Werewolf By Night

I’m kinda in-between Monday shows right now, so I figured I should take a week or two to cover some of Disney+’s MCU TV specials.  It makes for a good fit after Wonder Man.

Granted, there’s only been, like, two of ’em.

Actually, this one came about from an unexpected rewatch opportunity.  My girlfriend has this long list of TV shows she wants to get to, most of them genre television, with the occasional Breaking Bad sneaking in here and there, and she’s in no rush for the story of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, though given how we dissect media after viewing, that might make for an interesting set of conversations if we ever get to it.

However, during a recent weekend visit, she was scrolling through her list, and I spotted Werewolf by Night there.  I had seen it when it was new, so it would be a rewatch for me, but a one-and-done thing?  That should be easy enough to knock off her watch list.  So, that’s what we ended up doing.

What followed was nearly an hour of a monster hunt where the hunters didn’t stop to ask how Gael Garcia Bernal’s Jack Russell could claim so many kills while being someone who seems a lot less flamboyant or show off-y than the other hunters, gathered to see who can kill a captured monster and be granted permission to weld the potent Bloodstone, used by the late monster-hunter Ulysses Bloodstrone.

What the Bloodstone does is rather vague, but that his estranged daughter Elsa ends up with it was something of a forgone conclusion, even if you aren’t familiar with the comics version of Elsa.  Then again, that Elsa carries shotguns, swears like a sailor, has a lot of cleavage on display, and long red hair tied off in a ponytail.  The Else here has none of those things, a decision made by the director in order to get away from the hypersexualized comics version, something I can actually agree with.  This Elsa is no pushover by a long shot, but she isn’t there just to be eye candy for the boys while still being played by an attractive woman, Irish actress Laura Donnelly.

As for Jack, his one ostentatious affectation is he has painted his face for the Day of the Dead, a nice nod to Bernal’s own Mexican heritage even if it seems odd that a Mexican man has a name like “Jack Russell.”

The story here is fun for what it is.  Yes, Elsa needs to survive as she is the only hunter present who doesn’t seem to see any monster as something that needs to be killed and its head mounted on the wall.  Yes, Jack will turn into the werewolf at some point, the wolf still having the Day of the Dead make-up on, but making for quite an impression.  And the mostly black-and-white look of the special–yes, we opted for the black and white version–works very well, evoking an old school, 1940s aesthetic that works given the werewolf’s look is closest to Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolf-Man.

But really…Ted steals the show.  Maybe he doesn’t talk, but he’s clearly more intelligent and capable of reacting than, say, most comics version of the Man-Thing, a creature that only really swings into action if someone nearby is showing strong fear.  This version, when he isn’t burning his enemies, is goofy-looking, kinda jolly in his movements, and seems like the kind of monster we should all want to hang out with.  Why would anyone want to kill Ted?  He’ll happily sit in his swamp and listen to the Wizard of Oz soundtrack on vinyl from the looks of things.

So, basically, this one was a lot of fun.

Then again, the one I am covering for next Monday…well, the Gabbing Geek bullpen seems to be saying the opposite in this case.  And this time, I’ll be seeing it for the first time.