Wolf Man prowls screens with some brilliant scenes, tepid scares (there is some blood), with a family caught in the struggle with the lycanthorpe! The film is the second reboot for writer and director, Leigh Whannel, who also wrote and directed The Invisible Man (2020). The co-writer is Corbett Tuck, her first film as writer, she was an actress in Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015). The classic horror film, The Wolf Man (1941), had a more supernatural curse. It was also remade with The Wolfman (2010), directed Joe Johnston, which followed the original movie. There is a thrumming noise as a we get an extreme closeup of a wasp being swarmed by ants.
The text tells us that it is early in 1995 in the hills of Oregon. A hiker was lost in what is called “Hills Fever.” We are also told of the Indigenous tribes call ma’iingan odengwaan, the “Face of the Wolf.” A sleeping boy, Blake (Zac Chandler), suddenly wakes up in his bed. He later has breakfast in the cabin kitchen when his father, Grady Lovell (Sam Jaeger) reminds me to be ready at 0700. Jaeger starred in The Handmaid’s Tale series as Mark Tuello. We can see that Grady is ex-military and still in that mode. He takes Blake out with hunting rifles to overlook a valley. Grady says, “This view never gets old.” They walk into the forest and Blake almost picks up a mushroom.
He is warned by his father that they are death cap mushrooms. Grady is angry at his son and reminds him that the place is dangerous. He turns to see a deer and slowly takes out his rifle. Blake runs away. The argeting scope of Blake’s rifle finds a dark form moving and he starts to retreat. There is some interesting perspectives used by the camera in the film. The cinematography is by Stefan Duscio who also worked on The Invisible Man. Grady finds his son who says he was trying to move to get a shot at the deer. His father tells him to get to the deer blind, a wooden platform with a ladder. Grady follows his son keeping hidden behind the blind and with his rifle pointed to the door.
We can hear the growl of a beast and most of the tension is from the sounds. The sound designer is P.K. Hooker who also worked on Insidious: The Red Door (2023). Steps are heard up the ladder and then we see a breath puffing above the blind! The blind’s door is slamemd and something is knocked down. The danger has passed and Grady finds a deer carcass. There is some movement and he fires at it! A howl is heard. Later, at the cabin, Blake finds his father talking in the basement. He is on a radio contacting Dan about hunting the “Face of the Wolf” to protect their sons. Grady tells him, “Dan, it’s real.” The focus is really on the Lovell family and while the tribes may know about the “Face of the Wolf”, not one member is in the picture.
It is "30 Years Later", the older Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) is walking with his daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth) on the streets of San Francisco. Abbott was in the horror movie, It Comes at Night (2017). Firth was in the sci fi movie, Subservience (2024). She pleads for ice cream and then steps on some barrels. Blake worries about her and she falls. A homeless man screams at her. Then Blake yells, “Why did you not get down!” He apologizes for getting angry at her. Blake's lashing out at his daughter out of concern for her is one of the sophisticated parts of the movie. They have a routine about mind reading. Blake asks his daughter what he is thinking. Ginger puts her hand on his forehead and says, “I love my little girl.”
Later in the family apartment, Ginger puts on lipstick on her father, and then he has recieved an envelope and finds keys to the cabin. Charlotte (Julia Garner), his wife, enters. Garner was in Apartment 7A (2024), a horror film, playing Terry Gionoffrio. She is busy talking on her phone to her editor and ignores Blake trying to talk to her. Charlotte is wrok obsessed to the point of ignoring her family. He tries to explain about the news that his father is dead. Blake admits, “He always made me afraid of him.” The next day, Charlotte is meeting with reporter colleagues, and then sees Blake at the steps of the news building. He says he wants to pack up his father’s stuff and tries to convince Charlotte to go with him.
Blake says she can work remotely, they can spend springtime with their daughter, and Charlotte can finally work on her book. Charlotte admits that she doesn’t have the same relationship with Ginger. They drive in Oregon with Ginger in the back seat who plays the “What do I see?” game. Blake, driving, finds that the road is blocked to the cabin. There is no cell service on their phones. Ginger sees a man (Benedict Hardie) in the deer blind. He walks towards them with his rifle. Blake is not worried as the man reaches his door. He is Derek, who was the son of Dan, the person who was speaking to his father on the radio. Derek offers to show them another way to the cabin. They drive on the dark road and suddenly Blake veers the truck when he sees a hairy figure!
A great perspective from the driver's seat as the truck rolls and then finds itself turned sideways on a tree! Derek is hanging from the truck door, but then falls! Blake has Ginger climb out of the window to the top of the truck. Charlotte follows her. Blake is watching them, when there is a roar, and a hairy arm crashes through the window and slashes him! He looks down to see Derek dragged away. Blake scrambles out of the truck and catches his family at the forest floor. They go through the forest and finally Blake sees the cabin. They hear a roar and start to run for the cabin. Blake checks on Ginger and Charlotte before going to the basement to turn on the generator.
Four Keys out of Five!
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