Wolf Man Review: "A frightening and heartrending new horror take on an enduring monster"

Director Leigh Whannell has established himself as a safe pair of hands for genre filmmaking and Universal and Blumhouse’s Wolf Man has proven itself the perfect new horror project for him to sink his teeth into. A more than worthy entry into the stable of Universal monster reimaginings, and a second triumph for Whannell following his bold, blood-chilling take on The Invisible Man in 2020, Wolf Man is an effective and affecting werewolf movie that both wears its heart on its sleeve and sets out to terrify in equal measure.

Christopher Abbott stars as Blake Lovell, a husband and father who inherits his estranged dad’s Oregon farm and takes his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and adoring young daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) for a much needed break to his rural childhood home. But after the family is attacked by a vicious creature, they must barricade themselves inside the remote farmhouse for the night and, once Blake begins to behave strangely under the effects of a new mysterious ‘sickness’, must fight both the terror within as well as what is prowling the forests that surround them.

From the opening titles that explain about missing hikers and indigenous legends about something called the ‘Face of the Wolf’, Whannell’s intentions to craft a movie that harks back to werewolf pictures that have come before – like 1981’s The Howling and An American Werewolf in London and 1994’s Wolf – are clear. But the director and his writing partner Corbett Tuck have something fresh up their sleeves along with the nostalgia, leaning into themes of mortality, parental responsibility, genetic trauma, marital miscommunication, and the tension between urban and rural perspectives. Along with its solid focus on the body horror that comes with the monstrous transformation, Wolf Man’s emotional core and inherent tragedy gives it more in common with David Cronenberg’s The Fly than fluffier fare like Teen Wolf.

Monstrous transformation

Whannell wanted Wolf Man to honor artists like Jack P. Pierce, the legendary creator of Lon Chaney Jr’s wolf in the 1941 Universal classic The Wolf Man, and he worked with hair and makeup designer Jane O’Kane and prosthetic designer Arjen Tuiten to create Christopher Abbott’s look in the film. The result both presents the unique stages of Blake’s transformation into the titular beast and gives Abbott the freedom to perform through his makeup.

The werewolf transformation is gradual but brutal. Blake’s mood darkens, he sweats and growls, his senses heighten, his jaw juts and his eyes blacken, his skin mottles and his hair falls out, and once the sickness truly takes hold, those bodily comparisons to The Fly and An American Werewolf in London are too sickening to ignore.

Whannell’s longtime collaborators cinematographer Stefan Duscio and sound design artists P.K. Hooker and Will Files, along with the film’s VFX team, also lend their substantial talents to our experience of Blake’s transformation. Through what the filmmakers have dubbed ‘Wolf Vision’, they show the audience the creature’s perspective as he begins to perceive everything more sharply, especially in the inky darkness that suffuses the movie.

The main action of Wolf Man takes place all in one night and its use of darkness is one of the things that makes the film’s scares work so well. Paired with Duscio’s mischievous camera lens – utilised previously to terrifying effect in The Invisible Man – the use of shadow, and mere glimpses of loping or crawling figures through black windows and in dirty mirrors, will set your canine teeth on edge from the outset. When and if the lights do come on, it’s a genuine relief.

As well as scanning a deserted treeline or pulling the audience’s attention to something just behind the primary action on screen, the camera also tilts in sickly fashion, for example when Blake’s perception shifts and especially during one particularly effective sequence involving a truck and a tree. This makes the film a woozy, disorienting experience, and the unsettling and often near-deafening sound design plus drum-laden music by Benjamin Wallfisch only add to the off-kilter vibes.

Practical magic

Scares come thick and fast, from masterfully crafted tension and solid jump scares to wince-inducing body horror and sudden bursts of violence. Major set-pieces, like one that takes place on the precarious roof of a greenhouse and another that involves a wolf man-on-wolf man battle of tooth and claw, see both actors and stunt performers taking on beautifully choreographed action, proving that it’s not only the makeup that Whannell wanted to keep practical.

Beyond impressive stunt work, the performances from Abbott, Garner and Firth are excellent, grounding the fantastical elements of this monster tale in a heartbreaking narrative about what can happen when someone you love becomes unrecognizable. Abbott’s Blake is a believably dedicated father and frustrated son and husband, and his physical embodiment of the beast is both imposing and sad. Garner also wows, once again employing her by-now-well-known talents to portray an outwardly strong professional woman who must harness her inner maternal instincts to protect her daughter from unknowable horrors.

The film may veer into softness and sentimentality a couple of times too often, especially at the very end, lessening somewhat the more visceral impact of the beast beyond its effect on the Lovell family, but some nods and homages that bring moments of ‘if you know you know’ levity are welcome.

Wolf Man is a superb adaptation of a well loved horror classic, a frightening and heartrending new take on an enduring monster, and a brilliantly crafted update to the werewolf subgenre.

Wolf Man is out on January 17, 2025 and available in theaters. For more upcoming movies, check out our guide to upcoming horror movies.