Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Gael García Bernal, Laura Donnelly, Harriet Sansom Harris, Kirk R. Thatcher
Intro:
… a genial and gory piece of entertainment that exhibits a lot of love for what it homages and also brings a few lesser yet interesting comic characters to the fore.
Feted composer Michael Giacchino turns his hand to directing in a snappy creature feature in the Marvel Studios direct to streaming special Werewolf by Night. Harkening back to a Universal Monsters aesthetic by primarily filming in black and white, Giacchino and production designer Maya Shimoguchi create a delicious visual palette for Marvel’s first foray into horror (we will ignore Sony’s Morbius).
An elite group of monster hunters have been assembled at the funeral of venerated hunter Ulyssess Bloodstone. We are given a small connection to the wider Marvel universe in a brief overlook at how The Avengers took on the visible threats while Bloodstone’s hunters have for centuries been fighting the world of scary creatures. Amongst the hunters are Jack Russell (Gael García Bernal) and Ulysses’ estranged daughter Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly). Ulysses’ widow and Elsa’s stepmother, Versua (Harriet Sansom Harris) reveals Bloodstone’s plan; a hunt for a monster that will decide who will take ownership of the powerful Bloodstone, which has properties that can weaken a monster but also prolong the life of the one who wields it. It’s Ulysses’ animated corpse that delivers the challenge from an upright coffin and manages to throw in a couple of jokes into the proceedings.
Bloodstone Manor itself is a creepy throwback, lined with the heads of creatures that Bloodstone’s cabal has managed to kill. The hunters look impressive, although apart from Elsa and Jack, only one seems to get any lines, the Scottish hunter Jovan (Kirk R. Thatcher). He compliments Jack on his face paint, which Jack replies is to honour his ancestors. The hunt proceeds and alliances are formed and the truth of who Jack is and why he is there is revealed. It’s not exactly a twist as the film is called Werewolf by Night and anyone who is familiar with Marvel’s ‘Legion of Monsters’ series will know the character. For those who aren’t, it’s still not much of a twist despite Jack being quietly circumspect at the gathering.
Competition for ownership of the Bloodstone (incidentally the only aspect of much of the film that is in colour with its pulsing red energy) is fierce, so much so that the hunters are equally willing to dispatch other hunters in their pursuit of the monster on the estate grounds. The monster being hunted is Man-Thing, a precursor to (by a matter of months) DC’s similar Swamp Thing. Man-Thing, or Ted as he was, is Jack’s friend and the reason Jack attended the funeral – to liberate his comrade.
Elsa and Jack form a loose alliance as neither really wants to kill the other. Elsa is there, much to the displeasure of Verusa, to claim her rightful inheritance. However, she has no issue with violently dispatching the other hunters who come at her – there is a brutal amount of monochrome gore. Elsa is canny and witty, trading one liners with Jack (would this even be a Marvel production if there weren’t a bunch of one liners?). Jack is not a great hunter, in fact it’s a miracle that he manages to survive at all, but his bumbling nature is charming against the cold-blooded hunters he’s facing. It’s also one of the ways scribes Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron highlight his innate humanity as they set up the question of who the “monsters” really are.
Jack and Elsa manage to wrest the Bloodstone from Man-Thing’s back and facilitate his escape, but when Jack reaches down to pick it up it outs him as a monster, a werewolf. He ends up caged with Elsa by Verusa and the remaining hunters as well as some military equipped acolytes. Jack tries to reassure Verusa that he won’t hurt her as he ensures he contains the werewolf within by locking himself away at the full moon. Elsa has to explain that the Bloodstone can make him turn at any time.
Giacchino favours a throwback feel for the film and this is also represented in Jack’s werewolf form. Instead of covering his face with fur and obscuring the human part of him, the makeup is reminiscent of the classic Universal feature 1941’s The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr. Practical effects and CGI are merged deftly in the film, from the design of Man-Thing to Bloodstone Manor and its grounds. Lauren Rosenbloom’s art direction gives cinematographer Zoe White a stunning canvas to work with.
If there is a downside to the special, it’s the brief runtime, which gives the audience barely any time to get to know Jack and Elsa beyond the bond they form while fighting. Elsa’s backstory is a bit more straightforward, in that we understand that she has parted ways with her father and his methods, but beyond being called a shame and disappointment by true believer Verusa, we can only infer that Elsa saw her father as a zealot of some kind. We know almost nothing about Jack and his heritage, which considering he’s the protagonist of the piece is disappointing. Gael García Bernal develops a decent rapport with Laura Donnelly, but it’s his scenes with the non-verbal Man-Thing that sing loudest.
Werewolf by Night is an entertaining homage to an era of filmmaking that thrilled audiences and in fact created its own cinematic universe. Being a Marvel property means that the special may not be a stand-alone event. The door is open now for the company to explore its own “Dark Universe” and if Giacchino’s effort is anything to go by, it will be a welcome addition. Even if it exists as a one-off, it is a genial and gory piece of entertainment that exhibits a lot of love for what it homages and also brings a few lesser yet interesting comic characters to the fore. If only it were just a bit longer so we could fully savour the experience.
