[4][5] It stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele as the titular characters with Angela Bassett, Lyric Ross, James Hong, and Ving Rhames in supporting roles.

The film is dedicated to Mark Musumeci, an electricity consultant who worked on almost all of Selick's previous stop-motion features since The Nightmare Before Christmas, who died during production.

The mark alerts Wendell and Wild, identifying Kat as their "hell maiden", and they appear to her in a dream and make an empty promise to revive her parents if she summons them to the world of the living.

Kat steals a teddy bear named Bearzebub from Helley's desk and goes to her parent's grave, along with Raúl Cocolotl, Marianna's child and a trans boy, to serve as her witness.

After the zombie council approves the Klaxons' plans and pays Bests, Wendell, and Wild with a bag full of money, Siobhan discovers her parents' lies about the conditions of their prisons.

Helley and Manberg make Kat undergo a ritual called "soul binding", confronting her memories and severing her allegiance with Wendell and Wild, resulting in her acknowledging that her parents' death was not her fault.

After learning of their resurrection, Bests, Wendell, and Wild kidnap Delroy and Wilma and take them to the cemetery to kill them until Kat, Raúl, Helley, and Manberg stop them.

Buffalo Belzer appears, having discovered Wendell and Wild's deception, but a mural by Raúl painted part-by-part on every house's roof in Rust Bank convinces him to make up with his sons.

Recalling that Raúl said there needs to be a witness to prove the Klaxons are guilty, Kat tells him to use the very last bit of cream to revive as many dead brew workers as he can.

The group fends off the bulldozers conducted by the zombie council set to demolish the town while Raúl revives three dead factory workers to testify to the Klaxons' crimes, resulting in their arrest.

The cream's effect begin to wear off on Delroy and Wilma, but before they die, Kat uses her precognition to give them a glimpse of the future where Rust Bank is revived, and Wendell and Wild offer them VIP passes to their afterlife fair.

[13] In an October 8, 2020 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the film's producer, Gotham Group CEO Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, elaborated on the project: "We're mid-production in Portland, Oregon, where the crew has suffered through fires, most recently, COVID and a lot of political and social unrest.

[20][21][22] Its soundtrack has been noted for its emphasis on Afro-punk bands,[23][24] and includes the songs "Ma and Pa" by Fishbone;[22][24] "Germfree Adolescents" and "I Am a Poseur" by X-Ray Spex;[22][24] "Ghost Town" by the Specials;[22][25] "River" by Ibeyi;[22] "The Wolf" by the Brat;[22] "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate;[22][25] "Young, Gifted, Black, in Leather" by Special Interest;[22] "Freakin' Out" by Death;[22][24] "Fall Asleep" by Big Joanie;[22][24] "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour;[22][25] "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio;[22][24] "Boot" by Tamar-kali;[22][24] and "Raising the Dead" and "Scream Faire" by Coulais.

The website's consensus reads: "Boasting visual marvels to match its ambitious and inclusive story, Wendell & Wild is a spooky treat for budding horror fans.

[33] Chase Hutchinson of Collider, gave a positive review, saying, "when it all comes together, Wendell & Wild ends up feeling liberating, both artistically and thematically, with top work from all involved.

"[35] Michael Rechtshaffen, of The Hollywood Reporter, further praised the film for being "a fresh, highly original concoction of playful Grand Guignol proportions.

"[38] Meagan Navarro, of Bloody Disgusting, gave a lukewarm review, writing, "it's an entertaining, if a bit overstuffed, romp through hell and back, with memorable characters and amusingly macabre hijinks.

"[39] Esther Zuckerman, writing for Vanity Fair, said the film "is slightly too convoluted with some world-building short-changed, but it twists and turns to a place of genuine emotion and a rousing call to take down the ghouls of the real world rather than the demons of the underworld.