Last year for Halloween, Marvel released a one-off story on Disney+ called “Werewolf By Night” that was almost completely in black and white. On October 20th, Marvel is re-releasing it in color on the streamer.
The Details
“Werewolf by Night” was billed by Marvel as a “Special Presentation,” and was originally in black and white as an ode to the classic horror films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with only the ending in color.
The hour-long self-contained story introduced viewers to Jack Russell aka the Werewolf (Gael García Bernal), Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnelly), and Man-Thing (Carey Jones) — but please, call him Ted.
The special takes place on a a dark and somber night, where a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the foreboding Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader Verussa Bloodstone (Harriet Sansom Harris).
In a strange and macabre memorial to the leader’s life, the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic—a hunt that will ultimately bring them face to face with a dangerous monster.
At the end, Elsa comes into possession of the glowing-red relic which adds some color to the previously black-and-grey world.
So why release a fully colorized version now? Apparently director Michael Giacchino actually started playing with the idea while he was wrapping filming on the original.
He pitched it to Marvel, who agreed it’d be a fun way to reintroduce the characters and story.
And though it’s colorized, it’s more of a process according to Giacchino, who explained in an interview with Marvel:
“You can boost every color, but that’s not really the answer. It’s about boosting certain colors, and it’s really a scene-by-scene choice that you have to make. It’s not just a global thing that you can put a filter on and go, OK, it’s done.”
“You must go in almost shot by shot. We spent a lot of time in a dark room at Disney looking at every single shot, one by one, and going, you know what? That’s great, but maybe a little more contrast and push the red a little bit.”
Giacchino said he feels the colorized version can be compared to the feel of the classic Hammer horror films of the late 1950s to early 1970s.
The Trailer
Here is the trailer for “Werewolf by Night” in color. Keep in mind if you’re sensitive to blood and gore, this version is full of reds, so there will be more visual horror.
Here is the original version’s trailer, if you’d like to compare the two.
How to Watch
“Werewolf by Night” in color arrives on Disney+ on October 20th. The original black and white version is still available on the streamer, and will also be available to watch on Hulu through October 31, 2023 as part of Huluween.
