Werewolf By Night

Sneaky Marvel. This just snuck out to Disney+ with little fanfare, but what a nice surprise it was. I remember seeing a trailer for this a while back and then instantly forgot about it. Being as we're in Halloween season, it's perfect timing. Let me get right to it.

This is the Marvel short we didn't know we needed. It was a lot of fun. It harkens back to the old days of monster films. It's in black and white for the most part, with pops of color here and there to accentuate things. There's the cigarettes burns in the top right corner of the screen as if it was on a projector. The way some of the shots are framed and just the general vibe of it had an old monster feel. However, the action and special effects were not. There was some great hand to hand action mixed in here and that kind of stuff is my bread and butter. There were legitimate moments that made me go, "Oh SHIT", which is the space I like to be in when I see some cool martial arts moves come out of nowhere.

The horror side of Marvel I know very little about. It's not my cup of tea, but I can appreciate some aspects of it from afar. I didn't know anything about the Werewolf by night character, nor did I care. You get what you get here and I thought it was great. I know just a little more about Elsa Bloodstone because they've been trying to give her a push the past few years, including her in video games and more appearances in the comics. She's a certifiable bad ass and shows that here. All of the actors are perfectly mysterious and acted well.

We also get a very cool appearance by Man-Thing, the not Swamp Thing of the Marvel Universe. He looks really good here and I liked that he is used sparingly. Just enough that it makes you want more in the future. I just hope he doesn't get overused like Groot. 

What I really appreciate about this short is that they drop you in the action and you find out a few pieces about the characters as you go. Really it's about a game to win a prize and how cutthroat everyone is in getting it. That's it. For something like this, it is perfect. The musical score is also very appropriate. There's a bit with a tuba and flames to announce when a participant has entered the maze that I loved. Chilling! I highly recommend checking this out for Halloween. At just under an hour, it is the perfect bite sized chunk of content we all need. I wish more things were presented and wrapped up so neatly like this. 

My hope is that this is opening the door to some form of Midnight Suns. A team of Elsa, Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night is a good start. Perhaps Blade can be added at some point and a version of Ghost Rider. We'll see, but if Marvel wants to start dipping into the horror side of their catalog, I'm here for it.