Title – Wolf Man (2025)

Director – Leigh Whannell (Upgrade)

Cast – Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner

Plot – On his way back to his old childhood home deep in remote woods, Blake (Abbott) and his family including his wife Charlotte (Garner) are involved in an accident that includes an attack from a mysterious creature, setting in motion a series of increasingly supernatural events that threaten to tear the family apart figuratively and literally.

“Sometimes when you’re a daddy, you’re so scared of your kids getting scars that you become the thing that scars them”

Review by Eddie on 28/02/2025

A film that at one stage was set to star Ryan Gosling (who stayed on as a producer here) and be directed by his friend/collaborator Derek Cianfrance, Wolf Man had a troubled journey to the big screen, a journey that has culminated in an extremely disappointing end outcome and the strong likelihood that future iterations of the one famed horror creation are now a long way from fruition.

The latest in a worryingly building list of Blumhouse production failures, Wolf Man limped to a sub $35 million dollar box office haul at the global office in the early parts of this year after a string of tepid reviews and audience reactions tempered any excitement that might have existed early on when many hoped Wolf Man would escape its cursed production and recent history to become a breakout genre hit.

Part of the early excitement that was to be found from this new iteration of the iconic furry beast came from the fact that Australian born director Leigh Whannel found himself in charge of leading the production forward, with his previous two directional outings Upgrade and The Invisible Man showcasing a lot of talent for the one time co-creator of Saw who appeared to be a fantastic choice to oversee proceedings here.

Recruiting the talented if undervalued Christopher Abbott into the lead role as dedicated family man Blake and Ozark star Julia Garner as his wife Charlotte, Wolf Man has talent behind and in front of the camera but all that hope and skill is lost very early in a film that signposts its goals and aspirations fairly early on but gets lost in itself in a boring a lifeless experience that works neither as a horror, a thriller or a family drama as Whannell and his team bunker down in a deserted cabin and we the audience endure over 90 minutes of tepid feature film viewing.

Starting out with a decent opening and incorporating some neat ideas like “wolf vision” into the story, most of Wolf Man is spent with a sweaty and in need of some dentistry supervision Blake slowly morphing into less and less of a human while his wife and daughter look on with a mixture of scared looks and concerned brows, creating a tiresome and restrained experience that was in major need of more bite and spectacle amongst all its ponderings and metaphors.

The polar opposite feeling viewing experience than what we got in Whannell’s well structured and unexpected breakout hit The Invisible Man, Wolf Man wants to say a lot but fails to say anything and whether viewers are wanting to witness some monster carnage or engaging character drama/growth, Wolf Man provides them with neither making one wonder little as too why this at one stage bright prospect failed to find its audience becoming one of 2025’s early contenders for most disappointing film.

Final Say –

Film fans were right to hope that Whannell could bring some of his creative magic to the longstanding horror icon that is the the Wolf Man but as it stands this newest iteration of the famed character is a DOA experience that fails its cast and audience members in equal measure.

1 rental truck write-off out of 5