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Wolfman (2025)
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Director: Leigh Whannell
Writers: Leigh Whannell, Corbett Tuck
Few legends in horror cinema have endured as timelessly as the lycanthropic terror of the Wolfman. "Wolfman)" breathes new life into this classic mythos, blending the essence of the original tale with contemporary storytelling and decent make-up effects. Directed by Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man, Insidious 3 & Upgrade).
In 1995, a hiker's vanishing in the remote mountains of Oregon sparked speculation about a virus linked to the region's wildlife. During a hunting trip in the area, a young Blake Lovell and his stern father, Grady, spot a mysterious humanoid creature lurking in the forest and hiding in an elevated hunting blind.Thirty years later, Blake lives in San Francisco with his daughter Ginger and workaholic wife Charlotte. Like his now-estranged father, he struggles to control his temper, which strains his marriage. One day, he receives a death certificate for Grady, who went missing, and the keys to his childhood home. He vacations there to mend his relationship with Charlotte.
Terror ensues when something attacks them on the way to the farm. A creature drives them off the road, scratches Blake's arm, and drags Derek away. Blake frantically leads his family to the house, turning on the generator and barricading the entrance to protect them from the monster outside. With his arm bloody and infected, Blake starts to show signs of illness: losing teeth, sweating profusely, and experiencing noise sensitivity. Hearing the creature, he puts his ear to a side door, only for the monster to grab his foot through the pet door and injure him further before Charlotte stops it by hitting it with a hammer.
Blake and the other werewolf fight until the other one is dead. There is a nice twist where Blake realizes his dad is the other werewolf. Blake begs Charlotte to put him down, and she does.
Wolf Man is another modern day reinvention of a classic universal monster from Leigh Whannell that has a strong idea on how to reframe it's titular creature by turning it into a metaphor for toxic masculinity/generational trauma and the inspirations are lovingly homaged but unfortunately this one just burns too slowly and feels too rough around the edges to fully cohere like this concept should despite some great individual moments.
Christopher Abbott is really good as a full time father trying his best to be a good dad even as he struggles with his own upbringing and desperately wants to prevent the cycle repeating itself. As he (very) slowly morphs into a monster he does a good job of retaining some humanity as it begins to disappear visually. Julia Garner gains agency as it goes along and is very convincing when it comes to looking terrified.
Leigh Whannell's direction does some inventive things throughout however when compared to his previous two efforts it undoubtedly feels like a big step down. The opening is really effective and rife with tension plus there's a couple of well crafted scares afterwards. Stefan Duscio's cinematography retains some of that Upgrade energy even if it's too few and far between and the sound design does a fantastic job of communicating Abbott's shifting senses.
Writers: Leigh Whannell, Corbett Tuck
Few legends in horror cinema have endured as timelessly as the lycanthropic terror of the Wolfman. "Wolfman)" breathes new life into this classic mythos, blending the essence of the original tale with contemporary storytelling and decent make-up effects. Directed by Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man, Insidious 3 & Upgrade).
In 1995, a hiker's vanishing in the remote mountains of Oregon sparked speculation about a virus linked to the region's wildlife. During a hunting trip in the area, a young Blake Lovell and his stern father, Grady, spot a mysterious humanoid creature lurking in the forest and hiding in an elevated hunting blind.Thirty years later, Blake lives in San Francisco with his daughter Ginger and workaholic wife Charlotte. Like his now-estranged father, he struggles to control his temper, which strains his marriage. One day, he receives a death certificate for Grady, who went missing, and the keys to his childhood home. He vacations there to mend his relationship with Charlotte.
Terror ensues when something attacks them on the way to the farm. A creature drives them off the road, scratches Blake's arm, and drags Derek away. Blake frantically leads his family to the house, turning on the generator and barricading the entrance to protect them from the monster outside. With his arm bloody and infected, Blake starts to show signs of illness: losing teeth, sweating profusely, and experiencing noise sensitivity. Hearing the creature, he puts his ear to a side door, only for the monster to grab his foot through the pet door and injure him further before Charlotte stops it by hitting it with a hammer.
