In another reality, modern audiences would be elbow-deep in the modern monsterverse Universal Pictures dubbed the “Dark Universe,” which kicked off with the release of 2017’s The Mummy. It was all in place with cast and concept, but the failed reception of The Mummy left the concept scattered to the winds like Nosferatu’s ashes with the rise of the sun. Despite this, Universal still went forward with the Leigh Whannell-directed The Invisible Man (2020), a fabulous retelling of the 1933 film (itself inspired by the 1897 H.G. Wells novel), which had the misfortune of releasing just before the start of the COVID-19 lockdowns in the U.S.. Critically and commercially successful, it makes sense to tap Whannell again to see what the Upgrade (2018) writer/director can conceive for a similar adaptation of Universal’s The Wolf Man (1941). Co-written with Corbett Tuck, Wolf Man (2025) is a revisionist family horror tale in which the supernatural is traded for something viral, seeking to ground the themes of forced transformation within the framework of exploring the damage done to ourselves and our loved ones when we use violence for protection. Though largely poorly received, there are those who enjoy the film and they will be delighted to learn that the home release, regardless of format, includes over 30 minutes of bonus features diving into the details of making the film, as well as a feature-length commentary track from Whannell.
Having received official documents signaling the passing of his estranged father Grady (Sam Jaeger), Blake (Christopher Abbott) decides to take his daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) and wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) to his father’s farm in Oregon as an opportunity to share the home he left long ago with Ginger and reconnect with his Charlotte. On the way there, however, tragedy strikes as they are attacked by a strange beast, kicking into motion a fight for their lives through the night with only what lies inside Grady’s house to keep them safe. Making matters worse, in the original assault, Blake was injured by the creature and now finds himself slowly transfiguring into something neither he nor his family recognizes.
Wolf Man is a brilliant technical film that employs a fantastically frustrating narrative. To make sense of one, let’s start with the other. Warning for spoilers as we go through this home release review.
The narrative is simple: Blake brings his family to his childhood home after decades away and trouble ensues. This is part-and-parcel for a number of horror films involving road trips (re: The Evil Dead (1981); Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010); The Cabin in the Woods (2011); Old (2021)). The issue is that the narrative is both overly-complicated and simultaneously underbaked. In the opening of the film, we’re introduced to a young Blake (Zac Chandler) and Grady, a former military man taking his son hunting. Their lives have been touched by death and so Grady clings tightly to keeping Blake safe, but he doesn’t seem to do anything too harsh beyond raising his voice when Blake does something dangerous on the hunt. Except, between the actual threat of a strange creature coming after the pair, there’s no sense that Grady has done or will do anything to Blake, which is why it’s odd to learn — after a 30 year jump — that Blake left home as early as he could. This is learned via an exposition dump to his daughter after an equally awkward exchange between Blake and Charlotte, whose introduction to us is her rudely refusing to take her work call somewhere else as she walks into the shared space of their apartment where Blake chats with Ginger while he cooks. The sequence here is meant to economically illustrate that Blake and Charlotte aren’t on the same page while giving the audience information on the current state of things and kicking off the road trip portion, but it’s so clunky and without any presented reason for such an estrangement that Blake comes off as projecting problems. Even the private conversation between Blake and Charlotte that takes place prior to the road trip is meant to convey a couple in turmoil except Charlotte seems unaware of any issues whereas Blake has a different perspective. If the couple are meant to be at a crossroads, thereby making the horror to come somehow either more painful at the loss of life *or* rejuvenating because they see what matters in the face of death, it doesn’t do enough of a setup to make the audience give a damn. That the film took the time to introduce Grady and young Blake and jumps to the present, while also doing the same light-handed job in giving the audience a reason to see Blake’s perspective, is absolutely frustrating in its wastefulness. In fact, the two things that opening does is (1) illustrate that parental fear can take the shape of scaring kids when kids don’t listen and (2) that Grady has a military tattoo we’re shown directly and obviously in order to signal its importance later. The first tidbit is mirrored during the introductory scene of adult Blake and Ginger, carrying forward the notion that some things are generational, while the second feels like a studio note to ensure that the audience and Blake recognize the monster attacking them as Grady. It’s literally the only reason that we’re shown the tattoo. There’s no discussion of Grady’s military background, no attempt to position the man as having PTSD, potentially creating a psychological thriller approach as to whether he was a monster or just acted like one. Not a single thing happens that establishes a reason for why young Blake would want to leave, thereby creating a negative space that becomes vacuous in the absence of information. The narrative blatantly concludes with the notion that Grady is just like Blake in the sense that he became the monster because he hunted the monster to protect his son, only to infect his son anyway. It’s meant to be poignant, but the message gets so damn muddled by being so complexly presented and terribly thin in order to get to the action.
