Ulysses Bloodstone has died. His death brings the monster hunters together to pay their last respects and for one last hunt to see who will inherit the blood stone and the supernatural power it grants to the one who possesses it. It’ll be a hunt to the death, a bloody one at that, and what the hunters don’t know is that there’s already a monster in their midst.
This is Marvel’s second official foray into the horror genre after Multiverse of Madness and dipping its toes in the shallow end with WandaVision. I normally stay as far away from the genre. It’s not my thing. No thank you. I don’t do scary movies. But Marvel’s expansion into the supernatural and Monsterverse have made it impossible to stay away completely.
Gael Garcia Bernal shines bright as Jack Russell/Werewolf By Night, and I need to see more of this character and actor immediately. I loved the relationship he had with Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly) and need to see more of that as well. Does it turn romantic? I need to know! And I need to know now!
This special is in black and white, paying homage to horror movies of the 30s and 40s. It’s creepy and dark. Violent and bloody. More bloody than is typical of the MCU while still managing to stay within the confines of a TV-14 rating. There’s violent action scenes. A ritual involving the bloodstone and an incantation is performed to force Jack to turn into a werewolf before the full moon, and then the violence gets turned up a couple notches. It’s bloody. There’s blood spatters on the walls and dripping on the camera lens. Jack bites a guard’s ear off. Blood gushes. Someone loses their head. A couple of people get incinerated by Man-Thing who makes an impressive cameo appearance. I grimaced. My mouth dropped open. I didn’t keep a straight face for most of the 54-minute special. If it had been in color instead of black and white, I wouldn’t have been able to watch. It’s too bad my mom wasn’t here to see it. And despite all that, I enjoyed it. A lot. I wish it’d been a little darker, but then it would’ve earned a TV-MA rating. The only crime I thought this special committed was that it was too short! Congratulations, Marvel, you got me on board with monsters! Normally, I wouldn’t say Marvel isn’t for kids anyway, but this special is especially not. This bit of fun is for the teens and adults. I look forward to seeing these characters again and to seeing what else Marvel can achieve through their Special Presentations. You can stream Werewolf By Night on Disney Plus.
Steven Grant (Oscar Issac) lives a simple life as a clerk in an Egyptian History Museum gift shop. Strange unexplainable things start to happen like hearing voices and blacking out and waking up surrounded by dead bodies with no idea what happened. He discovers that he has Dissociative Identity Disorder and is the host body of Mark Spector and also the avatar of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu serving justice as the deity sees fit as his Moon Knight
Mark and Steven must learn to work together along with Mark’s wife Layla (May Calamawy)to save the world from Ammit’s version of justice by defeating the goddess her and her avatar Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke). Mark and Steven learn more about their origin in the process. PS. It’s heartbreaking.
This show was awesome and my second favorite MCU show behind WandaVision. It’s the most violent MCU show to date and it’s darkest pushing the boundaries of a TV-14 Rating. It’s super fun if you’re into Egyptian mythology and religion. It’s really violent. People get shot and stabbed. There’s hand to hand combat. It’s bloody and you get to watch someone being mummified alive and having an organ removed (I felt a little queasy). There’s a bunch of language with Shit being heard the most along with hell, damn, misuses of God’s name and a partial f-bomb.
As a Christian, I came away from the series with a sense of thankfulness that God doesn’t handle justice the way that the Egyptian gods do. That the God we serve is merciful when we don’t deserve it while the Egyptian ones are cutthroat and ruthless. For example Ammit hands out justice before a crime is ever committed. I’m so glad God isn’t like that or we’d all be in trouble! There’s a devotional in there somewhere I think I’ll write one.
The Supernatural side of the MCU is being built out nicely and I can’t wait to see what’s next! I’d love to see a season 2 in the future. You can stream it now on Disney Plus.
2¢ Movie Reviews 