WOLF MAN (2025)

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Leigh Whannell
Cast: Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Matilda Firth, Sam Jaeger 
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: NC16 (Horror and Violence)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 16 January 2025

Synopsis: What if someone you loved became something else? From Blumhouse and visionary writer-director LEIGH WHANNELL, the creators of the chilling modern monster tale The Invisible Man, comes a terrifying new lupine nightmare: Wolf Man. Golden Globe nominee CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT (Poor Things, It Comes at Night) stars as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead. With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Emmy winner JULIA GARNER; Ozark, Inventing Anna), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (MATLIDA FIRTH; Hullraisers, Coma). But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without. 

Movie Review:

The Universal Classic Monsters were a big thing. Creatures like Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy were making a name for themselves as a media franchise based on a series of horror movies produced by Universal Pictures between the 1910s to 1950s. Just mention any of these monsters and you will have a mental image of their forboding presence.

In 2017, the Universal Monsters characters were supposed to be part of Dark Universe, a shared cinematic universe (no prizes for guessing that the successful Marvel Cinematic Universe was a big influence). It was an exciting idea – imagine Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Invisible Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon fighting it out on the streetscapes of London.

The studio had big plans. With the introduction of Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy (2017) starring Tom Cruise (as the hero, of course) and Sofia Boutella as the titular monster, Universal also announced that big stars like Javier Bardem and Johnny Depp were slated to join the franchise. But alas, The Mummy flopped both commercially and critically and all plans were put on hold.

All’s not gone though, because Leigh Whannell delivered a well received The Invisible Man in 2020, there seemed to be interest in bringing back the Dark Universe. And so we have this reboot of George Waggner’s The Wolf Man (1941) After some shuffling of the original cast and crew, Whannell eventually became the director, with Christopher Abbott howling it up to play the hairy monster.

Abbott plays Blake Lovell, a man who grew up in the remote mountainous region of Oregon. The movie begins with a young Blake going on a hunting trip with his father, which ends with a sighting of a mysterious animal like human creature. Next time we see Blake, he is married to Charlotte (Julia Garner) and has a cute daughter. Things are not going well for Blake, as he has anger management issues and his relationship with Charlotte isn’t too good either.

When Blake receives a notification that his father is dead and gets a chance to visit his home in Oregon, he suggests a family trip with the intention of bringing the family closer. However, a road accident happens, triggering a series of events that will lead to, yes you’ve guessed it, Blake becoming a Wolf Man.

Viewers who are expecting campy horror would need to look elsewhere. Whannell’s reboot of the classic takes a slow burn approach to explore the psyche of the movie’s characters. You will sympathise with Blake as the poor guy slowly turns into a creature that cannot communicate with his wife and daughter. First he loses his teeth, then he vomits a severed finger, and at one point he begins chewing off flesh from his arm. He becomes ultra sensitive to light and noise in the dark, and the filmmakers presents this in a very interesting way. Of course, our protagonist also starts turning into a hideous creature, thanks to the makeup team.

While the transformation sounds grotesque, the movie restrains itself to exploit scares, and that perhaps is the best part of the monster movie, as it focuses on the human element instead of bombarding audiences with loud and showy computer generated effects.

Movie Rating:

(A slow-burning horror movie that takes its time to transform the sympathetic protagonist into a Wolf Man)

Review by John Li