Marvel's Werewolf By Night Premieres on Disney+

The Marvel, 1970's favorite, Werewolf by Night has entered live action, per a pilot on Disney+. It's directed by Michael Giacchino, best known as an adventure-score composer; and in keeping with tradition, he inserts his exciting orchestration for the eponymous wolfman. 

The adaptation comes via Peter Cameron and Heather Quinn, but their script doesn't entirely resemble the comic-book series of my youth, which highlighted lycanthrope, Jack Russell (replaced in recent years by the fuzzy Jake Gomez) in ongoing, fugitive fashion. This production beams in a different way, blending elements from Werewolf: The Beast Among Us, The Beast Must Die (aka Black Werewolf), House on Haunted Hill, The Most Dangerous Game and Shriek of the Mutilated, though filmed in the moody, black-and-white style of Universal's horror classics, albeit with crimson trimming to give it some Sin City flair. (There's also an nice nod to Wizard of Oz 1939, as if the presentation didn't already possess enough visual variance.)

The story's global guests (consisting of renowned hunters/warriors) are gathered to "inherit" Ulysses Bloodstone's powerful weapon, named appropriately enough, the Bloodstone. This weapon could bestow any one of the attendees ruling leverage, or at least the means to slay (and protect themselves from) bloodthirsty foes. 

Gael Garcia Bernal, of Old fame, plays Marvel's original werewolf, Russell, an inquisitive chap when not transformed, who though odd, seems out of place even among those of his own ilk. Maybe that's because the tale is told through his cautious perspective, as he (and we) visit Ulysses' abode of preserved monster heads. (The participants are to battle and defeat a special-guest ferocity to prove they are worthy of Ulysses' coveted relic.) 

In addition to Bernal, the cast includes Kirk R. Thatcher; Daniel White; Leonardo Nam; Daniel J. Watts; Eugenia Bondurant; Harriet Samson Harris as Verussa Bloodstone and Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone. Man-thing is also on board, played by Carey Jones, looking amazing in both movement and breadth. 

Though this pilot, which runs just under an hour, isn't a comedy, it does flaunt a conscious wink-and-nudge slant whenever it can. That goes against the comic's grain, making this experimental piece it's own idiosyncratic derivative. 

Though purists may grumble (and perhaps they should), this Halloween special churns enough old-time, horror-movie fun to get my recommendation. As to how it might morph into a series or link to the grander, Phase 4 MCU, you got me, but the potential for expansion is there, along with the chance to probe ever deeper into Marvel's monster roots.