Direction: Michael Giacchino
Country: USA
Score composer Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille, 2007; Star Trek, 2009) directs an arresting 50-minute television special that's often unsettling and adventurous. If you dig offbeat werewolf stories and arthouse films, then you’ll be begging for more. The teleplay by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron is based on the Marvel Comics of the same name.
Jack Russell (Gael Garcia Bernal), a monster hunter doomed to be a werewolf, is summoned by Ulyses Bloodstone’s widow, Verussa (Harriet Sansom Harris), to compete against rivals - including the deceased’s estranged daughter Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly) and the merciless Jovan (Kirk Thatcher) - in a mission to determined who will be the next leader in the crusade against the evil monsters.
Thoroughly staged with unpredictable alliances and implacable attacks, Werewolf by Night is by turns violent and comedic. The option for black and white was appropriate, serving to enhance the imposing photography by Zoë White (The Handmaid’s Tale series, 2018-19). An atypical surprise that should be further developed to fully satisfy.
