Look again: The Marvel Cinematic Universe has more skin-crawling horrors than you might remember.
"Werewolf by Night" is an adventure in full-blown horror. This blood-splattered
Halloween special even pays homage to early 1930s movie monsters like the Wolfman and
Dracula in its opening scene. A stand-out production boasting incredible effects,
it's shot entirely in black-and-white. This is gorgeous, and also makes the sickening
blood and gore more palatable, so even younger audiences can enjoy the gruesome thrills on offer.
"The Hunt decides!
House rules."
"Werewolf by Night" is the MCU directorial debut of esteemed composer Michael Giacchino,
who also arranged the haunting score. His distinctive style complements star
Gael García Bernal perfectly. As Giacchino detailed in an interview with Discussing Film,
"Werewolf by Night" is practically bursting with practical effects. This honors the horror movies
of old, and also allows Bernal's skill to shine through. Giacchino remarked:
"It's always fun to watch a CG monster. [...] But for this,
this was such a personal story that I wanted someone real — someone that when
I looked in their eyes, I was looking into the eyes of a human behind that monster."
Such depth of humanity makes the Werewolf's ferocious carnage even more gripping:
You truly see the rage in Bernal's eyes. This grounds the unforgettable scene of his
slaughter. Strobe-like lighting briefly allows the audience a second to breathe before more vicious
slashes ensue. The moment is made even more scary when blood is strewn across the camera's lens.
"Moon Knight" starts sending shivers down a viewer’s back in its earliest episodes.
Without much insight into the Egyptian god Khonshu, fans are left to quake in the shadow
of his mysterious power. This lack of knowledge extends to our lead character, Steven Grant,
which is actually only one of the many confusing identities our protagonist possesses.
"That's not me."
Grant is often bewildered by the strange events occurring around him,
which translates into the audience feeling equally perplexed — and, oftentimes,
scared out of their wits. Khonshu's pursuit of Steven is an especially spine-tingling moment,
as the god displays a relentless willingness to frighten the gift shop employee until he
complies with his wishes. In a dimly lit storage facility, Khonshu appears to Grant,
seeking to merge with him and become the titular Moon Knight. He frighteningly materializes between
flickering lights before beginning his pursuit down a long, dark hallway. This sends Grant off
screaming, but no matter how fast or far he runs, he can't escape. Khonshu doesn't give up easily.
This scene features an interesting filmmaking detail used in older
horror films: It highlights Grant's horrified scream with a freeze-frame
reaction shot. It also illuminates Khonshu in bone-chilling detail as he towers over Grant,
his voice booming in the close confines. These eerie details set "Moon Knight" apart
from the rest of the MCU as a unique and ghastly journey into brain-bending horror.
When "Loki" began its run on Disney+, it quickly consumed fans with new concepts,
worlds, and details to discuss. Variants of our favorite characters, wacky alternate realities,
and the grand and glittering multiverse are all on offer here. And then,
when "Loki" Season 1 comes to its end, it reveals one more trick up its sleeve.
"So it's all a game. It's all a manipulation."
Episode 6, "For All Time. Always.," contains a breathtaking surprise: The casual reveal of Kang,
in variant form. This iteration refers to himself as He Who Remains. He informs Loki
and his sarcastic blonde variant Sylvie that his death will bring an even stronger form to life,
who is far more fearsome. Comic fans shudder with the realization that this will finally
bring forth Kang the Conqueror, one of the Marvel universe's most formidable villains.
"Feels like a fresh start."
When Sylvie gives into her anger and stabs He Who Remains, she fulfills
his prophecy and sets this variant form free. His death allows the birth of the Conqueror,
who will eventually stand poised to decimate the MCU. This makes He Who Remains' display
of glee even more harrowing. He's stabbed — and he's happy about it.
Helmed by experienced horror visionary Sam Raimi, "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse
of Madness" mixes the usual fun of the MCU with a few genuine scares.
"Honestly I hope not."
Here, the grief-stricken Scarlet Witch, who has become consumed by the malevolent Darkhold,
doesn't just go bad — she heads into ultimate villain territory.
"Run."
