Review: Marvel's 'Werewolf by Night' is a delicious throwback to old-school monster movies
It’s getting increasingly difficult for anything with a Marvel Studios logo to surprise us, but “Werewolf by Night” — billed as a “Marvel Studios Special Presentation,” like it was an old Charlie Brown cartoon — manages to deliver the unexpected several times during its hourlong run.
On a dark night, a gaggle of mercenary monster hunters have gathered at the mansion of one Ulysses Bloodstone, to mark his death and to earn the right to carry Ulysses’ family talisman, the bloodstone. The rules, as explained by Ulysses’ second wife, Verussa (Harriet Sansom Harris), are simple: The bloodstone will be attached to a monster, which will make it stronger but also put it in pain, and let loose on the grounds — and the first hunter who can bring the beast down can claim the stone.
Most of the hunters know each other, and can compare notes on the number of kills they have completed. Two people in attendance, though, don’t come off as your regular mercenaries. One is Ulysses’ estranged daughter, Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly), back to claim her birthright from her stepmother, Verussa. The other is, we eventually find out, is named Jack (Gael García Bernal), and he claims he’s responsible for more than 100 kills — but he doesn’t brag about it the way the other hunters do.
Once the hunt starts, screenwriters Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron drop some bombshells on the audience, and eventually we know everything we need to know about the Jack, Elsa, the monster, the hunt and the bloodstone.
In this case, getting there is most of the fun, as Jack and Elsa reluctantly join forces to make it through the night alive. Movie composer Michael Giacchino makes his feature directing debut, and he creates a brooding, black-and-white atmosphere inspired by the classic monster movies of old — where shadows show transformations from human to beast, and sometimes from human to pile of dismembered meat. The callbacks to “Frankenstein” and “The Wolf Man” are clever, and don’t get in the way of the cleverly choreographed fight scenes.
There’s a lot that happens that I’m not describing, because I don’t want to ruin your fun as the story unfolds. I will say this: “Werewolf by Night” is a celebratory throwback to old-school horror movies, one that’s so exhilarating that you’ll hope the powers that be at Marvel make more in the franchise.
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‘Werewolf by Night’
★★★1/2
Starts streaming Friday, October 7, on Disney+. Rated TV-14. Running time: 52 minutes.