Wolf Man – Film Review
by Fran Winston

Directed by: Leigh Whannell
Starring Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Sam Jaeger, Matilda Firth

In cinemas on January 17th

This film was first announced in 2014 as part of the Universal Dark Universe and has undergone several changes during its development. This included a change of leading man, with Ryan Gosling originally slated to star.

Whannell was eventually brought on board following the success of his Invisible Man reboot. The whole genesis of the movie and his involvement is long and complicated but suffice to say it didn’t instil hope for this offering in horror fans.

Whannel has a fantastic track record regarding the genre and seems to have been allowed free reign in terms of the story. That means you need to park all your knowledge of Werewolf lore at the door. You’re probably familiar with the concept victims only change into the wolf during the full moon – not here they don’t. Also, the classic stories dictate it takes silver to kill them – again this is something Whannell has changed.

Predominately set in that old trope ‘a cabin in the woods’ it sees Abbott play Blake Lovell, a stay-at-home dad. When his estranged father dies he and his wife Charlotte (Garner) and daughter Ginger (Firth) head to his isolated mountain cabin to clear it out. One car crash and wild animal attack later Blake isn’t feeling himself. However, as his symptoms gradually worsen he is also trying to protect his family after the creature follows them to the cabin.

It’s not a spoiler to say it transpires they were attacked by a werewolf, and he is slowly turning one – the clue is in the title – and poses just as much a threat to his family as the entity skulking outside the premises. In fact, he spends most of the 103-minute run time transforming. Despite only being bitten hours beforehand by the end he is a (rather unconvincing and disappointing) Wolf Man.

Whannell chooses to focus on this and the stresses Blake and Charlotte face in their marriage rather than the traditional torture felt by the Wolf Man’s human alter ego because of the beast within.

Indeed, nothing about this really screams a werewolf movie. It is a relationship movie, and the wolf seems to be more or less an afterthought and metaphor. Abbott and Garner are both impressive, but their characters are written in such a clichéd way it is difficult to take them seriously. It is also extremely predictable and while I won’t ruin one of the twists I would be very surprised if viewers didn’t see it coming.

While I always appreciate Whannell’s dedication to practical effects this actually could have benefited from a little CGI. The body horror impact is lost with some of the worst Werewolf make-up I have ever seen. Legendary make-up man Jack Pierce created a far more fearsome creature with Lon Chaney Jr in the 1930s. Here the wolf is very obviously lots of latex with a smattering of hair. Even in the 80s, John Landis’ ‘An American Werewolf in London’ handled the transformation better. Neither of those movies had access to the tech and make-up developments available now but both managed to do it more convincingly.

This is trying to be many things – a psychological thriller, family drama, body horror – and as such it gets muddled. Also, while I always appreciate artists putting their own spin on things, Whannell has taken far too many liberties with the Wolf Man legend. Much like vampires, there are key things that are ingrained in people’s brains about the concept, and many will go into the movie expecting them.

There are some nice moments, but overall, this is just a pointless reboot. Thankfully it doesn’t set up for a sequel and if you want a Wolf Man fix you would be better off watching the classic black and white offerings.