When it seemed Universal and Blumhouse would be taking a different approach to rebooting their classic movie monsters, it was only a matter of time before we got a proper remake of The Wolfman. There’s something scary about a man turning into a beast on a full moon. Within the horror genre, everybody loves the 1941 original with Lon Chaney Jr. Yet if anyone remembers the 2010 version starring Benicio del Toro, it was one of the biggest box office bombs for the studio despite winning an Oscar for its makeup. What gave Wolf Man a leg up is having director Leigh Whannell, who successfully did a great remake of The Invisible Man in 2020. This would make for a thrilling time since taking the character in modern times makes it scarier. Atlas, Wolf Man proves lightning doesn’t strike twice for the filmmaker.
What’s the Story: Growing up in the remote Oregon mountains, Blake Levell (Christopher Abbott) had a disciplined relationship with his father, Grady (Sam Jaeger), which increased more after a mysterious creature lurked in the forest. Thirty years later, he is now a struggling writer in San Francisco, trying to have a steady relationship with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth), which seems to be strained. After hearing the news of his father being declared dead after he went missing, Blake decides to take his family on vacation to his childhood farm home in the hopes of patching up their relationship. But while almost there, the family is attacked by a strange animal swerving off the road, crashing into a tree, and eventually scratching Blake’s arm. Once they seek shelter in the farmhouse, Blake becomes ill quickly, and he sees himself changing in ways he couldn’t imagine.
Similar to The Invisible Man‘s exploration of abuse and toxic relationships, Wolf Man takes an unexpected turn by focusing on parenthood in the midst of danger. This departure from the typical werewolf lore, with its full moons and silver bullets, is surprising and adds a new layer of intrigue when the lore is reinterpreted in a specific location. The opening will instantly hook anyone on Whannell’s knack for creating a tense atmosphere while exploring Blake’s past. But once the family is terrorized by something in the dark lurking outside the home, the story won’t do any favors since it takes place in one night. We see Blake slowly transform, and most of the time is devoted to him changing after he gets infected, which isn’t what most of us went into wanting. It offers some creative ideas, with him having this “Wolfvision” that causes his sound and surroundings to be distorted whenever someone talks to him, making the viewer enter his mind that has us worry about what’s going on. The sound quality, in general, is a win in how his senses change.
With the focus on Blake turning over the course of the night, the film gets surprisingly dull with a relatively short runtime. It’s very light on the number of scares when they’re primarily predictable or too hard to make out from the dim cinematography. And even when I tried to care for the family to survive when their husband/ dad turned into a monster, I get what they’re saying about how one tries his damnest not to transfer generational trauma to another, the stupid decisions these people make, along with not giving them a ton of development, don’t make things easier. Why would anyone hide on top of a greenhouse? It’s giving off more of a body horror vibe like The Fly than anything else. To any credit to any horror movie like this, the practical effects work in its favor. Except when it came to the reveal of the Wolfman, that had me worried after a leaked photo from Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights caught people off guard. What we got here with the design was better but not what I envisioned.
Christopher Abbott’s performance was good because of Blake’s challenges to protect himself from his family. Matilda Firth does a fine job of convincing how frightening she is despite initially coming off as a bit annoying. As much as I like her in anything, Julia Garner had to be the weakest since something about her felt miscast, and she couldn’t generate the same level of frights as her younger co-star. It’s easy to buy into the loving father-daughter bonding early on, as Ginger is closer to Blake than Charlotte. But the script had difficulty laying on the emotions that’ll lead to a predictably profound climax. Speaking on that more, this wasn’t trying to be clever about a twist halfway through. I saw it coming; it wasn’t even a surprise with its foreshadowing, leaving the audience disappointed and unchallenged.
As someone who likes simplicity, this should’ve been more effective. Understandably, Wolf Man wouldn’t hold a candle to greats like The Invisible Man or An American Werewolf in London. Still, as a follow-up to the former, it comes up underwhelming. Whannell’s approach to making it modern sold me with great elements sprinkled in, but it’s gonna take a while for another tale of this classic monster to get audiences talking again. After a rough year for Blumhouse, this is not a great start to what will be their most significant line-up yet.
In the end, Wolf Man makes a promise with its tension and solid elements that separate this from other reimaginings. But the overall experience makes for a disappointing reboot that left me wanting more regarding scares and emotional stakes. It’s a typical January horror flick that didn’t meet expectations.
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