minor spoilers

Following the death of Ulysses Bloodstone, hunters gather – among them, his daughter and Jack Russell…

Well that was fun. More than anything else Marvel have achieved in this PG-12 feel horror (despite Disney rating it as 16+ it feels pretty anodyne in terms of violence and gore) it’s that it’s fun. I mean that as a sincere compliment.

Werewolf by Night isn’t bogged down in too much of anything else. Again, I mean that in a good way.

We have a fireside tale which would be equally at home in a 1950s monster movie, a Simpsons Halloween episode or even an original run Twilight Zone.

The choice to shoot largely in black and white adds to the atmosphere of rainy Saturday afternoons spent watching cheap thrills as people get picked off (rather tastefully) one by one as a monster slowly makes its way towards the Last Girl Standing and whoever her sidekick might be.

All of which leads to some brilliant moments.

The shooting here is laden with references to old monster movies, as are the special effects and look of the monsters. When a small oval smear appeared on the top right of the screen I had to explain the reference and, it turned out, the idea of celluloid film stock. There’s also a plethora of references to monsters who’ve appeared in the Marvel comic universe and this is, perhaps, laying the groundwork for something further down the line without even having to draw attention to itself.

It’s enough here for the MCU to admit to the existence of these creatures, and the spirituality that accompanies them, alongside its superheroes.

The story itself gently subverts these tropes in a way that’s both familiar but also cosy and heartwarming. We see monsters who aren’t quite what we think they are, we see humans who are just as bad as we suspect and we’ve got a punky heroine with daddy issues and a potty mouth.

Verdict: As an (early) Halloween special it hits the mark and says something about Marvel’s ambitions that it’s also delivered a Desi superhero show, an Egyptian superhero, a throwback to the 1990s sitcom format all in the space of the same year.

Rating? 8 odd mercenaries out of 10.

Stewart Hotston