Editor’s Note: Hey folks. Editor Jules here. Last month we got a reboot of The Wolf Man franchise with Wolf Man, directed by Leigh Whannel (Insidious Chapter 3, Upgrade and The Invisible Man). Both our Horror Head Writer Sommerleigh and our Featured Writer Alice wanted to take a bite out of the reboot, so we have two reviews for the price of one. Aren’t you all lucky? With a SPOILER ALERT let’s get wild!
Alice’s Review
I’ll probably get some flack for saying this but, firstly, I was not a fan of Leigh Whannel’s modernised take on the Universal classic, The Invisible Man (2020). For me, it was a bit too far out of the classical monster box. Over the past few years, efforts to jump start the Dark Universe in order to bring to life some of Universal Studio’s most beloved monster horrors have been met with criticism and failure, all except for Dracula Untold (2014) and the aforementioned The Invisible Man.
Because of Whannel’s success with The Invisible Man, the Australian filmmaker got another crack at another famous Universal monster, The Wolf Man. Whannel’s take would be a modern-day reboot of the 1941 classic film to be called Wolf Man, which was recently released in theaters.
The consistent theme of The Wolf Man has always been one wrought with emotion and sadness as the main character slowly loses the vestiges of his humanity and turns into a horrific, carnage-craving beast. Once infected, there’s absolutely no way to separate the man from the creature and in this form, loved ones are rendered unrecognisable.
Wolf Man (2025) chose to approach the cause of the lycanthropic transformation as being a virus rather than a supernatural curse. The film’s opening sequence is set in 1995 and mentions a hiker’s mysterious disappearance and speculations that the missing man had contracted a virus transmitted by the local animals called “Hill Fever”.
The main protagonist here is Blake Lovell, played by Christopher Abbott (The Crowded Room – 2023). When Blake was a boy, he struggled to maintain a relationship with his short-tempered father Grady (Sam Jaeger). It becomes obvious to the audience that his behaviour is a reaction to fear of an unknown danger lurking within the wilderness. During a hunting trip, they have a particularly frightening encounter with a mysterious humanoid creature that savagely dispenses a deer, causing them to seek refuge in an elevated hunting blind.
After this, the film jumps forward 30 years to a now adult Blake, who is living in San Francisco. He is now married to a work obsessed journalist Charlotte (Julia Garner) and they have a young daughter named Ginger (Matilda Firth). Blake seems to have inherited his father’s short temper, but does his utmost best to try to control it. Blake is an out-of-work writer but stays home to take care of his daughter Ginger. Due to this, they have formed a tight bond that has now become the envy of Charlotte. Blake receives the keys to his childhood home, the cabin in Oregon, after his missing father has now officially been declared dead. He encourages Charlotte to come out with him to visit the cabin along Ginger in order to spend some quality time together as a family and work on their relationship.
Their trip gets marred once the family gets attacked by a terrifying creature that scratches Blake’s arm in the process. Once they arrive at the cabin, they seek refuge inside against the beast, only to realise that Blake has now been infected, and he is now slowly turning into the very monster that is currently stalking the family.
Because so much time was dedicated to exploring the emotional range and psychological depth of the story’s characters, it suffers by offering the audience little in terms of scares. The overall design of the creature itself was a huge disappointment, despite the fact that the final transformation scene was actually quite a good effort. And spoiler alert here, but I really dug the jaw dislocation scene. I will say no more than this. Just keep an eye out for it, it’s pretty cool.
Despite the fact that Abbot’s portrayal keeps the audience emotionally invested, the unevenness of the story execution weighs down the entire film. However actress Julia Garner’s performance unfortunately fails to make her character connect with the audience. In so doing, it only contributes towards the anticlimactic final sequence.
The most unsettling aspect of the film is seeing a man who so desperately wanted to be a better father to his daughter than his father was to him slowly lose his grip on humanity. It was very important to Blake that his daughter be spared of any trauma that would mentally scar her. In the end, his efforts were in vain as she witnesses her father slowly transforming into a monster.
Wolf Man was a severely underwhelming fil. when compared to original takes on this classic Universal monster. By trying to modernise the story, it felt like all the horror elements had been sucked dry, leaving behind a trauma-infused story in its wake. It’s okay to update a story but, we must remember to be true to the underlying elements of the original, otherwise the story will just become a convoluted mess by trying to tag on too many new and unnecessary aspects to the existing story.
In conclusion, the Wolf Man just proves that rebooting a classic is clearly not an easy task to undertake. I still stand by my opinion that Wolfman (2010) is the best modern-day remake of the 1941 film. I have rewatched it many times since its release and have enjoyed it every single time.
Dark Alice’s Score: 4 out of 10
Sommer’s Review
Continuing his foray into modernizing classic movie monsters like The Invisible Man, Leigh Whannel returns, this time with Wolf Man.
Reimagined countless times in various ways, the core of this tragic monster has (mostly) remained the same with love and loss being at the centre of it all. But Whannell chooses to add a bit more to his vision as this is also a story of generational trauma and the importance of facing such emotional scars as to not pass them on.
Blake (Christopher Abbott) remembers his father as a brusque man who never showed him much care and love beyond teaching him the importance of survival. He on the other hand has a close bond with his daughter (and wife) and so it’s a bit heartbreaking to witness them lose everything to this lycanthropic curse.
Now when it comes to the design of the werewolf itself, I’m somewhat torn. On the one hand I really loved seeing the transformation from the Lycan’s point of view. His elevated hearing making a spider’s walk across a wall sound like someone running across the floor in heavy boots. His nocturnal eyesight creating a beautiful, almost dreamlike blue filter over everything he sees. But most of all, how losing his humanity robs him of his ability to understand the loving words of his family as everything they say to him sounds like gibberish from his perspective. These are the kind of touches rarely seen in werewolf movies and helped add a nice layer to the somewhat generic mythos that surrounds my favourite movie monster.
Another positive was the sound design. The gurgling, tearing sounds of ripped flesh and blood genuinely made me squirm in places and upped the ick factor quite a bit.
On the other hand, he looked more like a burn victim than a werewolf. Not enough fur for my liking as his appearance (and that of the other werewolf as well) made him look more sickly than intimidating. Which leads me to the main issue I had with this Wolf Man – it’s not scary.
Not that I scare easily or anything but I remember feeling so on edge while watching The Invisible Man. That tension is missing here in a big way. Maybe if they had killed off the mother and the daughter had to fend for herself against her father. Now that would’ve upped the stakes considerably!
So, a win in the sound design and cinematography department but not much anywhere else. While I had no issue with a smaller, more self-contained story focused on just a family of three, the screenplay suffers from a lack of tension and a feeling of underdevelopment when it came to the story and the characters. Strange considering how long this one was in the making.
I give Whannell points for trying something different with the mythology but for a lycan movie with a modern-day twist that also keeps the adrenaline flowing, I would recommend checking out Wer instead. Sorry Leigh, but this movie made me think of the atrocious 2024 The Beast Within and for that alone, I’ll have to put a silver bullet in this one.
Sommer’s Score: 5 out of 10
So, those are their reviews. What did you think of Wolf Man and how would you rate it? And you can howl at more werewolf content below:
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump. I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers’ curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. Read More
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More