Wolf Man movie review

The Hollywood studio Universal Pictures made cinema history with its Universal Monsters. Between 1923 and 1960 they dominated the horror genre with up to seven films per year, producing such timeless classics as “Dracula” (1931), “Frankenstein” (1931), “The Mummy” (1932), “The Invisible Man” (1933 ) or “The Wolf Man” (1941). However, in the first attempt to uncover this film-historical treasure, those responsible went way overboard when they wanted to use the Dark Universe to create a kind of monster MCU made up of super-expensive CGI blockbusters full of superstars like Johnny Depp or Javier Bardem.

The very first attempt, “The Mummy” with Tom Cruise, was so badly panned by critics and audiences despite solid box-office results that the mega-project immediately collapsed. Instead, a new attempt followed three years later – this time with the support of producer Jason Blum, who succeeds like no other in reliably generating cinema successes, even with manageable budgets. Since his breakthrough with “Paranormal Activity” (2007), he has been responsible for “The Purge”, “Insidious”, “Sinister”, “Five Nights At Freddy's”, “M3GAN” and “Halloween”, to name just a small selection of his hits to name.

A mega hit right from the first attempt

“Saw” creator Leigh Whannell took over the script and direction of the reboot, which had a much more modest budget of seven million dollars – and so “The Invisible Man” was created, in which Elisabeth Moss, as the widow of a toxic, control-addicted tech billionaire, continues to fight against him even after his supposed death have to defend him. A damn nasty shocker that totally hit the zeitgeist! The worldwide box office of an already grandiose $130 million would probably have been significantly higher if the cinemas hadn't had to close a few weeks after the release due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

So it's no wonder that this time it's not over after just one film, as was the case with the buried Dark Universe, but instead Leigh Whannell is allowed to follow up with a budget that's about four times higher: “Wolf Man” has a number of parallels to “The Invisible Man,” from the limited setting to the themes surrounding (toxic) masculinity. At the same time, it also seems much more classic – and not just because it takes place mainly in a remote house in the wilderness instead of in a high-tech smart villa. Despite a series of extremely well-staged scenes, it remains questionable whether “Wolf Man” can develop a similarly strong commercial and pop cultural impact as “The Invisible Man.”

Charlotte (Julia Garner) fights for her husband, even if Blake (Christopher Abbot) no longer looks as attractive as he did before his encounter with a wolf-like creature.

Charlotte (Julia Garner) fights for her husband, even if Blake (Christopher Abbot) no longer looks as attractive as he did before his encounter with a wolf-like creature.

After growing up in the Oregon wilderness with his extremely strict hunter father Grady (Sam Jaeger), currently unemployed author Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) now lives with his own family in San Francisco. While the relationship with his daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) could hardly be better, there is a crisis in the relationship with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner), who is increasingly becoming exhausted in her job as a journalist.

The letter comes at just the right time, in which Grady, who has been missing for years, is now officially declared dead. So Blake has to take care of the inheritance and quickly takes his family with him. However, an accident occurs shortly after arrival when a hairy creature suddenly blocks the road. The trio is still able to escape, but the following night Blake's body begins to change, as if he were infected with a rapidly progressing disease…

The sound of the wild

The first shot of “Wolf Man” shows an army of ants attacking a wasp. A disturbing image in itself, but the effect is heightened above all by the exaggerated sound of the insects' fighting noises, which are hardly perceptible to humans. Leigh Whannell always plays very effectively with such sudden spikes in sound that reflect the heightened sensory perception of his protagonist. The highlight is a tarantula that stomps loudly up a wallpaper as if it were Godzilla on a tour of destruction through Tokyo.

Visually, “Wolf Man” also scores with strong ideas again and again, for example right at the beginning when young Blake (Zac Chandler) goes hunting with his father and is surprised by a wolf man. When the two barricade themselves in a perch, instead of the attacker, all you see is his breathing in the cold forest air. And when the camera suddenly assumes a position on the roof of the furniture transporter during a spectacular car accident, as if one were adjusting the perspective in the menu of a “GTA” game, this staging idea also develops an effect that is as surprising as it is effective.

In our imagination, when Blake gnaws his own arm, there would be loud sounds of shock from all sides in the audience!

In our imagination, when Blake gnaws his own arm, there would be loud sounds of shock from all sides in the audience!

At the core of “Wolf Man” is a pretty hairy couples therapy: At first there is a crisis between Blake and Charlotte because, like so many married couples, they talk past each other. But ironically, the less they can actually understand each other, the closer they become: because the further Blake's infection progresses, the more he changes his perception of the world – until Charlotte's language is just an echoing babble to him, and vice versa.

In “Wolf Man” there are several moments in which the camera circles around the heads of Blake and Charlotte in an attempt to communicate. On these trips, the design of the world, acoustically and visually, always adapts to the perspective from which we are currently viewing the event. When the camera is behind Blake's head, his night vision abilities make everything glow fluorescently, while the background noise suddenly rumbles loudly, but her distorted words are difficult to understand.

The last kick is missing

Once again, different forms of masculinity are being negotiated. In contrast to the toxic antagonist from “The Invisible Man”, who you love to hate with all your heart, you keep your fingers crossed for Blake that he can resist the animalistic urges that are at least metaphorically inherited from his father for as long as possible. But it just doesn't pack the same punch over distance. Even though both films have a deliberately limited setting, “Wolf Man” feels much more like a chamber piece, especially in the middle section.

The carefully interspersed shock effects work, especially when the smeared windshield of an old truck comes into play. But in contrast to “The Invisible Man”, the one big kick that immediately makes it clear why the classic had to be reissued again in 2025 is missing – and so in the long run one or two hardly disputed lengths creep in.

Conclusion: After hitting the zeitgeist with the radically modernized “The Invisible Man,” Leigh Whannell is taking a much more cautious approach to his second update of a universal monster. Despite strong acting performances, “Wolf Man” drags a little, especially in the middle part, although some brilliant directorial ideas and, above all, the outstanding sound design still make the horror drama worth seeing.