Wolf Man - New Release Review
Director: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, Matilda Faith, Sam Jaeger, Benedict Hardie
Written by: Leigh Whannell, Corbett Tuck
Produced by: Jason Blum
Cinematography by: Stefan Duscio
Original Score by: Benjamin Wallfisch
Synopsis:
A family at a remote farmhouse is attacked by an unseen animal, but as the night stretches on, the father begins to transform into something unrecognizable.
Thoughts:
In recent years there has been a resurgence in remakes and reinterpretations of the classic "Universal Monsters" with many ups and downs along the way. The 2017 Tom Cruise vehicle 'The Mummy' made sure the proposed MCU-esque Dark Universe was dead on arrival with it being both a critical and commercial failure. Thankfully Blumhouse learned all the right lessons from this by taking these iconic tales and putting a modern twist on them. Leigh Whannell's 2020 film, 'The Invisible Man' took H.G Wells' tale and used it to explore themes like gaslighting to terrifying effect. Now Whannell returns to that realm with his version of the 1941 classic 'The Wolf Man'.
Blake (Christopher Abbott) along with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) travel to his childhood home in the woods of Oregon in the wake of his father's death. He sees it as the perfect opportunity to rekindle his flagging marriage and to bring the whole family closer together. Once there they are attacked by an unknown but vicious animal which pits them in a fight for survival. Soon they discover that the threat is not restricted to the beast outside.
Going into the film there was a hope that lightning would strike twice for Whannell after his brilliant and fresh take on 'The Invisible Man' story. Whilst his version of the 'Wolf Man' is not on the same level, this time tackling the idea of how the sins of the father are passed onto the son, there is still a great deal to admire about the film. His take on the classic tale is a mixture of psychological and body horror within the confines of a "Home Invasion" setting which works both for and against it. It moves at a rapid pace as the family fight off the threat from outside and Whannell's kinetic camerawork builds a lot of excitement during the attack set pieces but in doing this it lacks any scares from the creature involved as jump scares hide at every corner. The other issue in taking this approach is that it doesn't really allow the characters to breathe.
It's no surprise that most of the character work is given to Blake. He goes through a tragic arc in how he avoids at all costs trying to be like his overbearing and strict father but there is an inescapable feeling that he is destined to become just like him. In the role Abbott evokes so much empathy from the very first time we see him and right through his transformation. He completely understands the role in that no matter how monstrous he becomes he still retains a sense of humanity as you can still see a gentleness to him under heavy layers of highly impressive special make up effects.
Opposite him Garner does her best with the little character work the script provides her. It doesn't offer her much to develop the little chemistry she has with Abbott as you never really buy that they are a couple who once had so much love for each other. They just feel like two people thrown into this horrific set of circumstances with no real emotional connection. It is interesting how her arc of being an absent mother who is brought closer to her daughter in trying to protect her intersects with Blakes, in how he has to distance himself from her so his sins don't pass onto her. The problem with this though is that it isn't given enough time to be fully appreciated.
When it comes to a werewolf film one of the main selling points is the creature design and transformation. 'Wolf Man' goes with something a little different as the impressive creature design stems from the lore established in the film which goes against most traditional takes. Here it is seen as an infection rather than a curse which leads to a gradual transformation (or degradation) of the human body as teeth and fingernails slowly fall out to gruesome effect. It is full of feral body horror that borrows heavily from 'The Fly' invoking the same sense of grotesque tragedy as Brundle from that film.
The masterstroke though lies in the psychological aspect of the transformation as Whannell brilliantly utilises internal perspective from Blake as he changes. His sense of speech, scent and hearing are changing so rapidly that his wife can't understand him and he can't understand her playing on their faltering marriage. The lighting and sound with the camera moving around the pair as they have a conversation is done in such a way that it is one of the saddest and most memorable parts of the film. It is underpinned by some beautiful music from Frightie Award Nominee Benjamin Wallfisch, which is the beating heart of the film. The greatest aspect of the film though is the terrific sound design and how it is mixed. It does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to the traditional scares in the film. The creaks in the house and the ambiance from the forest outside draws so much tension through that it keeps you on edge.
As a piece of psychological and body horror, 'Wolf Man' has its moments but in being placed within the trappings of a home invasion style thriller they don't entirely work as they are a detriment to having a real emotional connection with the characters in peril. The cast do their best to overcome these shortcomings and Whannell does some great work with the camera but overall the film doesn't work as well as it should have.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Joseph McElroy
'Wolf Man' is in Irish/UK cinemas right now!
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