Marauding mummies. Necromancy. Exploding heads. Between Moon Knight and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, 2022 has seen the MCU get seriously spooky, deliving further into horror territory than ever before – and it’s not done yet. As Halloween looms, Marvel is readying a one-off special set to bring a dose of Hammer-inspired frights to fans, adapting a lesser-known comic into a 53-minute Disney+ ‘Special Presentation’. Get ready for Werewolf By Night, a tooth-and-claw tale of lunar terror, presented in black-and-white by Michael Giacchino.
Yes, that Michael Giacchino – the prolific composer who most recently contributed to the MCU with his Thor: Love And Thunder score, this time turned director. And it’s largely thanks to Giacchino that Werewolf By Night is even happening. “Kevin [Feige] said, ‘What would you like to do?’”, Giacchino recalls in Empire’s upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever issue. “I mentioned Werewolf By Night, and he looked at me, like, ‘Wait, really?’” If it’s far from Marvel’s most famous character – the comics are possibly better remembered these days as the place where Moon Knight made his first appearance on the page – it was one that made a real impression on the young Giacchino. “I still have the comics that I bought when I was a kid,” he says. “Kevin and I kept talking about it, and it’s evolved into this love letter to monsters and the humanity behind them.”
The result is something which Giacchino describes tonally as “fun horror”. But if Werewolf By Night is aiming to be a romp, don’t go thinking that that ‘fun’ will come at the expense of scares. “My nephew watched it recently, and couldn’t sleep that night,” the director teases. Bring on an MCU story with a bit of extra bite.
Read Empire’s full Werewolf By Night story in the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever issue – on sale Thursday 29 September and available to pre-order online here. Werewolf By Night is streaming on Disney+ from 7 October.