The Marvel Cinematic Universe is just under a week away from seeing it's latest entry blast it's way into theaters. As such I thought that i'd take the time to remind you of a TV special that Marvel Studios put just last year with this one and the following special The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special being only the only two specials that the studio have released despite them both getting some really good reviews online from both fans and critics and so then join me as I review what is the first horror the,e entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the special in question being called simply just "Werewolf By Night" enjoy.
The plot of this special is when a stone that grants it's user special abilities is up for grabs a group of people fight for it only for one of their party t be revealed as holding a deep dark secret of their very own. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty not that bad with this specials doing a very good job of being both entertaining when it really wants to be and yet at the same time doing something different from the typical plots of alot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this special is Gael García Bernal as Jack Russell / Werewolf by Night and Laura Donnelly as Elsa Bloodstone. Also starring in this special is Harriet Sansom Harris as Verussa Bloodstone , regular Muppets director Kirk R. Thatcher as Joshua Jovan , Eugenie Bondurant as Azarel , Leonardo Nam as Liorn , Daniel J. Watts as Barasso , Al Hamacher as Billy Swan , Carey Jones as Ted Sallis / Man-Thing , David Silverman as Flaming Tuba , Rick Wasserman as The Narrator , Richard Dixon as the voice of Ulysses Bloodstone and this specials editor Jeffrey Ford as the voice of Ted Sallis / Man-Thing.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty not that ad. With the acting being alot better then what it really had any right to be as alot of this specials cast are mostly unknown actors and actresses and such nobody would have any clue what to expect from this special acting and when you add in the fact that this special is directed by a first time director as well it's a wonder that the acting in this special is as good as it was as it very easily could have had some really bad acting in it.
Doing the CGI for this special is Base FX , Digital Domain , Jamm VFX , Perception , SDFX Studio and Zoic Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special well the in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual GI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty not that bad as this film does have some really good looking CGI effects for the most part but with that being said the special does use CGI humans which look horrible and really haven't aged all that well which is a shame because the CGI in this special is for the most part really good and for the most part really does hold up.
While Marvel have done other horror themed movies in the past this is the first horror themed special that they've done that is also apart of the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. With this special delving alot more into the horror aspect that what I remember not only with the original special being in black and white much like older horror films but also in it's general look and aesthetic with the special having a gothic look to it which only adds to the overall creepiness of the special all of this makes me wonder what a big budget Marvel Cinematic Universe could look as if this is what they could do on a small budget then imagine what they could do if they made a horror film with a huge budget and all of the resources that comes with having a really bigger budget.
What I wasn't expecting was for this special to be as gory as it is as this special really is gory and is gorier then most modern day horror films out their. This special really is gory as you get to see things thrown int people's head and you get to see alot of blood all of which are things that quite really wouldn't be seen in a any Marvel Cinematic Universe which is understandable but at the same time after seeing them in this special which is n Disney+ for free it makes you wonder why they aren't in the movies as at least then people have to pay to see it which means that the people that Marvel and Disney would be trying to project from seeing such things wouldn't be able where as on Disney+ they can see it anytime that they want to.
Sadly while there are alot of things that are really good in this special there are some things that are quite bad to be found in this special. Chief amongst which is the character of Elsa Bloodstone who is this special just felt like a rather underdeveloped character with the character not really being much in the way of either character or personality and while we do get hints of what her backstory it's all stuff that doesn't add to her character with them all instead feeling like things that add to the character of Verussa Bloodstone and not to her own character with this not really being helped by the fact that she really does add anything to the overall plot of the special either which really does make her seem like a pointless character.
Now then his special has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly fifty two minuets and thirty seven seconds. Which is a tad bit on the short side for a special like this one as this special has so much to set up and still tell a good story and it's something that it can't really do given the special incredibly short running time as such this special would have been better served if it was at least one hour long as then the storyline could be fully developed with the same thing also being true for alot of the specials characters and villains all of whom aren't as fully helped as they could have been as the special has to rush along t the next plot point but I will admit that this special really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action special that means that I have to actually talk abut the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very special was in all honesty really good. With this specials action being really creative and was a god example of the kind of action that Marvel can pull off when they just let the directors that they hire just go nuts and do their own thing with this specials action being in par with the action that we would frequently get in alot of the Marvel Netflix shows as the action in this special is just that good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this special was alot better then what I remember it being and it's astounding that Marvel Studios have really quite literally dine nothing with these characters since this special as this special really is that good that they could do alot more with these characters in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very special in this very review and as such that means that this very special earns itself a grand old score of exactly an 8 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girl and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review the official Disney fandom wiki page , the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website that I personally preferred to use to get the images that I personally used in this very post being the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page since all of the images that are currently up and and featured / presented to us on the really great freaking the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page are all of course really fairly freaking high in freaking quality and as well as them all really being very fairly freaking high in definition.