When Wanda possesses a variant form of herself in an effort to infiltrate that variant's universe,
it's an unpardonable sin against the multiverse. But it's when she kills Marvel's heroic Illuminati
that things get dark. Wanda begins by imploding Black Bolt's brain by using his abilities
gruesomely against him. She then unleashes more chaos by unraveling Mr. Fantastic, slicing Captain
Carter in half with her own shield, and crushing Captain Marvel beneath an enormous statue.
But Wanda saves her most vicious murder for last. Professor Charles Xavier — in his
iconic yellow hover chair — announces that enough is enough. The two psychics proceed
to face off on the mental plane. Xavier attempts to rescue the possessed Wanda,
who's trapped in rubble. He gets closer and closer to reaching her — but then the
sinister Wanda leaps out of a cloud of red smoke and snaps his neck,
killing him instantly. This brutal death's up-close nature makes it all the more arresting.
The wildly imaginative animated Disney+ series
"What If...?" takes audiences through the complex layers of the multiverse.
"Since when did dames fight like that?"
The premise sets it up to be a mostly inconsequential narrative,
which transports our favorite heroes and villains to new and exciting universes. The mysterious
interdimensional being known as the Watcher is our guide to it all, explaining the stories of these
variant characters and universes. He's safely obscured from the proceedings as an observer
and narrator, bound to monitor their choices without ever interfering. But this playful idea
enters scary new territory when it takes classic Avengers villain Ultron down a new path, where
he not only successfully merges with Vision's body, but also obtains all six Infinity Stones.
"From here I can see everything. No one can stop me now.
Ultron's heightened abilities give him awe-inspiring power. He's so mighty,
he ascends to a new level of consciousness, which allows him to hear the Watcher's narration. In one
shocking moment, he becomes able to see through the story itself, turns his head, and locks eyes
with the Watcher. This terrifies the Watcher to his very core. Audiences sympathize — it
also feels like Ultron sees the viewers with his unflinching gaze. Ultron is rarely scarier
than he is in this moment, when he becomes powerful enough to transcend fiction itself.
Wanda's Darkhold trip in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" transforms
the reality-bending Avenger into an implacable, revenge-driven,
god-like monster. The Scarlet Witch's dark turn showcases an abundance of grisly new powers,
which are all put to use in her unstoppable pursuit of dimension-hopping teenager
America Chavez. One ability is put on particularly flashy display when
Wanda uses reflections in water to escape Doctor Strange's infamous mirror dimension.
Director Sam Raimi builds the suspense to an agonizing peak
as Wanda pulls defenseless guards to their doom through reflective puddles.
"She's using the reflections. Cover them."
This gruesome campaign of slaughter only ends when she sickeningly contorts her body through
a reflective gong. When she emerges, she's broken and torn, crawling on limbs that bend the wrong
way. But then, glowing with power, she wrenches her bones back into place, mends the cracks
in her flesh, and stands up straight. Like the best horror movie monsters, she is inescapable.
There's something truly terrifying about watching Wanda pull herself forward with
an evidently broken spine. The fact that this is swiftly topped
by the sight of her forcing said spine back into place says it all.
"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is a non-stop thrill ride of gory imagery,
terrifying creatures, and utterly unstoppable evil. This is never more clear
than when Strange possesses his variant's corpse and launches himself into battle.
"Who said they had to be living?"
This reanimation puts Doctor Strange in an entirely new light and cements
the film's horror bonafides. Zombie Strange is gross: His face is eaten away with rot,
his limbs move like those of an old puppet, and his skin has grown gray and pallid. Then he ups
the ante considerably by weaving the souls of the damned, who have come to condemn him for
possessing the variant's body, into an infernal cloak, which allows him to reach the battle.
Director Sam Raimi's ability to incorporate a certain level of
camp with utterly jaw-dropping horror makes his vision of an undead Doctor Strange into
one of the coolest and most horrifying things to ever come out of the MCU.
"That wasn't a dream."
Marvel's "What If...?" adapts one of the most frightening versions of the Avengers by tackling
Robert Kirkman's infamous "Marvel Zombies" comics in its stand-out episode "What If...Zombies?!"
