Universal Pictures has taken another swing at rebooting one of their classic horror films, this time remaking and re-imagining the beloved classic The Wolf Man to very little fanfare. Werewolf stories are a horror staple and director Leigh Whannel(The Invisible Man, Upgrade) is a modern horror icon known primarily for his work on Saw and his incredible The Invisible Man remake.
Whannel has seemingly become Universal’s go-to director to re-imagine the old Universal monsters. His take on the Wolf Man is interesting, if over done. In Wolf Man the titular monster is a symbol of generational abuse and the fear of losing a loved one.
The man in The Wolf Man is front and centre throughout the entire film with much of the run time being devoted to the slow, agonising transformation the father character played by Christopher Abbot goes through. His complete transformation only being fully realised in the last few scenes of the film.
The unfortunate truth of Wolf Man is that due to its weak script and unfortunately choppy effects, the film is held back from being just as good as Whannel’s Invisible Man.
All man, no wolf
Image credit: Universal Pictures
In this modern re-telling of the widely pleased classic, the story follows Blake(Christopher Abbot) and his family as they return to his childhood home to pack up his late fathers belongings. Along the way they are terrorised by a werewolf that infects Blake and the story starts to take a turn for the worse.
The best part of the film comes in the form of its claustrophobic atmosphere, the mood of the film is overwhelming and Whannel’s kinetic direction style does a great job at displaying this horrible feeling in the first two acts of the film.
It’s only in the third act that cracks start to seriously form and the film becomes almost laughable due to the increasingly aggrovating sound design and weak werewolf effects.
The titular Wolf Man looks almost unrecoganisable from a traditional werewolf. Human elements are emphasied far more and the only familiar wolf-like element that’s retained is the hairy body and long finger nails. This change in design is most likely due to the films small £25 million budget. But, since Wolf Man is a Blumhouse production, this budget was always a given.
Blumhouse strikes again
Image credit: Universal Pictures
Blumhouse are both a blessing, and a stain on modern Hollywood horror and Wolf Man is just another weak entry into their growing, extensive list of weak films.
There’s a great idea in Wolf Man, centering the illness on a small family locked in a cabin is incredibly engaing, but the weak script and disappointing effects let the film down tremendously.
It seems every decade another Wolf Man remake is made and yet after almost a century nothing comes close to the importance of the classic 1941 The Wolf Man. Wolf Man will likely be forgotten as just another weak January horror film released by Blumhouse.
Featured image credit: Universal Pictures
Fourth year Film and Journalism student
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