‘Wolf Man’ Review: A Small-Scale, Stressful Creature Feature

Horror movies are going through a renaissance, with some of the best and most exciting films of the past decade being equally capable of leaving you in awe, as well as scared shitless. But where many recent horror movies have slowed things down to a creeping dread, or weaved horror through the lens of psychological conditions or metaphor, Leigh Whannel’s Wolf Man wants instead to keep you on your toes.

It’s a small-scale story, focusing on a handful of characters, that doesn’t get bogged down in the small stuff. It moves quickly (after a very brief introduction to our main characters) and drags you kicking and screaming through a long, dark night.

In other words, Wolf Man is very good at keeping you tense and alert, and is a stronger film for it.

A True Creature Feature

While we have a number of human characters fighting to stay alive throughout the film, the star of the show is undoubtedly the titular Wolf Man. Initially the creature is bathed in darkness, out of focus, and only seen from afar – through a hunting rifle scope, or rushing through a dimly lit background – but you will get to know this creature intimately by the film’s end.

And while we’ll see how such a thing is created, the film is not concerned with detailing the history of werewolves, how they came about, whether they’re a supernatural creature or just a part of the natural world, or really answering any lingering questions you might have – none of it really matters, because the Wolf Man exists regardless of what the answers would be.

Much of movie is bathed in darkness, making it very difficult to see much of anything, but Wolf Man‘s sound design steps up to fill in for any lost eyesight. You’ll hear every creak and groan of the old, rotting farmhouse the family is holed up in, and when you get glimpses through the eyes and ears of the beast you see just how outmatched the remaining humans are.

You will eventually see the creature in full light, and the design has been pretty widely panned, but I really didn’t mind it so much. It’s more man than wolf, which speaks to director Leigh Whannel’s sensibilities: he turned The Invisible Man into a grounded tale of domestic violence and revenge, and here he’s turned what was a very supernatural creature into something more akin to a zombie flick – but with a single supercharged zombie in the driver’s seat.

A Family, Broken

I wouldn’t consider any of the characters we meet particularly deep. Rather, they’re your standard horror ‘protagonists’.

Blake, a father between jobs serving as the defacto ‘house husband’ (played by Christopher Abbott), is married to Charlotte, a journalist (played by Julia Garner) who puts her work first, leaving their daughter to become somewhat distant. When Blake finds out that his father has been declared dead, he travels with his family to pack up his childhood home, and things quickly get out of hand.

Much of the relationships between characters are a bit stilted and awkward, but that seems intentional: these are people whose marriage is falling apart. You can tell they’re not working as a team anymore, with an early scene putting them up against one another when Charlotte takes a phone call at dinner – something that most people could get over in the circumstances, but Blake gets pissed about.

Without spoiling anything, Blake was traumatised by his childhood of having an emotionally absent father, and is terrified of having a similar effect on his daughter. The last thing he wants is to scare her, and so when he begins to become a literal monster their relationship delivers a welcome hint of pathos to what is otherwise a fast-paced monster movie.

Charlotte, however, has completely disconnected from her family life. She ‘clearly prioritises work over her home life,’s begun prioritising work over her home life ever since Blake stopped working, and her relationship with her daughter and husband has suffered for it. Garner’s performance has been put under scrutiny for being ‘wooden’, and while I didn’t really get any hint of a spark between Garner and Abbott even in the few moments they’re open and honest with each other, I think the performance she gives is fine.

Final Verdict

Wolf Man is gripping, tense, and a welcome return to a more old-school straight-forward monster movie. You’re not going to leave the cinema with deep questions rattling around in your head, but you will have your heart in your throat. It’s a fairly one-speed movie, but once it gets going Wolf Man doesn’t let up until the final moments.

★★★★☆

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