Werewolf Wednesday Entry 3/12/25

Title: Werewolf by Night.

Media: Film, directed by Michael Giacchino, story by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron.

Released in 2022 as a Disney+ exclusive short, Werewolf by Night is loosely based on the 1972 Marvel comic by the same name. Directed by Michael Giacchino and written by Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron. The cinematography is filmed in black and white, drawing heavy inspiration from classic Universal Pictures horror cinema productions such as The Wolfman and other titular productions such as the 1931 Dracula and Frankenstein respectively. 

The short follows protagonist Jack Russel, as he attends a meeting of monster hunters regarding the will of the recently deceased Ulysses Bloodstone. Verussa, the widow of Ulysses, announces that every attendee shall engage in a battle to the death inside a winding maze in order to reclaim Ulysses’ artifact, the Bloodstone. There, Jack meets Ulysses’ estranged daughter Elsa, and the two swiftly pair up as Jack reveals that he is only attending the competition to rescue his friend, a forest monster by the name of Ted, who has been trapped inside the maze. 

Once the two work together, they are able to thwart the other monster hunters, and locate the Bloodstone that has been attached to Ted. However, once Jack touches the bloodstone, it hurts him, revealing that he too is a monster. The remaining hunters along with Verussa, having witnessed Jack’s reaction to touching the Bloodstone, capture Elsa and Jack and place them in a cage together with plans to force Jack to kill Elsa. In the last time they have together before Verussa uses the Bloodstone to force Jack to transform, he attempts to memorise Elsa’s scent so that he does not harm her. Luckily, this attempt saves her life, as once he is forced to change, he breaks out of the cage and attacks the remaining hunters as well as Verussa, managing to escape into the forest with Ted without harming his new friend Elsa. 

The conversation between Jack and Elsa before he is forced to transform is incredibly touching, as he confesses that he does not perceive himself as any less human during any other time than the full moon, when he is forced to change against his will. The original comic was an influential piece of monster media, taking a similar approach to the werewolf myth as the 1941 Wolfman with the sympathetic monster narrative, borrowing similar Hollywood werewolf tropes such as the moonlit transformations, and the memory loss between both human and beast forms respectively. Despite the fact that director Michael Giacchino’s rendition of Werewolf by Night does not follow the original plotline of the comics, the story itself maintains the crucial elements of Jack Russel’s honest demeanor, and the power of his werewolf form as a solid antihero. 

As always, be sure to appreciate your local monsters.