‘Werewolf by Night’ director reveals the iconic TV series that inspired the Marvel Halloween special

Marvel Studios is treating us to the MCU’s very first Halloween special this October, which comes in the form of Werewolf by Night, naturally featuring the eponymous wolfman in his franchise debut. From the deliberately campy trailer, with its black and white cinematography and OTT tone, it’s abundantly clear that the special is a homage to classic monster movies. But it turns out that a legendary TV series was also a key influence on the standalone spookfest.

Those who attended Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, this weekend were treated to a surprise screening of Werewolf by Night, with director Michael Giacchino taking part in a Q&A afterwards. Giacchino, who’s previously worked with Marvel as a composer on the likes of Doctor Strange and the Spider-Man films, opened up about his inspirations for the special, highlighting the impact The Twilight Zone had on how he wanted to approach the material. As he told the audience:

“So I grew up on the Universal monster movies, all of the Hammer films. I loved Japanese monster movies. The other thing I loved was The Twilight Zone. And still do to this day. Even when discussing making this, all along I kept saying ‘think of this as an episode of The Twilight Zone. We’re gonna experience one night in the life of Jack and Elsa and see what happens.’ But really this, as you can tell, I’m sure, is a love letter to all of those things, to all of the inspiration they gave me for all of those years.”

While the influence of The Twilight Zone on Werewolf by Night might be less overt than that of classic horror movies, we can already see a little bit of how Rod Serling’s seminal anthology sci-fi/supernatural show fed into it. As Giacchino reminds us, the special is set to be entirely standalone, very much like how The Twilight Zone would take viewers on a ride through a self-contained surreal story each week. Likewise, its central premise, of a group of people gathering in a creepy house one night, recalls various TTZ episodes. e.g. “The Masks.”

With any luck, Werewolf by Night won’t be the only time we see its fascinating new additions to this universe, namely Lauren Donnelly’s Elsa Bloodstone and the titular Jack Russell, as played by Gael Garcia Bernal — Giacchino’s one and only choice for the part. The MCU is finally about to embrace the horror side of its mythology, and fans couldn’t be more ready.

Don’t miss the Halloween special when it howls onto Disney Plus from Oct. 7.