From Jeremy Kibler

Leigh Whannell just gets it. What the filmmaker managed to do with 2020’s The Invisible Man was recontextualize the classic Universal monster into a toxic human monster capable of gaslighting and abuse. It was also a gripping, stylishly orchestrated horror movie with a great Elisabeth Moss performance. Whannell’s reimagining of 1941’s The Wolf Man, titled Wolf Man, proves he knows how to bring another monster into the 21st century without making a schlocky IP cash-grab. A family drama melded into a home-invasion nightmare with body horror, Wolf Man impresses as a solid start to a new calendar year. 

Christopher Abbott, always an intense and internal performer, plays Blake, an out-of-work New York writer who’s put his job first as a father to daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth). When he gets the news of his father’s death, Blake takes Ginger and his journalist wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner), to his childhood farm in Oregon for a restart. Naturally, they run into a wolf-like man and Blake’s cut on his arm isn’t from glass. 

This is simple, pared-down storytelling done right. The opening extended sequence—a young Blake (Zac Chandler) and his abusive father (Sam Jaeger) going hunting in the woods 30 years ago—is Wolf Man in a microcosm: methodical pacing, hold-your-breath tension, and efficient character work that enriches what this story is about underneath the surface. Thematically, Whannell and co-writer Corbett Tuck change the course, their story being about hereditary violence and the fear of becoming our parents. It’s not the most subtle metaphor, but the film never makes it feel ham-fisted. 

This Wolf Man is decidedly the gnarliest of the “wolf man” iterations, even more so than the underrated 2010 reboot with Benicio del Toro. The chase set-pieces are expertly staged, particularly one on a plastic greenhouse; the scares are crafted with care; and the effectively nasty practical make-up effects earn a visceral reaction (fingernails, self-cannibalism, you name it). To ensure another technically assured film, Whannell brings along his collaborators from The Invisible Man, including cinematographer Stefan Duscio, editor Andy Canny, and composer Benjamin Wallfisch. All of them are doing top-notch work, particularly when the film essentially becomes a long chase in the dark. If Whannell was able to play with empty space when it came to an invisible human monster, he does the same with the werewolf transformation, employing some bravura camera movements and lighting. Most inspired of all is an editing trick with “werewolf vision” and sound, and it’s cleverly used every time.

If all of that weren’t enough, the performances are all strong and in tune with the material. Christopher Abbott is terrific, deftly tracking Blake’s arc as the father he wants to be to his daughter until he becomes the monster he promised he’d never be. Abbott and Matilda Firth (a natural, not-overly-precocious child actor) form such an emotional connection that it makes Blake’s fatal transformation even more moving. Julia Garner, while always capable of more, is emotionally available and convincingly brings untapped maternal instincts to Charlotte. 

Combining the tragedy of David Cronenberg’s The Fly and even pieces of Scott Cooper’s Antlers, Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man is supreme old-school monster-movie filmmaking that doesn’t forget about the vital human core.

Rating: 4/5

Wolf Man hits theaters on January 17th, 2024.

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