Leigh Whannell has made quite a name for himself in the horror genre thanks to his involvement in the Saw and Insidious franchises, as well as his 2020 reimaging of the Universal horror classic The Invisible Man. Now he's back with another modern take on a classic monster movie with his latest directorial effort Wolf Man. A new take on the story was first announced as part of Universal's failed 'Dark Universe' only to be later revived with Ryan Gosling set to star and Derek Cianfrance to direct. Both exited the project in 2023, opening the door for Whannell to direct and Possessor star Christopher Abbott to take on the leading role. My anticipation for this was sky high, but sadly it seems that all the back and forth behind the scenes led to a film that just doesn't quite live up to its potential.
Wolf Man follows Abbott as Blake, an author whose relationship with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) has begun to fray. Eager to get their relationship back on track, he takes her and their daughter Ginger to his old home in Oregon wilderness where his father was recently pronounced dead after going missing years ago. On their way to the house they find themselves in an accident, leaving them prey to an unseen animal hiding in the woods.
One thing that Wolf Man does well is showcase Whannell's style. His two previous films have been in the sci-fi/horror genre, but he still brings his creative camerawork and visual style to this film, giving it an edge you don't typically see in forest set horror. He clearly knows what he's doing as a horror filmmaker, as the tension and scares are excellent throughout. The film can be a bit too dark at times, but overall I thought the look and feel of the film were major highlights. Being a werewolf movie this also stands as a great showcase for some terrific makeup effects. Narratively Whannell channeled The Fly quite a bit, so we get to see a character slowly transform over the film's runtime through some impressive and at times grotesque makeup work.
Looking at the performances on their own, I was pretty impressed. Abbott does some great work as his character transforms over the course of the film, and Garner's ability to play scared but strong works really well. The problem lies in the two playing off of each other. Part of the issue is a script that is all around nothing special, but really falters when it comes to the dialogue between the two. Structurally we barely see any time between them to flesh out the struggles they're facing in their relationship, and then a lot of the dialogue between them feels awkward and forced. But from a performance standpoint, I just never really felt a shred of chemistry between the two. As much as I love Whannell as a filmmaker, Christopher Abbott is among my favourite actors and I like Julia Garner quite a bit, so they were what really had me excited. The two just don't play well off of each other whatsoever and it takes so much wind out of the rest of the film thanks to how much the narrative hinges on the two of them. I did love the relationship between Blake and Ginger, but aside from that I was just greatly disappointed by what we got in terms of chemistry between the characters.
All in all, I did still enjoy this movie despite my disappointment in some elements. It isn't as awesome craft wise as The Invisible Man but is still well made, it's just a shame the writing and lack of chemistry between our leads wind up holding it back. 3/5
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