While Marvel’s D23 reveals weren’t as expansive as many fans had hoped, one of the bright spots of their showcase was the first trailer for the upcoming Marvel Halloween special Werewolf by Night starring Gael García Bernal. The trailer was a thrilling love letter to classic monster movies and the horror genre in general. However, also released alongside the trailer was a new poster that further drives the special’s genre influences straight into Dracula’s castle.

The haunting new poster sees Bernal’s Jack Russell with an unsettlingly fearful expression on his face as he tries to keep his inner monster at bay. However, behind Jack is his Werewolf counterpart that’s taking the form of his shadow. This is a classically thematic genre trope that beautifully sums up the special’s sinister hook. While the brilliantly stylized trailer was very inspired by the 50s and 60s Hammer era of horror, the poster is more in line with something you would see in a Classic Universal Monster film of the 40s. Particularly 1941’s The Wolf Man. The way this poster is lit with heavy shadows and a gray backdrop is very gothic in nature. The trailer only gave us teases of Jack’s darker half, but at least from how the monster is outlined in this image, the MCU’s Werewolf seems to be taking inspiration from how Lon Chaney Jr. appeared in the classic Universal masterpiece.

Also, the way Jack is framed in the poster feels like a reference to another horror gem. Jack is positioned like he’s walking down a ramp of some kind which makes this shot mirror the infamous scene where Count Orlok was slowly walking up a flight of stairs in 1922’s Nosferatu. Like this poster, we could only see that iconic vampire’s chilling shadow.

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Image via Marvel

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Marvel dipped their toes in the horror water with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness earlier this year, but Werewolf by Night appears to dive gleefully head first into the genre's dark gothic history. Marvel's Werewolf is a character that is most famously known for being an enemy of Moon Knight, and the Werewolf by Night series allowed Marvel Comics to tell full-blown horror stories that they couldn’t do in their more mainstream superhero books. This special looks to be taking a page from its source material as the trailer was filled with a lot of great atmospheric tension. It helps that it was in black and white which only added to the nostalgic vibe it was going for. Nevertheless, this seems to be an anxiety-riddled whodunit in the same vein as the William Castle classic The House On Haunted Hill — the only difference being the literal monsters lurking in the night. In other words, this Halloween special is a horror fan's bloodthirsty dream.

Werewolf by Night is premiering on Disney+ on October 7, just in time for Halloween. Along with Bernal the series also stars Laura Donnelly who’s reportedly playing the Vampire by Night and the special is directed by Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino. While we wait for Marvel’s next venture into horror, you can view Werewolf by Night’s gothic new poster down below.

werewolf by night poster