Horror marketing goes to the next level: Wolf Man is releasing in cinemas just days after 2025's first full moon

There's movie marketing and then there's whatever is going on with Wolf Man. The new Leigh Whannell-directed horror is roaring into cinemas just days after 2025's first full moon.

As initially flagged by Discussing Film, January 13 saw the first full moon of the calendar year – fittingly titled a Wolf Moon. Whether it's a coincidence or the result of a movie studio crunching the numbers to ensure the most timely of lunar appearances is unclear, but it's certainly got us in the mood for when Wolf Man hits theaters on January 17.

The Blumhouse production stars Christopher Abbott as Blake, who returns to his childhood home after the mysterious disappearance of his father (never a good sign, if you ask us).

Joined by his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth), Blake is soon attacked by an "unseen animal".

As per the synopsis, "As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognisable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without."

Wolf Man has received positive first reactions after early screenings, with one audience member describing the Universal horror as "terrifying."

In our own interview with director Leigh Whannell, the Wolf Man director says he felt pressure to live up to his previous film The Invisible Man.

"I can't look back at The Invisible Man and go, 'I know exactly what I did that made people like it', Whannell told GamesRadar+. "So when I was writing this, I felt this pressure of, like, 'What can I do that could match up to that?' It's that little internal critic, you know, that you have to deal with."

Keep up to date with all the things that go bump in the night with our guide to new horror movies. Then dive into a collection of fearsome nasties in our curated list of best horror movies.