Review: Werewolf by Night (2022)

Werewolf by Night (Short Film)

Rating

Director

Michael Giacchino

Screenplay

Heather Quinn, Peter Cameron

Length

52m

Starring

Gael Garcia Bernal, Laura Donnelly, Harriet Sansom Harris, Kirk R. Thatcher, Eugenie Bondurant, Leonardo Nam, Daniel J. Watts, Al Hamacher, Carey Jones, David Silverman, Rick Wasserman, Richard Dixon

MPAA Rating

TV-14

Review

With the formula of the Marvel Cinematic Universe becoming stagnant, Disney’s output has been trying on new styles for its streaming productions with shows like WandaVision and What If…? trying new things successfully. Werewolf by Night is one of the more recent such offerings and it’s not like much else Marvel fans have seen so far.

Clocking in at a little less than an hour, the MCU treated Disney+ viewers to a comic adaptation that takes on the visuals of an old Hollywood monster movie. It stars Gael García Bernal, Laura Donnelly, and Harriet Sansom Harris.

The premise is simple, a group of five of the most prominent monster hunters arrive at the foreboding estate of the late Ulysses Bloodstone, the possessor of an ancient red gem called the Bloodstone. Its powers aren’t fully explained in the short, but that isn’t necessary to know in order to follow the events on display. Ulysses’ widow Verussa (Harris) has called the hunters together for a competition to see who can kill the monster at the center of an elaborate maze and become their group’s new leader. Ulysses’ estranged daughter Elsa (Donnelly) arrives to crash the hunt and become one of the contestants against an array of talented hunters, including García Bernal who plays the secretive Jack Russell.

Largely employing practical effects, longtime Disney composer Michael Giacchino takes up the mantle of director and presents a film that is a tribute to those old Universal monster movies the likes of which have rarely been seen in decades. García Bernal is always wonderful to watch and he does solid work here as does Donnelly while Harris is given plenty of latitude to make her archetypal villain drip with hostility and venom. While the film is engaging and evokes the spirit of those old horror masterpieces, there’s something emotionally missing in the short, which prevents it from being an unparalleled effort.

We come to care more about the monster at the center of the maze than we do for any individual character with García Bernal the most relatable of the cast. Written by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron, the script is filled with winks and nods to classic horror films, which Giacchino lovingly evokes with his black-and-white pallet. Cinematographer Zoë White captures gorgeous interiors cloaked in deep shadows, employing techniques common to a long gone era. The only dip in production quality is a scene late in the film that relies on flashing light and darkness to evoke the horror on screen without showing it. Those moments are a bit too clean and chaotic to be more than distracting.

It’s nice to see Disney striking out in unique directions, especially when the big screen universe is struggling to regain its inventive stride. That Werewolf by Night was relegated to their streaming service is a disappointment, but for those who have access, it’s well worth seeking out. Warts and all.