I have briefly discussed Marvel’s ability to bring people back to the movies and the “lack of risk” critics like Martin Scorsese claim about their films. One of its newest installments, Werewolf by Night (2022), directed by award-winning composer, Michael Giacchino, proved to be a pleasant Halloween treat that opened Marvel to more independent, artistic endeavors. Based on the comics of the same title, initially released in 1972, Werewolf by Night follows a group of monster hunters who meet one dark night after the death of their leader. The attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for the powerful bloodstone. This hunt ultimately brings them face to face with a dangerous monster. Taking inspiration from the classic horror films of the 1930s and 1940s, Giacchino brings an entertaining stand-alone experience to the Marvel cinematic universe. 

I’ll be honest: this film was not on my radar until a friend mentioned it to me in passing. We were more interested in Giacchino’s celebration of horror classics than the story itself. Upon watching the film, the cinematic history proved as entertaining as the actual plot. As Giacchino explained in an interview, the film celebrated the limitations of early filmmaking, including borrowed sets and a lack of special effects. He chose to present the film as if it were shot on actual prints, including an almost completely black-and-white picture with the details of scratched celluloid and the sync marks in the upper right-hand corner of the frame. He also had his star werewolf put into makeup and costume rather than following the Marvel tradition of using SFX. 

The film introduced Jack Russell (Gael García Bernal) and Elsa Bloodstone ( Laura Donnelly) in a relatively tight story about a hunt, a hidden monster, and complicated pasts. In a way, I agree with criticisms that the fifty-three-minute special fell in between a short film and a feature-length film. However, Giacchino creatively intertwined classic techniques with new ones in an independent project that I would consider ambitious given Marvel’s rock-solid universe that has been going since 2011. The film, most likely from its length, lacked solid character development and left many stones unturned, but I was entertained. This could be the beginning of Marvel’s exploration of independent storytelling. I am excited to see if they continue to dive deeper into the horror genre. 

Review Courtesy of Sara Ciplickas