Leigh Whannell is back reinventing a classic Universal horror film after his 2020 version of The Invisible Man. 1941’s The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr., gets a fresh remake with practical effects, slow transformation, and a story centred around family and generational trauma that reinvigorates the classic franchise for a contemporary audience. Whannell and co-writer Corbett Tuck take the mythology to new heights injecting it with the director’s horror film skills providing plenty of jump scares. While the dialogue is the weakest part of the film, it is more than made up for with its intense atmosphere allowing Wolf Man to stand out amongst the long lineage of Lycan stories throughout cinematic history.
Blake (Christopher Abbott) is an out-of-work writer living in San Francisco, taking on the role of primary carer of his daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) while his journalist/author wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) provides for the family financially. Blake finds out his father has been missing for some time after going into the forest on a hunting trip, and later is presumed dead. Blake inherits his remote childhood home in Oregon. Blake convinces Charlotte and Ginger to get out of the city and into a more focused family life in Oregon. The family are attacked by a creature on their way to the house causing a terrible road crash; barely making it inside, they must survive the night while the creature is constantly prowling, waiting for them.
Inside, Blake is experiencing a painful transformation into an unrecognisable and primal monster. As the intensity of his loss of humanity escalates, Charlotte must decide if the creature inside or outside is a bigger threat to her and Ginger’s safety.
While it is a fairly contained story, with the events occurring over a single day and night, there is a tenderness to the time we get to spend with this family. We are allowed a mere glimpse into their relationship and how they operate as a unit, it does leave you wanting more. There is clear tension between Blake and Charlotte before they set off to Oregon. Blake asks Charlotte “Are you happy?” If you have ever had to utter those words to your partner, you know that one of two things tends to occur immediately afterwards. This tension is reflected well in the story. Their hope that a few weeks away in isolation, allowing Charlotte to slow down at work and focus on writing her next book, will help her reconnect with Ginger who has a natural affiliation with Blake.
The theme of a family in crisis is balanced with another story element about generational trauma. The unhealthy relationship between a child Blake and his father in the opens the film. The cruelty, the hardness, the emotional distance, are all framed under the guise of “I am doing this because I care about you.” The resonating trauma is transferred to Ginger, albeit in a disguised manner, with the adult Blake not being able to balance being loving, over-bearing and still finding moments where he slips into his father’s parenting method. One can feel Blake’s longing not to repeat the past of the mistakes his dad made; he loses his temper and then almost immediately corrects himself, apologises and has a connective line with Ginger to soothe himself and affirm that he isn’t continuing a harmful pattern.
Abbott performs the balance perfectly. From doting dad, flipping in-between his duty to his family and his attempt to repair the damage to his relationship with Charlotte is delivered in an extremely nuanced manner. Abbott’s Blake can flip between a fun father to his tyrannical father in a blink. This is reflected in the later parts of the film during his transformation into the creature as he struggles between his humanity and the beast as it attempts to take over. Firth probably has the least to do here, her early scenes with Abbott as father and daughter are the most impactful. When the action ramps up, it really is about running and hiding for the last part of the film. Garner once again proves a tour de force on the big screen. She skilfully wears Charlotte’s inner turmoil about her feelings for Blake and how this will affect her family. Charlotte’s desire to be close to her daughter and have the same affection that Ginger has for Blake really sets in when the transformation makes it clear that they are beyond the point of no return for him. She instantly steps up into the primary parent role.
Whannell’s previous work in Upgrade is particularly noticeable in a car crash scene here. The impact and struggle as the family attempts to escape the overturned moving truck feels very reminiscent of this film. It is one of the most memorable sequences in the film and does a great job of transitioning the family from San Francisco to Oregon and the reality of just how remote this house is. The creature effects are mostly practical, and this helps the organic and ancient nature of this beast be most effective. The slow transformation as we watch teeth forcibly eject from Blake’s mouth and his wound flare up and spread to the rest of his body the more the night goes on, evokes the spread of a disease.
Under the guidance of a director like Whannell Wolf Man is a completely different take on not only the character and the franchise, but on the werewolf sub-genre itself. There are a lot of identifying Whannell moments that catch you anytime you get too comfortable with what’s happening on screen plus the slow building of tension. The use of night and permeating darkness is masterfully crafted to add to the dread.
Wolf Man doesn’t quite reach the same heights as The Invisible Man, but it does keep the tension brewing. Wolf Man illustrates the complex horrors that lurk within, that may manifest in the most gruesome of ways.
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