmosphere and is another nod toward the classics. To wrap this up, you should definitely check Werewolf by Night out on Disney +, especially if you are looking for something new.
