Weekend Watch: Werewolf By Night, The Midnight Club
Marvel does horror and Mike Flanagan offers more scary tales.
Image Credit: Disney+
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Marvel produces a creature feature and Mike Flanagan haunts Netflix once more. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
With its giant cinematic universe well established, Marvel is continuing to take swings and poke into different genre corners, as seen with the likes of Moon Knight and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.
The latest example of its attempts to expand what the MCU can be is Werewolf By Night, a resoundingly entertaining piece of retro horror.
Directed by Michael Giacchino – yes, the Oscar-winning composer who has worked with Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and more – it brings the comic book character of Jack Russell into Marvel screen canon.
Here played in engaging, nervy fashion by Gael Garcia Bernal, Jack arrives along with a group of other monster hunters at the creepy, gothic mansion belonging to the Bloodstone family. Patriarch Ulysses has popped his clogs, and the assembled hunters are here to compete for the right to wield the powerful Bloodstone gem, which can grant its user with extended life, offers some protection against supernatural beasties and can force them to reveal themselves when they’re hiding in human form.
This presents a challenge for Jack since he’s the title character and is liable to transform into a hairy, powerful beast once a month. Also among the group is Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly), the estranged daughter of Ulysses, arriving to claim what she sees as her birthright. First, though, she’ll have to survive the night up against her fellow hunters and the monster that the Bloodstone family has unleashed as their primary challenge. Without spoiling anything, the creature is also straight from the pages of Marvel comics and not completely what he appears.
It’s the atmospherics and style of the special that really make this one work. Giacchino, writers Heather Quinn and Peter Cameron and the wider creative team cannily made this a throwback to the classic horror movies of the 1930s and 1940s – from the monochrome footage to the sets and the tone, which swings between scary and high camp. It all blends seamlessly. The black and white visuals also mean that Giacchino can push the limits of blood in a Marvel project, which is fitting given the subject matter.
Credit also to Donnelly, who brings a healthy line of relatable snark to Elsa, and character veteran Harriet Sansom Harris, who fully embraces the weirdness of Verusa, Ulysses’ widow.
Unlike so much recent MCU output, this is also cleverly sealed in its own bubble. While there is plenty of scope for Jack, Elsa and others to crop up in the movies or other shows, you don’t need any Marvel foreknowledge to get the most out of it. A quick expositional spiel placing it firmly within the sprawling cinematic universe but in a darker pocket largely unknown to the likes of the Avengers, this is connected but also feels more akin to The Twilight Zone, a self-contained story with a beginning, middle and end and just a few tiny nods to other stories. Don’t expect Moon Knight or Blade to show up, for instance, but you can easily imagine Jack sharing the screen with them in the future. Yet there is still room for a walking easter egg that will delight genre fans – Kirk Thatcher, who has worked with the Muppets, voiced Gremlins and has a CV longer than most people’s arms (including this iconic Star Trek movie moment), shows up as one of the hunters.
Giacchino, who has said in the past that he grew up making short films with his friends, proves he’s got the chops as a director and brings his typically skilful musical abilities to bear on the score, which itself is a fantastic blend of his regular themes and classic monster music.
If all future Marvel “experiments” are up to this standard, the company’s output will be in fine health.
Werewolf By Night is on Disney+ now.
Image Credit: Netflix
Mike Flanagan has certainly hit upon a rich seam of horror to power his films and TV series. Alternating between adapting the work of authors such as Stephen King and creating his own original work, he has become an assured provider of chills and terror.
Though I can’t ever claim that horror is my favourite genre, I’ve certainly enjoyed a lot of Flanagan’s output – particularly last year’s superb, atmospheric Midnight Mass.
Yet his latest, The Midnight Club, didn’t quite work for me to the same degree.
Set in the 1990s and drawn from Christopher Pike's 1994 YA novel, the story follows a group of seven young adults living in hospice care at Rotterdam House with terminal illnesses. Every night at midnight, the group meets up to tell each other spooky stories.
They make a deal: When the first of the group dies, that person will try to communicate with the others from beyond the grave. Yes, you can imagine how well that works out for them.
A lot of the hallmarks of Flanagan’s work are here – jump scares and creepy figures haunting the corner of the screen. But that’s by far the least effective element here, and the one that largely bored me.
Instead, the compelling, linked stories told by the young patients are the standout element, allowing the limited series to sometimes take on the feel of an anthology show. But Flanagan is smart enough to tie it all back into the main plot.
Acting-wise there is a mixed bag. Some of Flanagan’s regulars (such as Samantha Sloyan and Zach Gilford) show up and are as reliable as ever. Lead Annarah Cymone makes for a compelling core, while Ruth Codd is a scene-stealer. And I’m always here for a show that makes room for William B. Davis, even if has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance.
Horror fans, meanwhile, will be delighted by A Nightmare On Elm Street veteran Heather Langenkamp, who plays the head of the hospice.
It might not be my favourite Flanagan project, but it’s still stuffed with spooky, emotional goodness.
The Midnight Club is on Netflix now. I’ve seen all 10 episodes.