“Wolf Man” follows a family of three who become trapped in a cabin after the father (Christopher Abbott) gets hurt by a wolf man and undergoes an excruciating transformation. The film serves as director Leigh Whannell’s second attempt at reimagining one of the Universal Monsters of the early 1900s after his 2020 “The Invisible Man” reboot.
The film’s premise works well on paper. It’s a story about generational trauma as Abbott’s character, Blake, must navigate fatherhood while the trauma of his father’s rough parenting and mysterious disappearance lingers. Tender moments appear as he interacts with his daughter and tries minimizing his trauma to not affect his family, all while a wolf man attack leaves him with an infection that morphs him into something monstrous. The film sets itself apart from previous werewolf films by ignoring the genre’s rules. For example, the full moon transformation and wolf men constantly remaining in their wolf form are omitted.
That being said, the film proves rough. Whannell has so many ideas that he’ll start one, barely spend time expanding it and then move on to the next idea in a heartbeat. For example, the film’s opening introduces Blake’s wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) but gives little time with them before Blake gets a letter calling him to his dad’s (Sam Jaeger) home after he is announced dead after disappearing. Because this inciting incident happens so quickly, we don’t get to explore the husband and wife’s failing marriage or the father-daughter relationship outside of one half-baked interaction. These themes become irrelevant when the wolf-chase sequences begin until the predictable first plot twist. The dialogue across the entire film also feels awkward.
Despite its script issues, the rest of the movie is mostly solid. Whannell’s usual cinematic touches remain — such as his wild camera movements, some cool sound design to show off the wolf man’s super hearing and the usage of practical effects. For example, when the father begins to grow, wolf claws and little claws poke out from underneath his fingernails, Whannell honors the unspoken rule that all werewolf films should utilize practical effects.
“Wolf Man” takes a lot of leaps and successfully attempts a few good ideas, but overall, due to the script’s rough flow and half-baked themes, it fails to deliver after the success of “The Invisible Man.” While not a horrible movie, it’s nothing special and proves disappointing compared to the rest of Whannell’s filmography.
2 ½ claws out of 5