Then there’s the technical approach that is so mind-blowingly cool that it makes all the time in between such moments boorish. First, the choice to make the wolf transition viral instead of supernatural helps ground Wolf Man in way that’s infinitely more terrifying. We know that there’s a monster, but it’s not a human in a fugue state related to physiological transformation, it’s a melding of two forms. In the special feature “Designing Wolf Man,” a comparison is made to David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986), itself another monsterverse adaptation, in that Blake and this new form are battling for supremacy, his flesh rotting away at the point of infection, his senses enhancing in some instances and otherwise shedding his human side. This comes through via some brilliant prosthetic devices, mechanical gags, and the kinds of in-camera wizardry that have come to define Whannell’s work. For instance, in one scene where a mostly feral Blake gets caught in a bear trap and proceeds to gnaw his own leg off to get free (as trapped wolves have been known to do), the featurette “Hands On Horror” explains that the “leg” Blake bites through is actually totally edible, including a white chocolate bone — at which point it cuts to Abbott commenting how he just “focused on getting to the chocolate” while shooting the moment. There’s also the in-camera shifting of lighting to indicate perspectives, Charlotte and Ginger’s grounded perspective and Blake’s altered perspective of heightened colors and sounds, which involved creating synchronicity between production design, costuming, cinematography, and lighting so that the look could be achieved on location as much as possible as the camera swung from Blake’s POV to that of one of the others. These featurettes, though brief, take audiences through a great deal of material, each one highlighting just how thoughtful and meticulous the technical approach to making Wolf Man was, creating an opportunity for audiences to appreciate the craftsmanship on display, whether the narrative worked for you or not. Thankfully, regardless of preferred format, the bonus materials are available without format gatekeeping. Unfortunately, that brings its own complication.
There’s a presumption that 4K UHD editions are the pinnacle of the viewing format and that’s not always the case. Taking out the multitude of examples of remasters and restorations in which the audio or visual elements are torn asunder compared to prior, less high-definitions editions, the issue with Wolf Man is that because the 4K UHD disc includes all the bonus features, there’s less room for the film itself. The sound doesn’t suffer for this, that’s crackling and creepy in all the right ways, so those with a 5.1 surround system (like EoM HQ) or higher, you’re in for an unsettling auditory experience. The visual element, however, is somewhat tragic. On the technical side, a Blu-ray bitrate maxes out at 40 Mbps and a 4K UHD at 128 Mbps, which makes Wolf Man hovering between 55-65 Mbps barely better than the Blu-ray. Had the bonus features been relegated to the Blu-ray and digital edition, it’s more likely that the 4K UHD edition would have more space and, therefore, offered a higher bitrate instead of being compressed so much. Making matters worse, cinematography gets so dark that, with the inclusion of HDR (a typically wonderful thing for its ability to give a wider range of color and, therefore, a more accurate representation of what’s captured in-camera), there are a great deal of sequences that the audience can barely differentiate between objects or what’s happening. In one such dramatic sequence, if not for Charlotte’s blonde hair and the fits of white on her flannel shirt, it would be difficult to identify where she is on the screen. Wolf Man isn’t Don’t Breathe (2016), where not being able to see is directly-related to the antagonist’s blindness as an additional obstacle for the protagonists to overcome, and the frequency with which the home viewing audience struggles to delineate between characters and the space around them grows increasingly frustrating.
Wolf Man appears to want to utilize the guise of a monster film to explore the complex relationships of parents with their children and the damage done by unexamined generational trauma. Except it doesn’t actually do any of that, at least not in a way that satisfies as it tries to point at things overtly rather than giving the audience credit to understand the weight of things. In that same vein, it also underbakes its ideas by rushing to get to the monster attack that begins Blake’s slow transformation so that, if we miss the things that are overt, none of the violence and interpersonal interactions resonate. This is a true shame as Abbott (Possessor), Garner (The Royal Hotel), and Firth (Starve Acre) make for a convincing and compelling threesome. At least the bonus features are cool.
Wolf Man Special Features:
- Unleashing A New Monster – Explore Leigh Whannell’s dark and gritty take on one of horror’s most iconic monsters. Learn what inspired the visionary director to create this tragic tale of family, loss, and a night of absolute terror. (8:06)
- Designing Wolf Man – Director Leigh Whannell and prosthetic designer Arjen Tuiten, set out to create a Wolf Man unlike any seen before. Take a closer look at the conceptual designs, sculptures and prosthetic make-up that aided in the creation of a monster that stays with you long after the credits roll. (8:53)
- Hands On Horror – Strap in for a breakdown of the film’s most thrilling action sequences. Cast and crew discuss how practical effects enabled them to capture raw and realistic performances of the most terrifying, heart-pounding scenes in the film. (6:50)
- Nightmares and Soundscapes – Transition into Blake’s perspective and witness the world through the eyes of an animal. Learn how sound design and VFX came together to highlight the enhanced hearing, vision, and complete abandonment of humanity that materialized during the transformation from Man to Wolf. (6:55)
- Feature Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Leigh Whannell (1:42:45)
Available on digital February 4th, 2025.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD March 18th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Universal Pictures Wolf Man website.
Final Score: 2 out of 5.
Share this:
Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
Leave a Reply