Michael Giacchino’s “Werewolf by Night”

An entertaining homage to classic cinematic horror that doesn't overstay its welcome

Seeing the pair from Y tu mamá también, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal in a Star Wars series and a Marvel horror special respectively sounds a terrible idea but in both cases, they’re triumphs of pushing genre storytelling to new, unexpected directions.

Werewolf by Night’s production design, soundtrack and casting is pitch perfect. Based on the Marvel Comics property of the same name, this is a love letter the golden age of horror cinema led by an excellent performance by Gael Garcia Bernal. Directed and scored by Michael Giacchino in his first full length directorial assignment, Werewolf by Night deftly manages to keep the story above the waters of the source material, the Marvel universe and the highly stylised approach which only serves to augment the narrative.

For fans with a nostalgia for golden age cinema, there’s also a lot to love here. Maya Shimoguchi’s production design is incredible and paired with the black and white presentation, it’s quite effective in setting the tone and yet, it is quite subtle on the whole. Too often attempts at this kind of retro-look fail to convince often falling into a kind of uncanny valley effect where my brain subconsciously picks up that something isn’t quite right. Aside from The Love Witch and Young Frankenstein, I can’t think of others that totally succeed so hats off to the production team here.

Originally, this was pegged for a movie-release, but it does everything necessary in its slim 53 minutes which brings up an interesting conversation around finding the right length for a story. In recent years, series have moved toward asymetrical episodes lengths which has gone a long way towards improving shows by ridding the need to “pad out” episodes or cut key scenes to hit a specific duration.

Werewolf by Night is a classic horror, nothing more and nothing less but that’s okay. It’s a perfect confection for Halloween.