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Blu-Ray : Highly Recommended
Ranking:
Release Date: October 7th, 2022 Movie Release Year: 2022

Werewolf By Night - Review

Overview -

Now that Avengers: Endgame has come and gone, it's time for a brand new phase in the MCU. Over the past couple of years, new heroes and villains have been making their way to the big and small screen, along with some new ways to tell their stories. Marvel's new Halloween horror special Werewolf By Night follows this trend giving MCU fans a great throwback to the vintage Universal Monsters of the '30s and '40s. Packed with some excellent practical effects, a fury of action and gore, and some truly funny moments, Werewolf By Night is a quick, highly entertaining Halloween special that has some good surprises. Highly Recommended!

Coming October 7th to Disney+

 

OVERALL:
Highly Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Length:
60
Release Date:
October 7th, 2022

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

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It's not every day that a brilliant and household-named film composer sits in the director's chair, but the powers that be over at Marvel have allowed the great Michael Giacchino to direct this movie special, which marks his first time in the director's chair of this caliber and checks that life-long dream of directing a movie. The result is a highly-entertaining black and white horror movie with tons of great elements combined for a classic, yet modern tale of monsters in the span of only sixty minutes.

Based on the Marvel Comic Book Marvel Spotlight from 1972, this movie adaptation centers around a group of monster hunters similar to The Avengers. But rather than fight a purple-skinned intergalactic menace, this group is strictly protecting humans from the scary monsters that go bump in the night. After their leader passes away, his widow invites the whole team to Bloodstone Manor and has them enter into a deadly competition where the winner will take hold of a powerful stone and become the new leader. Things don't go as planned when Jack Russell (Gael Garcia Bernal from Y Tu Mama Tambien, Old) and Elsa (Laura Donnelly) figure out what's behind this murderous competition.

It's no secret that Giacchino is a super-fan of movie scores, but he's also in love with cinema itself and it shows in his directorial debut Werewolf By Night. He's made this great MCU film all in black and white and with mostly practical effects, just like how everyone did all those decades ago. The werewolf here pays great homage to the original Wolf-Man and his makeup applications, as do the other monsters, including the incredible Man-Thing. The fight choreography is simply phenomenal and falls in line with the best of the other Marvel films and goes a step further with its violence. Since the film is in black and white, there is more room for gore and blood, since colors will not show the gooeyness in red or green.

 

Video Review

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Audio Review

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Special Features

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Final Thoughts

Performances are pitch-perfect all around for this type of old-school film and the iconic Marvel movie humor is intact playing out like a small episode of Guardians of the Galaxy. In fact, don't cross out a rumor that the Werewolf By Night characters would show up in a future Guardians film. It's that same type of comedy. This is a great start to what seems to be a yearly movie special that covers these characters for horror fans. It's a blast, quickly paced, and a ton of fun. Even though there is not a lot of time to really get to know the characters in the span of one hour, there will no doubt be future films to come that will highlight what everyone missed this time around. In the end, Werewolf By Night is exquisitely entertaining and winks at those vintage Universal Monsters in the best of ways. Highly Recommended!

Coming October 7th to Disney+