Werewolf movies are my jam. Since I was a kid, I’ve always enjoyed it when things got hairy. The wolf man has been has been my favorite monster ever since he guest starred on Scooby Doo when I was a kid. In college, we watched the original wolf-man movie with Lon Chaney in a film class. Eighty years later, that flick still delivers. Give me a movie where a guy turns into a big dog and you’ve got my attention for at least two hours.
The whole “beast within” idea really intrigues me. It’s the same reason that I like Jekyll and Hyde stories and The Incredible Hulk. The themes of the duality of man, a story of a guy overcome by his darkest nature, is fascinating. The best werewolf movies show that struggle between man and beast. The worst ones at least have a cool transformation scene. The new Wolf Man flick that just dropped on Peacock has neither.
I was really looking forward to this one. Writer/director Leigh Whannell did that Invisible Man reboot with Elisabeth Moss a few years ago and it rocked. He contemporized the classic tale with a paranoid thriller about technology, control, and love gone wrong. Moss was terrorized by a stalker that no one could see. Was it really happening or was she going crazy? That movie was surprising, satisfying, and a little bit creepy.
I was eager to check out Whannell’s take on another legendary movie monster. This new flick offers atmosphere galore, but forgets those elements that help a wolf-man movie run on all fours. Whannell treats lycanthropy like an infection that slowly progresses over time with worsening symptoms. You know a full transformation is coming, but it takes forever to get to the payoff. Dude, stop with the dog flu. We just want to see the guy wolf out.
One of the real pleasures of watching a werewolf movie is witnessing the main character struggle to defeat his darker self. He’s both the hero and villain of the story. He has no control over what he’s becoming, which puts everyone he loves at risk. This conflict is portrayed well in both An American Werewolf in London and Benicio del Toro’s 2010 remake of the classic film.
In those movies, the action takes place over time, increasing the stakes as our hero’s affliction worsens. This new flick takes place in one night. The story is focused on the metamorphosis rather than its consequences. The filmmaker also sets most of the action in an abandoned farmhouse at the edge of the forest. The isolation creates a palpable sense of paranoia, but it severely limits the action. The vibe here is more like The Shining Meets The Fly than a werewolf movie.
I give Whannell credit for trying to break new ground, but in my opinion, he goes way off course. His invisible man flick was able to inject new life into old tropes, but his attempt here falls short. It feels like he’s trying to say something about parenting and illness while still delivering thrills and chills, but there’s not enough character development to really care what’s happening. The pace feels both rushed and plodding.
Christoper Abbott (from HBO’s Girls and Kraven the Hunter) plays Blake, a stay-at-home dad in San Francisco, who gets word that his father has been declared dead after going missing in the Oregon wilderness. Dad had been a macho hunter guy obsessed with tracking a mysterious creature lurking in the woods. The movie even starts with a flashback to a scary forest encounter between Blake, his dad, and an ominous predator.
Blake had distanced himself from his father because he’s a sensitive writer type who prefers taking his daughter to museums to tracking wildlife. There are several scenes depicting him as a devoted dad trying also to reconnect with Charlotte, his workaholic wife (Juia Garner from Netflix’s Ozark and Inventing Anna). Blake convinces her to take time off from her fancy magazine job to join him on a family vacation while he wraps up his father’s affairs.
They drive a moving van from San Francisco to the Oregon hinterlands and get lost in the woods near his father’s house. While trying to find their way, they get run off the road by a shadowy figure. Crashing the van, they’re attacked while trying to escape and Blake is injured. After a tense run through the darkness, they find Dad’s deserted house and hole up there while the creature stalks them from outside.
Blake starts acting strangely and Charlotte discovers his injury is more serious than originally thought. He’s been scratched by the creature and is suffering some sort of infection that makes him really sweaty and confused. Whannell does a good job here of amping up the tension with the family trapped in the house. The dark spaces have you guessing what’s around every corner. He makes the most of this claustrophobic environment. Danger is everywhere.
There’s a monster outside and something weird happening inside. Charlotte has to rise to the challenge of protecting her family, including Blake who is definitely not himself. Here’s where the movie shines. It delivers some decent jump scares and a couple of great chase scenes, including one that culminates on the roof of a greenhouse. Unfortunately, these thrilling moments don’t compensate for the languid bits depicting Blake’s laggard transformation.
Whannell has pieced together an uneven story that’s part family drama, part horror film. It lacks the tight narrative structure that made The Invisible Man and Upgrade, his previous films, so brisk and entertaining. I respect him for trying to imbue his movie with metaphors, but when it comes to werewolf flicks, it should be all about the fur and teeth. This new Wolf Man lacks bite.
If you’re in the mood to howl at the moon, go back and watch An American Werewolf in London, Dog Soldiers, The Howling, or The Wolf Man. What you’re seeking is not here.
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Author: Jeff Stanford
Nerd Dad who loves his family, coffee and movies.
