Michael Giacchino Says Werewolf by Night is a Love Letter to Monsters

Since the Blade revival was revealed back in 2019, fans of the horror side of the Marvel universe have been preparing to have their wants finally met. But this scary season, courtesy to Werewolf by Night, the MCU’s first Halloween special, which is slated to howl its way onto streaming next week, their day has finally come—even though we’re still waiting for Mahershala Ali‘s Daywalker to appear in the flesh.

With a strong Universal/Twilight Zone atmosphere, the trailer for Werewolf by Night promises a full-on tribute to vintage horror films and television. It also revealed that the special will be in black and white.

The special’s whole existence actually resulted from director Michael Giacchino and producer Kevin Feige obsessing over vintage Marvel comics, he said while talking to Empire and demonstrating his unrestrained affection for classic monster stories. He says:

“Kevin [Feige] said, ‘What would you like to do?’ I mentioned Werewolf By Night, and he looked at me, like, ‘Wait, really?’ I still have the comics that I bought when I was a kid… Kevin and I kept talking about it, and it’s evolved into this love letter to monsters and the humanity behind them.”

Not that fans should be going in expecting an out-and-out horror film, however. This is going out on Friday morning on Disney Plus, after all. Michael Giacchino nimbly summed up Werewolf by Night to Empire as “fun horror,” which fits the kitschy tone teased by the trailer. That said, some younger viewers might find it all a bit much. “My nephew watched it recently, and couldn’t sleep that night,” admitted the composer-turned-filmmaker.

There hasn’t been much information released about the Halloween special’s premise outside the delightfully terrifying trailer. Finding out exactly how this plot fits within the MCU will be exciting. The comics provide the most logical connection because Marc Spector (Oscar Isaac), who made his own MCU debut earlier this year with the popular series Moon Knight, has Jack as a longtime foe.

Werewolf by Night will debut on Disney+ on October 7; however, the special’s trailer from earlier this month suggests that it will be a campy and highly stylized thrill journey through traditional horror and monster hunts with a distinctively Marvel twist.

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