The Disney Horror Double Feature: ‘Hellraiser,’ ‘Werewolf by Night’
Reviews
By YOSEF IBITAYO/Staff Writer
Going into “Hellraiser”, the 2022 reimagining of the 1987 classic horror film of the same name that premiered Oct. 7 on Hulu, I was expecting a movie with such a legacy to live up to to be as gory and perverse as something like the “Saw” series or “Hostel.”
I was expecting a revelry of red rather than the soft, slithering dread that wormed through my spine and stomach as I sat through two hours of ratcheting tension. Kudos to director David Bruckner for keeping my interest locked in until the last flesh-squirming scene.
Bruckner, a veteran of the horror genre, eases the watcher into the world of Clive Barker not with a scene of strewn body parts and rituals. Instead, he begins with a pair of exchanges, first of packages, then of blood and bodies. This notion of exchanges is woven through the film and is interspersed with ideas of pleasure and addiction.
Riley McKendry, a recovering addict played by Odessa A’zion, serves as an unlikeable protagonist. She and her friends fall headlong into the torturous clutches of Jamie Clayton’s Hell Priest and their Cenobite brethren.
The film seems to take more influence from the 2010s’ horror films than horror films of the 1980s in its storytelling. It settles on a tale that’s one part character study and one part creeping supernatural horror. This makes a refreshing change of pace from the “shock-value” movies of the past two decades. However, the unbalanced focus on the villains’ exploits rather than the victims, as well as the brisk runtime, marks the film as lesser than it can be.
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Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation “Werewolf by Night”, directed by composer and frequent Marvel Cinematic Universe collaborator Michael Giacchino, and streaming now on Disney+, has several firsts under its belt.
It shoulders a heavy burden, primarily as the first of its kind to be produced by Marvel Studios. It’s also the first MCU property to use primarily black-and-white. Finally, it is an introduction into the pulpy side of the MCU. Luckily, the tone and format of the Presentation, which comes off as something akin to the classic short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, works rather well to offset the slew of new information comes with nearly every Phase 4 property nowadays.
The premise, in keeping with the shorter runtime of 53 minutes and the disconnected stance it takes toward the larger MCU, is rather simple: following the death of renowned monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, a quintet of experienced colleagues answers the summons of his wife Verussa, played by Harriet Sansom Harris.
Verussa, seeking a worthy successor to her husband’s eponymous Bloodstone, has set challenge for the hunters. Within the labyrinth outside the Temple where the quintet has gathered, a beast is trapped and ready to be hunted. Of course, with a title like “Werewolf by Night”, we expect a twist, the first comes with the arrival of Laura Donnelly’s Elsa Bloodstone. The dominoes fall fast and bloody soon after the hunt proper begins, leaving me somewhat shocked by the exhausted end.
Fair warning to anyone who may consider watching this with their children: there will be blood, body horror and immolation in spades, grayscale though it may be. Given the short forays the MCU has been taking into the horror genre, however, “Werewolf by Night”’s contributions feel like a welcome addition rather than a jarring misstep for Marvel Studios. This short, though not-so-sweet, expansion of an unseen corner of the MCU is a satisfying near-hour romp to skin your teeth into.
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