Wolf Man has a simplistic horror appeal, but is that enough?
From Leigh Whannell, the Australian director of Upgrade and the masterful modern-day reimagining of The Invisible Man, comes his new take on a Universal Monsters horror classic, Wolf Man. Distilling the werewolf mythos into a visceral it-all-happens-in-one-night movie, Wolf Man is efficient in its pacing and scares. However, the film lacks the emotional gravitas of a romantically strained family trying to reconnect during extreme circumstances. So, because Wolf Man clocks in at under two hours, is pleasantly ultra-predictable, and contains quality thrills, it’s a great choice for a frivolous movie night.
Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) plays Blake, an unemployed writer who is married to career-oriented journalist Charlotte, played by Julia Garner (The Assistant; Ozark). They live in San Francisco with their daughter Ginger, but sense a distinct melancholy within each other, a signal that their romantic passion is dwindling. An official death certificate arrives for Blake’s father, who vanished years before near his rural home in the Oregon mountains. In the hopes of relieving some of the big city pressure and reconnecting with each other, Blake convinces Charlotte to join him with Ginger to clear out his father’s house and spend some time in the beautiful Pacific Northwest surroundings. As you can imagine, since this is a werewolf film, things turn hairy for their family upon arriving at the remote Oregon home.
Whannell’s greatest strength is his tone-setting and shot framing. His filmmaking style toys with the audience, drawing our attention to the edges of the frame to see what is, or isn’t, there. As Whannel did on The Invisible Man, he is again working with Director of Photography Stefan Duscio. There are many clever shots in Wolf Man where a creature moves briskly in the background, or a shadowy outline of a figure is barely visible, barely on-screen, for just a moment! If you blink, you may miss it. And you won’t get many leading clues from suspenseful music. Wolf Man barely features much music at all. Instead, it relies on a silent sense of approaching dread, where every creak in a floorboard, crunch of a branch, or snarl, are part of the film’s way to keep us thoroughly engaged. When there’s action, the film uses fantastic practical effects, balancing campiness with disturbing body horror. Abbott seems to be most aware of the assignment, throwing himself fully into the physically demanding role. Unfortunately, Garner’s immense talent is wasted on the role of a generic wife who barely registers the horrors happening around her. At least Whannell manages to introduce some inventive new stylistic ideas, which don’t fully make up for the film’s lack of deeper meaning, but help to keep our attention, if not our emotional investment.
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Wolf Man opens in theaters on Friday, January 17th.
