REVIEW — “Wolf Man”

Similar to his riveting modern take on The Invisible Man but not nearly as chilling, director Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man is a uniquely somber take on the classic Universal monster that, while tense and thrilling, lacks real bite.

The Blumhouse film opens in 1995, deep in the remote Oregon wilderness where overbearing, military father Grady (Sam Jaeger) awakens his young son Blake (Zac Chandler) to go deer hunting in the misty forest in an attempt to instill fear and survival instincts into his boy. While there, they encounter a mysterious and terrifying beast that chases them into a deer hide. Thirty years later, Blake (Christopher Abbott) is now living in the city as a stay-at-home dad to spirited daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth), who he shares with workaholic wife Charlotte (Julia Garner). The couple have a strained marriage and no longer know how to communicate.

After receiving word that his estranged father has been declared legally dead after going missing, Blake proposes the family accompany him and a rented U-Haul to visit his inherited childhood home in an attempt to reconnect with his wife and rekindle their marriage for the sake of their daughter. But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen creature. With Blake injured, the family escape to the cabin and barricade themselves inside as the monster prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, forcing Charlotte to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without.

The Universal Pictures release presents an enticing dilemma: There’s a monster outside their door trying to kill them, but Blake is also infected and slowly turning into a monster inside. Can he resist his primal affliction long enough to his family, or will he succumb to the beast within? In a creative if not disappointing choice, Whannell and wife/co-writer Corbett Tuck avoid the werewolf lore we’ve come to understand. Absent are any mentions of silver bullets, full moons, or even werewolves. Their curse of the wolf man is treated here as more of a disease known as Hills Fever, or as native legend calls it, “The Face of the Wolf.”

Fortunately, the film wisely puts an emphasis on practical effects over CG, something 2010’s Benicio Del Toro led The Wolfman failed to do, much to its detriment. However, unlike classics like An American Werewolf in London, Wolf Man’s transformation is slow and prolonged, not sudden and alarming. Beginning subtly with heightened senses of smell and sound, Blake’s transformation process turns into a visually surreal dreamlike state where communication breaks down even further between the couple. The film’s perspectives then shift between Blake’s sweaty descent into lycanthropy and Charlotte’s confused and horrified reaction to it. As Blake completes his transformation, the film’s focus then fully turns to Charlotte. Unfortunately, her character is much less developed and, in turn, audiences are less connected to her. She also lacks the bond that Blake shares with Ginger—which is the true heart of the film.

Blake truly takes his job as a father and protector seriously and rejects that type of toxic parenting that he was exposed to. Not wanting to be the type of dad to her that his father was to him, Blake apologizes to Ginger after scolding her, telling her, “Sometimes, as a Daddy, you’re so afraid of your kids getting scars that you become the thing that scars them.” The pair’s shared connection is so strong and deep that Ginger can “read” her father’s mind to guess what he’s thinking, the answer to which is always that he loves his little girl. You get the sense that Blake will do anything to protect his family, even if there is a monster growing inside of him.

The film’s message may attempt to equate lycanthropy to an inherited mental illness or a bubbling generational rage that gets passed down from our parents, but, the truth is, werewolves were an afterthought in this wolf man movie. This film could have been about zombies or vampires or any other type of diseased monster. I really wanted a ferociously heartbreaking daddy-daughter horror story about the agony of a selfless father cursed with the tragic fate of becoming a danger to his beloved family, and Whannell nearly delivers such a film, but comes up short. It’s frustrating because the heartstrings are right there for the tugging. Instead of self sacrifice, we get mercy kill.

While the film features an excellent Saw callback that answers the question, “Would a trapped animal really could chew its own limb off to escape?, ultimately, Wolf Man is a slog—one long transformation scene that is too slowly paced to maintain tension and features an underwhelming creature reveal with twists that are drawn out and predictable. What could have been a ferocious family tragedy, ends up clawing its own heart out.

In a moment of unintentional self awareness just before the film drags towards its final shot, young Ginger exclaims “He just wants it to be over.” Wow, she really is a mind reader. 2.5/5

Rated R for bloody violent content, grisly images, and some language and with a running time of 1 hour and 43 minutes, Wolf Man opens in theaters on January 17, 2025.