If you told me right after I watched the disappointing “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” that Marvel would make a wholly original, ‘30s-horror-esque Halloween special just a few months later, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Marvel’s distinct movie formula has become apparent over the course of its 29 movies, and feels as though it’s homogenizing more and more as movies keep coming out. Recently though, Marvel Studios has been trying to rid its movies of this stereotype by hiring new, inventive directors for their projects.

This new direction for Marvel hasn’t completely worked for them over the last year. Despite the critical and commercial success “Shang Chi” received with its breakout director Destin Daniel Cretton, “Eternals” became a colossal failure with Oscar-winning Chloe Zhao. Even though box office numbers gave Marvel mixed signals, I’m glad they opted to continue making inventive new projects.

Disney+ seems to be Marvel’s choice grounds for experimentation, and I’m all for it. If a new idea doesn’t go through as planned, Disney doesn’t lose money from flopping on their own streaming service. If a show does succeed on Disney+, however, this allows Marvel to see what audiences are truly interested in and expand new ideas to their greater universe.

“Werewolf By Night” is the resulting experiment, released to test audience reception for Marvel’s new form of content: Special Presentations. A “Marvel Special Presentation” is what it sounds like — essentially a TV special — too short to be a movie or a series. “Werewolf By Night” finds its sweet spot in the untapped territory of a 50-minute feature, feeling like a brisk movie.

The vintage-horror-styled special centers around Jack Russell (Gael Garcia Bernal), one of the hunters gathered in the wake of leader Ulysses Bloodstone’s death, estranged father to Elsa Bloodstone (Laura Donnely). The hunters are tasked with a challenge: whoever slays the designated monster first claims Bloodstone’s prized family heirloom, the elusive Bloodstone. Once the bloody competition begins, it quickly becomes clear that there is also a beast among the hunters: the Werewolf By Night!

Best known for composing the scores in “Up,” “Incredibles,” “The Batman” and the Marvel Studios fanfare, Michael Giacchino’s directorial debut ended up being one of the most entertaining Marvel projects I’ve seen. Melding such a unique concept with pre-existing Marvel characters could not have been pulled off better than it was in “Werewolf By Night. Its ‘30s horror aesthetics consisted of almost-fully-practical effects, bone-chilling music (masterfully scored by Giacchino), an amount of campiness akin to vintage horror classics and gore the Marvel PG-13 (or TV-14) mandate never would have allowed if not for it being in black-and-white.

The original story is well-told, perfectly paced and utterly intriguing throughout. The acting by Gael Garcia Bernal and Laura Donnely especially stand out as nothing short of spectacular. The complete flip of a switch from the sweet, caring Jack Russell to the terribly horrifying Werewolf By Night is astounding, and as such Garcia Bernal’s unanticipated ferocity adds greatly to the already magnificent special.

My only complaint for the entire duration of the special was that I felt I could have easily watched another hour of it and not felt a minute more go by. It was just so fun, I left wanting more of it, which is probably the best outcome an experiment like this could have achieved.

I am all-in on Marvel’s new direction towards Special Presentations, rather than full-blown movies or bloated series. With “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” coming so soon after their pilot Special Presentation, it’s clear Marvel quickly saw potential in this new kind of release.

Looking towards the future — though Marvel has never had a perfect track record — I can’t help but feel immensely excited for whatever Kevin Feige serves up next in the Marvel universe.

“Werewolf By Night:” ★★★★★