The following contains spoilers for Werewolf by Night, now streaming exclusively on Disney+.
Werewolf by Night is nothing if not a love letter to the classic monster movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age. From the black-and-white cinematography to the emphasis on the inhuman creatures as the victims rather than the villains, it wears its nostalgia clearly on its sleeve. In the process, that allows it to perform a bit of a magic trick: getting a great deal of surprisingly violent content on the family-friendly Disney+.
The Disney brand has been dealing with Marvel’s more adult figures very carefully. While it has allowed openly adult productions onto the streaming site — notably Netflix’s decidedly not-for-kids bevvy of Marvel shows and the cheerfully R-rated Deadpool movies — those were productions of other studios that Disney simply has the rights to broadcast. Werewolf by Night is 100 percent home-grown, a product of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has been resolutely PG-13 since the beginning. Director Michael Giacchino slips an unusual amount of violence through that filter the same way the Universal filmmakers did in the old days: creative concealment.
Classic Horror Movies Had To Get Around Heavy Censorship
Film production in the United States labored for decades under the “Hays Code,” which strictly regulated what could and could not be shown on screen. That was of particular concern to horror directors, whose content is designed to be graphic and troubling. According to Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic by Mark A. Veria, and numerous other sources, films like the original Frankenstein were banned or heavily censored for moments (since restored) such as the monster inadvertently drowning a little girl and Henry Frankenstein comparing himself to God.
The Hays Code could be very specific about what did and did not constitute objectionable material, which gave filmmakers a surprising amount of wiggle room. Suggestion and implication became the order of the day: evoking scenes of violence by hiding them in shadow, or using judicious editing to convey what occurs without showing it. Eventually, such methods became a style all their own, and could even attain the level of art. The famous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, for instance — which shattered censorship norms at the time — got away with it because the knife is never actually shown piercing Marion Crane’s flesh.
Werewolf by Night Uses the Same Methods as Part of Its Style
All of that gives Werewolf by Night ideal cover to lay down some surprisingly heavy violence masked by the same techniques. As a deliberate nostalgia trip, it adopts those techniques as a matter of course. In the process, it avoids any concerns from Disney about adult content on its streaming site. Indeed, Deadpool notwithstanding, it’s easily one of the most overtly violent efforts from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. Giacchino elegantly hides it behind tried-and-true horror techniques.
That starts with the film’s use of black and white, which immediately dampens the visceral nature of the gore without necessarily eliminating it. Similarly, scenes of overt trauma — such as Elsa cutting off Simon’s arm with an axe — are masked with a combination of editing cuts and judicious camera angles. More diffuse images of horror, such as Jack’s transformation into a werewolf, are suggested rather than shown, notably with a shadow of his changing shape seen on the wall behind Elsa. Acting plays a considerable part in the method as well: witness Laura Donnelly, who plays Elsa, selling the transformation with her facial expressions.
Those methods can be easy to forget, especially with a big budget and the ability to render creatures like Man-Thing in photorealistic detail. But such modern expectations provide a rare opportunity for a throwback effort like this. Giacchino is sharp enough to spot it, skilled enough to use it and subversive enough to get away with as much as he can in the process. Werewolf by Night is all the better for the results.
Werewolf by Night is currently streaming on Disney+.
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