Dir: Leigh Whannell
Cast: Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Sam Jaeger
Leigh Whannell’s psychological interpretation of the classic movie monster provides a fresh perspective, but ultimately falls short due to a lack of scares and originality
Back in 2017, Universal Pictures looked to cash in on their own cinematic universe, following the monumental success of the MCU. The studio released a photograph showcasing a collection of big-name talents including Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe and Javier Bardem, to promote their planned Dark Universe, an expansive franchise based on the Universal Monsters brand. Back in the early days of cinema, the classic movie monsters served as the Avengers of their time, with countless crossovers and side projects, that pitted the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy against each other.
Kickstarting the ill-fated Dark Universe, was the poorly misjudged action-horror “The Mummy” (2017), which starred Cruise and Crowe, with the latter donning the role of Dr. Jekyll, who would be a recurring character throughout the franchise. The film was a critical and financial bomb, which saw rumoured upcoming projects starring the likes of Dwayne Johnson and Johnny Depp swiftly cancelled. While the Dark Universe may be dead and buried, Universal have still not given up the idea of bringing back the classic movie monsters that made the studio a household name a century ago.
Some hope was restored in 2020, when Australian filmmaker Leigh Whannell released his modern interpretation of the classic “Invisible Man” character, famously portrayed by Claude Raines in 1933 original. Previously known for creating horror franchises “Saw” and “Insidious”, Whannell brought a modern and fresh dimension to the classic H. G. Wells novel, focusing on modern technology and domestic abuse, with Elisabeth Moss‘ central protagonist forever living in paranoia having been stalked by “The Invisible Man”, whom she believed to be her abusive, tech guru ex-boyfriend.
The film was a huge success, and while we have seen some Universal horror movies since, such as vampire movies “Renfield” (2023), “Abigail” (2024) and “Nosferatu” (2024), it has taken almost five years for Whannell to return to expand on his own “Dark Universe”, this time re-imagining the classic “Wolf Man” tale. Originally pitched by Ryan Gosling and director Derek Cianfrance, the project was ultimately shelved in 2023, before Whannell was brought back on board, ready for principal photography at the start of 2024.
Whannell’s adaptation starts off strong as we are introduced to a father and son out hunting in the remote Oregon wilderness. The stern patriarch Grady (Sam Jaeger) warns his son Blake (Zac Chandler) of the many dangers in the world, while the pair track down the local deer. Following arguably the movie’s only scene of real tension, the pair find themselves hiding in an elevating hunting blind having been detected by mysterious and antagonistic humanoid creature.
Thirty years later, a now adult Blake (Christopher Abbott) receives a death certificate for his estranged father, who went missing years prior, as well as keys to his childhood home back in the Oregon mountains. Struggling for inspiration as a writer, Blake spends most of his time being a stay-at-home father to his daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth), while workaholic wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) serves as the families primary source of income. Blake proposes that the family venture out to his late dad’s cabin, to ease Charlotte’s workplace stress, and attempt to rekindle the couple’s increasingly strained marriage.
However, before the couple can work on their marital problems, they find themselves in a fight for survival when they are sent careening off the mountain road, when a familiar humanoid creature darts in front of their vehicle. As the trio take refuge in Blake’s recently inherited cabin in the woods, the family patriarch is wounded by the creature, which as we all know from past werewolf flicks, cannot be good. While Charlotte and Ginger prepare to defend themselves from the lycanthropic threat that lurks outside, they become increasingly concerned with Blake’s physical deterioration as a full moons beams in the night sky.
Ever since the debut of the Wolf Man on the big screen back in 1941, there have been countless iterations of not just the classic Lon Chaney Jr. character, but of Werewolves in general. Like several of the classic movie monsters, the titular Lycan is often seen as a tragic character, one often oblivious to his night time activities before it is too late. The closest re-imagining of the 1941 classic came in 2010 with Joe Johnston‘s “The Wolfman”, starring Benicio del Toro as the furry protagonist, but the two most notable and critically acclaimed Werewolf films both came back in 1981, Joe Dante‘s “The Howling” and John Landis‘ self-aware, horror-comedy “An American Werewolf in London”, the latter being responsible for the inception of the Academy Award for Make-Up. Ever since the two sub-genre heavy hitters were released over 40 years ago, it seems any given werewolf movie can only be as successful as its pivotal transformation scenes, and this may explain Whannell and co-writer Corbett Tuck‘s creative decision to focus on Blake’s physical and psychological torment as he slowly transitions from loving father to violent apex predator.
On paper it is a novel idea, bringing a fresh perspective to the “Wolf Man” gimmick, however it is an approach that has been seen before, and to greater effect in David Cronenberg‘s iconic 1986 body horror “The Fly”. The gradual and grotesque body dysmorphia Jeff Goldblum‘s character, Seth Brundle, undergoes in “The Fly” is heart-breaking, as we see love interest Geena Davis helplessly assist and reassure her partner right up until he meets his visceral end. While “Wolf Man” adopts familiar elements from Cronenberg’s classic (all the way down to the finger nail removal), ultimately the chemistry between Garner and Abbott is not strong enough to have a significant emotional impact. I am a huge fan of Garner and Abbott, with both stars having chosen artistically diverse and interesting projects in recent years, but here their characters lack the depth for them to really sink their teeth into.
We find ourselves thrown into the film’s claustrophobic setup surprisingly early on, not allowing for any development between the spouses to shine before Blake’s early wolf-like symptoms start to show, and those familiar with most Werewolf flicks, including all those previously mentioned, know there is only one outcome once a character has turned.
While it may fall way short of his creative and visually superior “Invisible Man” reboot, Leigh Whannell’s “Wolf Man” does offer some stomach-churning, body horror moments, and while it may be derivative of other works, it offers something relatively fresh in terms of modern horror cinema. Whannell clearly has a great eye for direction and some interesting ideas, as seen with his amazing sci-fi actioner “Upgrade” (2018), which if you haven’t seen be sure to check it out. As for Universal and their classic movie monsters, who knows what the future holds, but having survived the test of time since the start of the 20th century, I am sure they will be around to scare viewers for years to come.
Wolf Man is now showing in UK Cinemas
Dan Loves Film 
Nice post 🎸🎸
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