Owwwooooooooooooooooooooooo!
What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m doing a howl because of Wolf Man. You know, the new film from director Leigh Whannel and prolific horror studio, Blumhouse. When you watch a werewolf movie, it takes every fiber of your being not to howl dramatically, right?
However, that’s where the rug gets pulled. Wolf Man isn’t a werewolf film per se. No, it’s not false advertising because it is about a Wolf Man. Most people would go into this film thinking they’re one and the same, but they’d be wrong.
But does that matter?
Blake (Christopher Abbott) is a terrific father, but he’s going through some tough times with career-driven Charlotte (Julia Garner). They just can’t seem to communicate properly, and it’s their daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) receiving the brunt of it. Being a great dad is the most important thing to Blake, a victim of a traumatic childhood at the hands of his own father when he was growing up on a remote Oregon farm. So when his father is officially declared dead and he has to clear out his old home, he suggests that the whole family spend some quality time together.
What could go wrong?
Well, a scary, mysterious creature could cause their truck to crash in the woods, kill Blake’s childhood… acquaintance… and then stalk their home for the entire night. Oh, and Blake also got a little owie on his arm, and he ain’t looking too good. Yeahhhhhhhhh, this is not gonna end well for this nuclear family.
One of the things Wolf Man does best is its atmosphere. For 80% of the movie, I felt as tense as one of the saner Zack Snyder fans watching the Rebel Moon films, knowing they would have to defend those abominations. The setting, audio design and lighting all combine flawlessly to make me sit deeper and deeper into my seat. There’s an unease about it all.
Abbott and Garner do a great job at harnessing the well-built tension and enhancing it with their performances. Throw a kid into the mix and we’re cooking on gas because, as the audience, you quickly care about Ginger. She’s a good kid, and she doesn’t deserve these horrors.
I will say, however, that as with a bunch of other horror titles, that tension is diluted as soon as you get a clear picture of the monster. Like in Jeepers Creepers, the monster looks a bit goofy, especially when it’s galloping on all fours. It’s a shame.
Abbott and Garner play their roles terrifically. Their performances are extremely solid, conveying the fear of the situation and their concern for each other as the story progresses. However, there was something that felt odd about their relationship. I know they were supposed to be on the rocks, but I didn’t buy them as a couple. I thought it might have been the age differential, but eight years is negligible in cinema terms. It must have been that their on-screen chemistry was off-kilter.
The family dynamic wasn’t the only thing that nagged at my brain. In the final third of the film, an aspect of the creature’s nature is revealed and we’re meant to be like, “OH MY GOSH!” but it falls so flat. If you were honestly shocked by this revelation, I’m worried about you. Everything can be telegraphed, from what’s going on with Blake to the in-your-face Chekhov’s Gun-like camera work earlier in the movie. It was the equivalent of saying, “See that thing there? That’s important, so look at it.”
Wolf Man does something pretty interesting with how it depicts Blake’s worsening sickness. As he falls to the fever, the camera sometimes slowly swings behind his head, and the world begins to change, showing his altered world perspective. Everything is bright blue, his wife’s eyes glow, and he can no longer understand them. It’s interesting.
However, that’s almost the only way Blake is shown to be changing, aside from a few snarls, growls, and one instance of self-mutilation. I feel like if the metamorphosis happened a little slower and the family’s relationship dynamic was explored in more regular check-ins, it would have been much more effective. I think this will go down as another good idea that was implemented in a less-than-ideal way.
Wolf Man isn’t a bad movie. In some ways, it’s very entertaining. Mixing a tense atmosphere with great acting performances from Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, it tells a good story about trying to overcome childhood parental trauma, ensuring they won’t do the same to their own children. On the surface, it does a serviceable job in this regard.
But I didn’t believe in this family. Something about Blake and Charlotte and how they were written meant that I was never truly invested in their story. Secretly, I think that Charlotte doesn’t actually give a sh*t whether they fix their relationship or not, so I didn’t really give a crap, either. Add to that a reveal that evokes the Phoebe Buffay “THIS IS BRAND NEW INFORMATION” meme, and this movie just becomes OK.
Mainly, though, this is not a werewolf movie. Maybe I’m being unfair by judging it by expectations, but here we are. Try not to market a creature feature that doesn’t contain werewolves as a werewolf movie.
