Wolf Man info:
Director: Leigh Whannell
Writer: Leigh Whannell and Corbett Tuck
Starring: Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, and Matilda Firth
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. Some parts of the world are dealing with extreme cold while others are dealing with raging wildfires. They are opposite ends of the spectrum, but both can be devastating. If you are battling either of those right now, I hope nothing but the best and wish goodwill to everyone affected. Ok, so I know it’s not Halloween time, but back-to-back weeks with a good horror movie really puts me in the vibe of spooky season. After last week’s “Nosferatu” gem, I moved right into my first new 2025 release of the year with “Wolf Man”. But don’t be too scared, I will warn you right now that if you haven’t seen the latest reboot of this classic and don’t want to be spoiled, then go back and check out some of my other reviews from 2024… then scamper back here to read this later.
We have come a long way since 1941 and the original version of “The Wolf Man” with Claude Rains. I’m not just talking about graphics and other CGI effects, but also about the use of cameras and some writing styles. This new version of “Wolf Man” uses lots of these modern techniques to craft a compelling story and freak us out a little bit along the way. The acting could have been better, but let’s get into it and I will explain.
So, “Wolf Man” starts with a flashback of a young kid named Blake (Zac Chandler) and his dad (Sam Jaeger) getting up early and going out for a hunt. While out there, it appears that something is starting to hunt them instead. They were able to survive by hiding in a deer blind, but the dad knows about some creature that is loose in the wild. Then we fast-forward to the current time when Blake (Abbott) is now grown up with a family of his own.
When he gets a letter confirming his father’s death, he decides he wants to take his wife Charlotte (Garner) and daughter Ginger (Firth) to Oregon with him to clean out his dad’s house. With all of the backstory out of the way, we are ready to jump in head first with the action as they wreck the moving truck on the way. While trying to find his dad’s place, he sees something in the road and crashes into the forest when he swerves to avoid it.
This is one of the first really tense moments of “Wolf Man” as the truck is lying on its side, something breaks the window and cuts Blake’s arm. Whatever it was, as it pulled its latest kill away, the small family of three are trying to make it to the house. In typical fashion… they make it right as the creature is catching up and get inside just in time. As Blake works to secure the house, he is also slowly starting to change. I was expecting more from Garner here as Charlotte. Abbott was the real star of the movie, especially in the first half. But, even as Charlotte takes on more of the protecting parent role, her performance leads more to be desired.
Slowly as the night progresses (the whole movie pretty much takes place throughout this one evening/night), Blake can no longer speak and he is starting to see things brighter and with more clarity. I enjoyed the slow rotation of the camera here as you move from his vision to hers as you see the difference between what they can see. You can even see some of his internal struggles as he fights to understand what is going on with him.
Eventually, the events of the evening escalate to the creature breaking in and attacking them and Blake having to fight him off. All this happens just as Blake is making the final transition and becomes the predator. So, as Charlotte and Ginger fight for survival, they end up back in the same woods and in the same deer blind that Blake was in decades earlier. They are also able to survive as Charlotte shoots Blake’s Wolf Man to end his misery and start the journey back home.
Overall, this was a fun and entertaining experience, but I did expect more from this. I really wanted to see some sort of ending that set up a part two, but since both the Wolf Man and his dad were killed, I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. Also, I was also let down by the acting. I liked Garner an awful lot in “Ozark”, but I feel like she had lots of areas here where she could have shined and just didn’t. I’m not sure how much of that was her and how much was the writing. But she wasn’t alone none of the small cast did an amazing job.
Acting aside, this was still worth the watch, especially if you are a horror fan. Even though I wish it had more substance to it, it is still worth a 6 out of 10. Maybe 7 on a good day. I don’t normally give half-points, but this might be in the 6.5 range.
Have you been going to a theater to help beat the winter blues? Have you had the chance to see the “Wolf Man” reboot yet? If so, what are your thoughts? Did it freak you out when he chewed off his own leg and chased them on three? What are your thoughts on the acting? Please let me know in the comments below and be sure to come back next week when I will have another mindless movie review of some sort.
