I’m rotting for you monsters of the MCU.
I’ve been excited for the supernatural side of the MCU since Wandavision. Granted, we haven’t gotten much since then so I was stoked when Werewolf By Night was announced like three weeks ago.
I knew a little bit about the character before watching the special but overall, not much about the monster side of this world.
Header Credit: Marvel
The Hunt Decides
Right from the start, we know this is a Marvel Special Presentation and the opening Marvel logo is changed with werewolf slashes causing it to turn black and white and with a darker version of the Marvel theme.
Then we’re given an introduction into the monster/supernatural world that exists with the MCU and to the Bloodstone, a magical stone that can not only reveal monsters, but control and harm them. The stone belonged to a monster hunter, Ulysses Bloodstone, but after his death, someone new needs to hold that title.
This is where the monster hunters come in, all looking to become the owner of the Bloodstone, but in order, must go on a monster hunt.
I’m Rotting For You
The director, Michael Giacchino, said that he wanted this one time special to be something you can re-watch at Halloween like Charlie Brown. However, I can see myself watching this any time during the year, multiple times, because I had so much fun. Early reviews really set a high expectation and Werewolf by Night didn’t disappoint.
As for violence, it’s definitely up there in terms of Marvel movies. They can get away with the blood since it’s in black and white but that doesn’t take away from the fight scenes and deaths, which are more gruesome.
The characters we’re supposed to care about do a good job of making us care about them. In just 54 minutes, we got enough backstory to understand where they’re coming from, but it wasn’t bloated with exposition. There are jokes but not constant. It felt like the right amount while also keeping it’s tone.
It also does a great job at setting up tension right before something big happens.
Overall
My only complaint is now that I’ve been introduced to this world, I want to see more of it and I don’t know how long it’s going to be until that happens again. This part of the MCU has been untouched until this point and it’s so refreshing to see something different and not just superheroes and aliens all of the time.
Again, I like the supernatural in general so I was already excited, but it ended up becoming one of my favorite things to come out of this phase. It hit at the right time when so many people have been complaining about Marvel movies and shows and this does show that they can pull off something different while using very minimal CGI.
It does a good job of giving off an old monster movie vibe while giving you the violence and campiness and the vibe of a Marvel movie. Also, no surprise since Michael Giacchino is a composer, the music is great.
Werewolf By Night is one of my favorite things to come out this year and hopefully, the MCU can keep up this momentum.
Quibbles and Scribbles 
Haven’t seen it yet, but hope to get to it in the next day or so. I am also wondering when we’ll see these “monster” elements incorporated into the big-picture MCU, because I do think it would be a great addition.
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