Leigh Whannell is one of those filmmakers who gets better with each project in some form or fashion. The director made a name for himself when he cowrote 2004’s Saw alongside fellow filmmaker James Wan. Whannell skill as a director has only grown since his directorial debut, Insidious: Chapter 3, and the highly underrated Upgrade. Along with the 2018 film and 2020’s Invisible Man, Whannell showcases his willingness to challenge himself with each new project. Now, tapped by Blumhouse Productions to take on the well-known Universal Monster, the Wolf Man, Whannell puts another foot forward on the path of creative growth, but the film itself holds some glaring issues.
The basic premise of Wolf Man is nothing new. A man named Blake, played by Christopher Abbott, is bitten by a werewolf and goes through a transformation. His wife Charlotte, played by Julia Garner, and their daughter Ginger, played by Matilda Firth, must deal with the fallout of Blake’s life-changing event. The story is updated for modern times and adds a troubled marriage, daddy issues, and fatherhood to make the script pop. However, those elements don’t save the script Whannell and Corbett Tuck wrote.
Some portions of the screenplay are thin or not fully fleshed out. Whannell and Tuck start Wolf Man with interesting threads about family secrets and marital problems. There’s even an identifiable amount of influence from The Shining‘s Jack Torrance character traits. None of these really amount to anything or feel underserved—for example, Blake’s relationships.
Blake stumbles upon a secret that his father has been withholding from him, causing a rift in their relationship. It’s something that’s used in a way worth exploring before the thirty-year time jump but is never brought up again. There were already valid reasons to showcase the strained relationship, and I was all the more perplexed about why this particular moment was needed. Another stumbling part of Wolf Man is the relationship between Blake and Charlotte.
The two have been married for some time, and that marriage is on the rocks. Yet, their relationship history is not even touched upon. I wasn’t looking for flashbacks or ham-fisted displays of their past love; I just wanted to be given a reason for their relationship to survive. Lastly, the father-daughter dynamic could’ve used a bit more work. Ginger and Blake telegraph a strong bond between them, but the film needs to give them more time. They essentially share only one scene to establish a connection, but the story and emotional arc of the film need more attention.
Despite all that, there are some saving qualities in Wolf Man.
The director uses his talent to stage an intriguing way into Blake’s mind. The character’s metamorphosis happens throughout one night, and Whannell finds a way to keep that engaging. Blake’s personality is slowly dying away as he succumbs to his illness, and Whannell uses simple lighting and color grading to show that. It’s done in a way that translates the growing sickness within Blake and his body; consequently, that adds more to the practical effects of Wolf Man.
Blumhouse Production began promoting Wolf Man near the end of last year, which caused a bit of concern. The studio gave us our first look at the creature, but it did not look promising. I’m happy to say that all concerns should be put to rest. The monster’s design looks well suited to the movie’s grounded reality and suggests that the makeup department put some serious thought into it. Blake’s turn into the wolf man gave me strong influences from David Cronenberg’s 1986’s The Fly.
There were subtle ways Blake’s body was changed that progressed and later became more horrific as the movie progressed. One scene that comes to mind is the scratch mark he received from the monster. It starts as small but grows until it becomes this grotesque injury that caused me to be horrified when Blake reacts to it savagely. By the beginning of Act III, our lead character becomes the monster, and the transformation has the DNA of John Landis’s 1981’s An American Werewolf in London. It was done in a way that I could almost feel Blake’s pain during the process.
Wolf Man is another example of taking a classic tale and making it contemporary. When done right, the creature design and horror element work in a way that keeps the film entertaining. There is a strong underlying message about suffering from a debilitating illness and the rippling effect it causes in people’s lives. Yet, this movie runs on a barely there script that stops it from being truly great and worth re-watching.
If you’re a Whannell fan, watch it. If you’re a horror or Universal Monster fan, watch it. Otherwise, wait for it to hit streaming.