Five years after he first stepped into the world of the Universal Monsters franchise, visionary writer-director Leigh Whannell is back with his adaptation of Wolf Man, co-written by Whannell and Corbett Tuck.
If you’ve read my review of Whannell’s The Invisible Man (spoiler: it’s fantastic) you might have gleaned that I’m somewhat of a mega fan. I’ve been following Whannell’s work since he and James Wan kickstarted the Saw franchise and was naturally very eager to see his latest monster movie.
As a connoisseur of horror, Whannell has the distinctly unique ability to take an established IP and ask the simple question, “What if?”. In doing so, he is able to see deep into the core of a franchise, pinpoint the areas for improvement, and then build narratives that are rich and wholly unique. Wolf Man is no exception.
Set in the remote mountains of the Pacific Northwest, Wolf Man follows Blake (Christopher Abbott) and Charlotte (Julia Garner), a married couple from San Francisco who take a summer trip to Blake’s family farm with their daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth). Blake hasn’t been to Oregon or the farm for many years, the unforgiving landscape representing a part of his life that he longed to leave behind.
When the family is attacked by a mysterious creature on their way to the farmhouse, they quickly find themselves fighting for survival in the rural rundown home as Blake begins to transform into something otherworldly. Whannell is in expert form, using the eeriness of the forest to amplify tension and fear through the use of his signature lingering shots, perfectly placed jump scares, and some very tidy bookends.
So, what exactly is different about this rendition of the Wolf Man?
It contains all the genre staples including haunting creatures, a bite that infects the main character, and a gradual transformation into a hairy monster with claws and an alarming overbite. But unlike any werewolf movie that you’ve seen before, Whannell and Tuck have written a story with an incredible amount of heart.
Developed during the pandemic lockdowns following the death of a relative, Tuck and Whannell took the concept of a werewolf transformation and asked what that process would look like if the transformation were treated like an illness, approached through the lens of a man deteriorating before his family’s eyes, slowly losing touch with his faculties until he becomes something that he can no longer recognise. Through the use of incredible special effects makeup, Abbott was given a painstaking transformation from human to wolf. This truly gave the effect of a rapid onset disease taking over the body and mind, leaving nothing but a hulking shell behind.
In tandem with Arjen Tuiten’s brilliant SFX makeup and prosthetic design, Blake’s developing condition is represented beautifully through clever sound design and visual effects. As the transformation starts to take hold, Blake’s heightened senses are shown through creepy soundwork that make faraway creatures feel unnervingly close, and the voices of his family muffled and unintelligible. Most cleverly was how the visual effects team shifted Blake’s point of view with blue and white lighting. The way it illuminated his environment effectively, showing not only how his sight was getting sharper, but how he was becoming trapped in his own body as the wolf took over.
Central to the story of Wolf Man is not only the concept of transformation as a sickness but the relationship between a father and his child. Blake and Ginger share an incredibly close bond, much closer than the relationship Blake had with his own father, and it’s this bond that is the main driver of the film.
What would you do if you unknowingly put your child in danger? What would you do if that danger was you?
As Blake begins to lose himself to the wolf, everything he does or doesn’t do is rooted in his desire to keep Ginger safe. The result is a really touching allegory for how parenthood is often a double-edged sword; you go to extreme lengths to ensure your child knows that they are loved, but sometimes those lengths will do more harm than good. Matilda Firth, the young actress that plays Ginger, has a natural and beautiful chemistry with Abbott, giving their on-screen father-daughter relationship a real authenticity that elevates this core aspect of the film.
As far as Whannell’s catalogue goes, Wolf Man is somewhat lighter on the scares than his previous work, but no less impressive for it. With two successful Universal Monster reboots under his belt, it’s safe to say that the future of the franchise is in very safe hands.
Wolf Man is in cinemas from January 16.