Werewolf by Night was a novel concept.
The first-ever “Marvel Special Presentation” took a fairly fringe character steeped heavily in a realm barely treaded upon in the MCU and presented it as a 2022 Halloween spectacular that paid homage to the black and white Universal monster movies.
Despite all the gimmicks and bells and whistles attached to the special presentation, it was warmly received by the fanbase. The direction (and tender loving care) from Oscar-winning composter Michael Giacchino — in his first major directing role — was masterful. The performances from Gael Garcia Bernal and Laura Donnelly were wonderfully layered. The introduction of Man-Thing (aka Ted) captured our hearts and minds. The implementation of black and white not only paid homage to a bygone era of horror, but it heightened the explosions of violence. Everything became more gruesome and more intense as blood splatters hitting the camera — something we’d never see in a classic Universal monster movie, let alone a Marvel property.
So you can imagine the surprise and head-scratching that came with the announcement that there’d be a new version of the film released in October dubbed — Werewolf by Night in Color.
This truly seemed like the classic hat on a hat scenario. At first blush it seemed like a desperate grasping at straws to fill up the Halloween schedule for Disney+. Did they really need to gussy up an already excellent film by removing one of its most unique features?
Now Giacchino mentioned this decision was made to pay homage to another generation of horror filmmaking — Hammer Horror films. Initially this seemed like a “Yeah, sure thing, guy” type of statement. However, when you really sink your teeth into Werewolf by Night in Color, you’ll find that Giacchino’s decision was the 100% right one to make.
Super-saturating the film in color (something that he did at the end scene of the original film) allows Werewolf by Night in Color to have the same air of antiquity and cob web-strewn spookiness of the original. The vibe is feels like a midnight drive-in movie that was discovered in the archives and cleaned up for denizens of horror mavens.
The implementation of color, surprisingly, does not soften what made the black and white presentation so special. The horror and the violence feels just as visceral and actually slightly more chilling (particularly when Ted melts heads). The color also adds to the big maze-like set piece where Man Thing is hiding — allowing for the set to feel even more gigantic and convoluted. The color also heightens the absolute comedic absurdity of Bloodstone’s corpse delivering his final instructions. Giacchino’s risk definitely pays off here in full force.
Werewolf by Night in Color might seem like a “pass,” but it’s actually a delight Halloween treat for fans of the MCU. Here’s hoping that Giacchino’s wish to continue creating stories for Jack Russell, Man-Thing and Elsa Bloodstone comes true because these are three pretty terrific characters set in a wildly fascinating universe.