This installment features a deadly plague, which infects the superhero team, monstrously
transforming them into flesh-eating zombies. Surprisingly, the episode entirely embraces
the comic's gritty celebration of gore: Blood is spilled, noses rot off, and teeth are bared.
"That was your friend. Sorry about that.
But the zombies aren't the most horrifying part of the episode — it's the disturbing way the Avengers
turn on each other, even without the virus. Vision is the main antagonist of this installment:
He holds Black Panther captive as a food source for his beloved. This stunning realization is
truly stomach-turning. Just the thought of a zombified Wanda consuming the Wakandan royal
is awful — the chaos magic-wielder has been turned into a flesh-eating corpse, who still
has distressing access to her powers. But seeing T'Challa's terrified face is way, way worse.
"WandaVision" incorporates a myriad of television aesthetics over the course of
its run, from cheery mid-century family hijinks to the lovable,
dysfunctional approach of '90s sitcoms. But things plummet into horror when Wanda turns
around to answer a question from Vision, and is met with the awful reality behind
her hex. She doesn't see her loving husband — she sees his corpse, reanimated to her will.
This moment alludes to her reclamation of Vision's body, which we see in subsequent
episodes. Wanda has seen this face before, and she hasn't managed to block it out entirely.
"No, we can't."
It also portrays Wanda's fracturing mental state, which is weakening her spell. This jump-scare is a
quietly forceful way of making us, and Wanda, face reality, if only for a moment. Vision
is an empty shell, sustained only by Wanda's abilities, which finally unravel in the finale.
After massacring the Illuminati in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," the
Scarlet Witch continues her undeterred pursuit of America Chavez. This sends
the movie into truly classic horror territory: Wanda is the invulnerable
monster relentlessly chasing the hapless victims, who just can't seem to shake her.
Things get especially horrifying when the Scarlet Witch chases our heroes through
an industrial tunnel. She rips through door after door, limping from her injuries. This
imagery brings Ultron's earliest form to mind — he too twitched and struggled to communicate his
message. She's also barefoot and covered in blood, rendering her a truly primal image of
fear. Wanda's glowing red eyes convey not only her massive power, but also her intense rage:
The Scarlet Witch is channeling pure fury as she wrenches open barrier after barrier. To some fans,
this makes her an irredeemable villain. To others, it's a horrible, yet sympathetic,
act. But it's sure to scare the living daylights out of just about everyone.
"I warned you."
In "Spider-Man: Far From Home," the emotional return to the MCU after the monumental events
of "Avengers: Endgame," Peter Parker struggles to cope in a Tony Stark-less
world. While traveling through Europe on a class trip, he encounters the manipulative
Mysterio. This fiend traps Spider-Man in a dizzying dream sequence, where he comes
face to face with his unresolved fears. They take the gut-wrenching form of Tony's decaying corpse,
complete with a cracked Iron Man helmet and a swarm of spiders that crawl out of his skull.
This unsettling image piques our most morbid interest,
but it also offers bizarre and potent closure. We see Tony's death and funeral in "Avengers:
Endgame," yet it doesn't seem quite real that he won't be returning for another film. His
startling resurrection in "Spider-Man: Far From Home" makes it clear that Tony Stark is really,
truly, and completely gone — and both Peter and the audience must find a way to cope.
"If you were good enough. Maybe Tony would still be alive."
Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" introduces the titular android in
a truly dreadful way. Coming at the tail end of one of the team’s more
lighthearted moments — a victory party held at Avengers Tower — the festivities are abruptly
cut short by ear-piercing feedback. Ultron stumbles from the laboratory,
a broken puppet newly free of strings. His first act is to take over Tony's sentry robots,
invade the Avengers' compound, and challenge Earth's mightiest heroes in their own home.
Ultron's immense power can be felt, even through
the pathetically convulsing bot he inhabits. He derides the Avengers as pitiful puppets,
unable to challenge his might. As he struggles to hold his machinery together, you might find
yourself shifting uncomfortably in your seat — there's just something about his eerie movement.
"I had strings but now I'm free. There are
no strings on me."
This line still manages to chill the blood, even when you know Ultron doesn't get his
way. It's one of the best bits of dialogue in the entire MCU, and its scariest-ever moment.