Werewolf by Night

TV Series Review

Ask any child.

She knows.

She knows monsters lurk in the shadows. Under her bed. Deep in her closet. In the basement depths.

She knows what adults forget: Unspeakable terrors await those unfortunate enough to learn that some monsters are real.

Sure, the Thanoses and Lokis and Gorr the God Butchers of the multiverse tend to get top billing. After all, when they get mad, deities die. Planets explode. Trillions turn to dust.

It’s no wonder we pay attention to those villains. Their threats represent a clear and present danger to all that humanity cherishes.

Still: Those shadows. Those monsters. Lurking, waiting. Perhaps watching.  

What about them?

There Will Be Blood(stone)

While Thor and Iron Man and Captain Marvel and their ilk face off against galaxy-gobbling nemeses, other, less-well-known heroes face that metaphorical darkness in the basement. Bigfoot? Vampires? Chupacabras? Worse? They’re no match for those called to hunt monsters.

No such hunter is more famous than Ulysses Bloodstone, the owner of the fabled Bloodstone (from which his family takes its name). This supernatural crystal grants the hunter who possesses it strength, longevity and other mystical powers—important assets when facing the things that go bump in the night.

But Ulysses, alas, outlived the crystal’s ability to keep him alive. And the Bloodstone’s next owner, we learn, will be the monster hunter who can kill a wild creature soon to be released into the Bloodstone family compound’s huge, maze-like garden.

Each hunter hopes to eradicate the beast that already lurks somewhere in the garden’s depths. Most of these hunters have monikers that would make Nimrod himself proud: Jovan, Azarel, Liorn and Barasso.

Jack Russell, however, is a study in contrast. This slight, soft-spoken man’s demeanor wouldn’t seem to mark him as a monster killer. Yet here he is.

Then there’s Elsa Bloodstone, Ulysses’ estranged daughter. The Bloodstone had been her birthright. But she hasn’t been seen for years. Ulysses’ widow and Elsa’s stepmother, a bitter woman named Verussa, isn’t exactly happy to see her turn up at this precise moment. “You were the greatest disappointment of his life,” she spits. “Shame I didn’t turn out,” Elsa mocks.

Soon, the hunters will be unleashed to dispatch the screeching monstrosity in the garden. And each other, too, if necessary, Hunger Games-style. Because there can be only one winner here.

But a big surprise awaits in the garden, one that only Jack knows about.

Marvel’s Monster Mash

Unless you live under a proverbial rock, you know about Captain America and Spider-Man, as well as the myriad other Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes who’ve captivated our culture’s collective attention for the last 15 years. You may not have known who Doctor Strange was five or six years ago. But you do now.

What you may not know is that way back in 1972, Marvel dove headfirst into a monster-character gold rush of sorts.

In 1971, the comic code lifted, which had prevented publishers from including monsters, horror and gruesome imagery in comics since 1954. Marvel and DC raced into that rich trove of scary icons, with Marvel nabbing Dracula and Frankenstein, as well as introducing new characters such as Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider and Man-Thing (among others) in the early ’70s.

As for the titular werewolf in this one-off Halloween special on Disney+, well, he doesn’t show up right away. But when he does, watch out: Blood flies as he savages his captors.

This 55-minute special’s black-and-white, ’50s-throwback vibe yields lots of shadows here. And that monochrome palette somewhat mitigates the creature’s ferocious attacks. Elsewhere, though, the camera spares nothing, showing us a sword implanted in someone’s head, a crossbow bolt in someone’s throat and a hand severed from its surprised former owner. Other victims simply turn to dust—essentially vaporized—in the grip of a Marvel monster who makes a cameo appearance.

Blood dripping down the camera lens near the conclusion offers another nod to the classic horror period that this special Halloween special pays homage to, earning the show’s TV-14 rating. It’s not in Walking Dead territory, but the bloodletting still steps beyond what we typically see in Marvel’s stylized, sanitized combat sequences.

A handful of profanities (one s-word, one partially vocalized f-word and two uses of “b–tard”) join some creepy spiritual rites unlocking the Bloodstone’s powers as well. And one of the hunters sports an androgynous, gender-ambiguous look, too. (The male character is played by a female.)

Amid that grim storyline, we’re introduced to a surprisingly poignant friendship that plays an important role in the plot (which I’ll not spoil here). And Elsa and Jack likewise form an unexpected connection as they strive to help each other, too.

That said, I don’t think poignant is going to be the adjective most folks reach for to describe this slow-boiling horror thriller. Because the stuff in the shadows, even when we don’t see quite everything, is still pretty dark indeed.