THE STORY – Family man Blake relocates from San Francisco to Oregon with his workaholic wife Charlotte and daughter Ginger after inheriting his childhood home, left vacant following his estranged father’s mysterious disappearance and presumed death. At the farmhouse at night during a full moon, the family is attacked by a werewolf that claws Blake’s arm. They barricade themselves inside the home, but soon Blake begins to transform into something horrifying, jeopardizing the safety of his wife and daughter.
THE CAST – Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Matilda Firth & Sam Jaeger
THE TEAM – Leigh Whannell (Director/Writer) & Corbett Tuck (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 103 Minutes
Director Leigh Whannel’s last film, “The Invisible Man,” is memorable for two big reasons. One: it was the last film many saw in theaters before the COVID shutdown. And two: it’s damn good. Now, Whannel is back with another reimagining of a Universal monster, the “Wolf Man.” And like “The Invisible Man,” this film uses the otherworldly horror on screen as a metaphor for real-life trauma. Horror has always been one of the best methods for filmmakers to turn internalized terrors into physicalized monsters, and with “Wolf Man,” Whannel uses the titular creature and his prerequisite transformation to symbolize the fear of adopting the worst traits of one’s parents. A worthy intention, to be sure, but there’s only one problem – he forgot to make a movie that isn’t dull.
The eventual wolf man in question is Blake (Christopher Abbott), the loving father of a young girl named Ginger (Matilda Firth). Blake dotes on Ginger, working hard to be a more attentive, caring parent than his intense, cold father was. Conversely, Blake’s wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) worries that she and Ginger aren’t as close as they should be. One day, Blake receives word that his father, who had disappeared into the dense Oregon woods, has been declared officially deceased by the state. The family uses this grim occasion to set out on an unexpected trip to Blake’s late father’s farmhouse deep in the forest. But before they can even make it to the homestead, the family is attacked by a strange creature that leaves a deep gash on Blake’s arm. Upon finally making it to the farm, Blake begins slowly succumbing to a mysterious illness that starts changing him in strange, seemingly supernatural ways.
With a movie called “Wolf Man,” the audience is going to be eagerly awaiting the arrival of the monster. Here, the change is more gradual than in most werewolf movies, with the first stages of Blake’s transformation manifesting as mental rather than physical. His senses gradually heighten, which the film uses as an opportunity to show off its impressive sound mix. From the very beginning of the movie, the sound effects envelop the audience in the world of the film. Once Blake starts morphing, viewers are drawn into his perspective thanks to clever aural work that lets the audience feel as disoriented by Blake’s new abilities as the character himself. The film’s smartest decision is the “wolf vision” that it deploys to put the audience quite literally in Blake’s head. Sounds are distorted, colors change, and the world suddenly gets brighter to mimic the wolf-man’s ability to see in the dark. It’s a great way of making audiences understand the change in perspective that Blake’s condition brings.
Unfortunately, this shift in color and luminescence only highlights just how dimly lit the rest of the movie is. Most of the film takes place at night, but that’s no excuse for how difficult so much of it is to see. Blake’s big final moment of transformation takes place outside, but it’s frustratingly hard to even make out all of the impressive effects being used (it also begs the question – where is the full moon? Or is he just not that type of werewolf?). And it’s not just the outdoor scenes that are indiscernible. One important brawl takes place in a fully lit house, and it’s tough to tell the two fighters apart because of the film’s non-specific visual stylings.
Thankfully, the film eschews obvious CGI in favor of practical makeup effects. This helps keep the more human elements of Blake present, even as he becomes less and less recognizable. The execution of the makeup is beyond impressive, and it’s only helped by the way in which more and more makeup is applied to Abbott in deliberate steps rather than all at once. This choice makes it more believable that Charlotte and Ginger would continue to cling to the hope that his ailment is only temporary and that the Blake they know and love might eventually return to them.
Abbott’s physical work as he descends into animalism is excellent, and his bond with Firth feels genuinely, lovingly, paternal. However, he and Garner aren’t very believable as a couple. The chemistry is just not there. Garner plays scared well, but besides a few mentions of the stresses of her career, there’s not much to her character with which she can play, leading to a performance that lacks dimension from the talented actress.
“Wolf Man” leans too heavily on its central metaphor and original lycanthropic concepts, failing to craft a truly scary film. Occasionally, Whannel uses clever blocking and camera placement to evoke brief startling moments, but the film spends too much time dawdling in inaction while never building appropriate tension. Unlike its snarling central character, “Wolf Man” is toothless.