Classic Hollywood Monsters are timeless.
Whether it’s The Invisible Man, The Shape of Water, or the recent Frankenstein reimaginings Depraved and The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, modern horror filmmakers have successfully resurrected classic monsters as scary, powerful, and timely. These creatures grow as the culture moves forward, whether they’re tapping into new anxieties or recontextualizing as longings or power fantasies. Director Leigh Whannell, coming off of the successfully terrifying Invisible Man (you can read Jake King’s review from The Knockturnal here), returned with Wolf Man, a new take on the classic 1941 film. The film takes a unique and timely approach to the werewolf mythos and succeeds at crafting a tense, creepy, and surprisingly human story.
The film follows Blake (Christopher Abbott), a struggling writer in a rocky marriage who decides to take his wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner), and daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth), on a trip to the woods to pack up his late father’s house. Along the way, he’s attacked by a werewolf and tries to protect his family as he slowly changes into a werewolf. Whannell successfully ties werewolf lore to the hyper-masculine ideas Blake was raised on by his father, mostly how the father’s job is to protect his family. This tie is further developed through Abbott’s complex and nuanced performance, as he sounds pleasant but talks like someone who’s been through therapy for anger management, hinting at insecurity over not being as strong a provider as he wants to be. At the same time, his loving but, at times, intense relationship with his daughter not only reinforces his inner conflict but lends tragedy to his werewolf transformation.
Whannell’s direction beautifully highlights Blake loss of humanity. His camera control, sound design, and chilling makeup work draw the horror out of Blake becoming gradually more beastial and threatening. It’s sad to see, especially when his wife is trying to comfort him as he slowly becomes more distant to the point of being literally unable to understand her. Julia Garner also gives a beautiful performance, as her growth from feeling like an insecure mother is heightened when she needs to balance comforting her husband while keeping their daughter safe. Whannell successfully makes Wolf Man a horror story and a tragedy. At times, the film undercuts itself by expositing more than it needs to. There are beautiful moments that would hit harder if the characters wouldn’t explain what was happening and just let the scene speak for itself. They’re not frequent, but they happen and feel like studio notes to make the film more accessible. It doesn’t help that while the film is gory and has bone-chattering transformation moments, the final design is just okay. Fans wanting a transformation like The Howling or An American Werewolf in London may be disappointed. Wolf Man‘s strengths with its werewolf come more from the atmosphere built around the creature’s stalking and the conceptual horror built from centering Abbott’s perspective. They work, and the practical gore is well done, but the actual design could’ve been more animalistic.
While Wolf Man isn’t as chilling as The Invisible Man, it is a tense, fun, and tragic horror film that makes the most of Whannell’s strong direction and a bevy of great performances. The character work hits home, and while the film could’ve used more scares and quieter moments, it’s still an enjoyable addition to werewolf lore. The more personal and grounded approach gives the film a unique identity, though part of me does wish it leaned into the fantastical a bit more, especially with the creature design. I love the story, I love the performances, and the direction is great, but I don’t always need my monsters to be so “realistic.”
Wolf Man will be released in theaters on Friday, January 17th