Blake and the other werewolf fight until the other one is dead. There is a nice twist where Blake realizes his dad is the other werewolf. Blake begs Charlotte to put him down, and she does.
Wolf Man is another modern day reinvention of a classic universal monster from Leigh Whannell that has a strong idea on how to reframe it's titular creature by turning it into a metaphor for toxic masculinity/generational trauma and the inspirations are lovingly homaged but unfortunately this one just burns too slowly and feels too rough around the edges to fully cohere like this concept should despite some great individual moments.
Christopher Abbott is really good as a full time father trying his best to be a good dad even as he struggles with his own upbringing and desperately wants to prevent the cycle repeating itself. As he (very) slowly morphs into a monster he does a good job of retaining some humanity as it begins to disappear visually. Julia Garner gains agency as it goes along and is very convincing when it comes to looking terrified.
Leigh Whannell's direction does some inventive things throughout however when compared to his previous two efforts it undoubtedly feels like a big step down. The opening is really effective and rife with tension plus there's a couple of well crafted scares afterwards. Stefan Duscio's cinematography retains some of that Upgrade energy even if it's too few and far between and the sound design does a fantastic job of communicating Abbott's shifting senses.
Trivia
- Leigh Whannell revealed that he drew inspiration from David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly (1986) when he was crafting his take on this classic werewolf story. He explained: "What The Fly did that a lot of other practical-effects-driven horror movies from that time did not do was bring the tragedy out of these practical effects. It wasn't a joke in The Fly. It was there to illustrate someone who was dying of an illness. I was like, 'I've got to do that.' It's not about being funny or icky or gory. This is about the tragedy of the human body falling apart." Whannell also revealed that Julia Garner is "the emotional compass of this film, and she's going to be what Shelley Duvall was in The Shining (1980). You don't get scared in The Shining without Shelley Duvall. And so I was like, 'I've got to find someone who can drink up the audience's empathy.' And she did an incredible job."
- Leigh Whannell warned that not everyone will love the way the Wolf Man looks, but those that do will be overjoyed. In a new interview with SFX Magazine, Whannell revealed that the creature design is all practical with no CGI involved. "I think you have to bring a new approach," Whannell said of his approach to Wolf Man. "Maybe there are some people that won't like it because they love the traditional wolf too much, but that was the approach I wanted." Whannell then confirmed that his Wolf Man is "100 percent practical, all make-up there are no CGI elements." However, Whannell clarified that the practical costume and makeup fans saw at the 2024 Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando was not his creation. "Things slipped through the cracks, and it was like, 'Oh, they're doing this promotion for Wolf Man at a theme park, but it doesn't look right,'" he said. "We shouldn't be putting that out in the world, because people are going to think that's what our wolf looks like.' My only response is to say, 'Look, that doesn't represent what we're doing.' All I can do is wait for the movie to come out. Then hopefully people will be like, 'Oh, I see what they were doing.'"
- Leigh Whannell warned that not everyone will love the way the Wolf Man looks, but those that do will be overjoyed. In a new interview with SFX Magazine, Whannell revealed that the creature design is all practical with no CGI involved. "I think you have to bring a new approach," Whannell said of his approach to Wolf Man. "Maybe there are some people that won't like it because they love the traditional wolf too much, but that was the approach I wanted." Whannell then confirmed that his Wolf Man is "100 percent practical, all make-up there are no CGI elements." However, Whannell clarified that the practical costume and makeup fans saw at the 2024 Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando was not his creation. "Things slipped through the cracks, and it was like, 'Oh, they're doing this promotion for Wolf Man at a theme park, but it doesn't look right,'" he said. "We shouldn't be putting that out in the world, because people are going to think that's what our wolf looks like.' My only response is to say, 'Look, that doesn't represent what we're doing.' All I can do is wait for the movie to come out. Then hopefully people will be like, 'Oh, I see what they were doing.'"
Make-up Tests
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