In “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness,” there are a handful of jump scares and some pretty horrific deaths by Marvel standards, but the MCU blockbuster directed by “Evil Dead” creator Sam Raimi isn’t a true horror movie, if only on its own, as it’s all pretty bloodless for the sake of age rating. With “Werewolf By Night”, Marvel is now taking big steps towards horror, because the Avengers universe has never been so gory, brutal and scary!
If you want to convince yourself You can stream Werewolf By Night on Disney+ starting today, October 7, 2022. The nearly 60-minute film is a so-called Marvel Studios Special Presentation and officially part of the MCU, but has not much to do with it (so far).
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“Werewolf By Night” was directed by Michael Giacchino, who most may know better as a film score composer (“Oben”, “Star Trek”, “Rogue One”). And Giacchino really blows off steam: “Werewolf By Night” is an almost completely black and white tribute to the classic horror film from the 1930s to the 1960s with lots of bizarre humor, handmade werewolf effects and some surprisingly gory violent moments.
Not only quite unusual fare by MCU standards, but with which you can have a lot of fun – assuming you’re not expecting a bombastic Marvel blockbuster with countless allusions and Easter eggs and you may have even seen some of the horror classics Giacchino cites.
That’s why we gave “Werewolf By Night” a good 3.5 out of 5 stars: “The combination of gory horror, creepy creatures, action worth watching and successful jokes in the best Marvel way generally works surprisingly well” , says in our FILMSTARTS review, for example:
And that’s what Werewolf By Night is all about: Jack Russell (Gael García Bernal) is a guest at the memorial service for the recently deceased monster hunter legend Ulysses Bloodstone. There he meets several other fighters, including Ulysses’ daughter Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly), who soon threaten to discover his secret:
Jack is not a monster hunter at all, but a werewolf and wants to free the creature that must be killed as part of a ceremonial hunt at the funeral. Those who can do this will be rewarded with the powerful Bloodstone that Ulysses previously possessed…