'Wolf Man' Review - Leigh Whannell Takes Another Wild Swing with the Universal Monsters (2025)

The classic Universal Monsters are slowly making a long-overdue comeback. Frankenstein is getting two competing adaptations later in 2025. The Bride! comes from writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal and stars Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster and Jessie Buckley as his titular bride. Meanwhile, Guillermo del Toro is finally debuting his long-awaited Frankenstein film for Netflix, with Jacob Elordi taking on the iconic monster role. As for Wolf Man, he gets the pleasure of starring in the first major movie of 2025, kicking off Universal’s jam-packed slate. It’s also hard not to mention that both Frankenstein’s monster and Wolf Man will be heavily featured in the Dark Universe section of Universal’s highly-anticipated new theme park, Epic Universe, when it opens this summer.

All of this is to say that the Universal Monsters seem to be in better care now than they were in the last decade. Writer-director Leigh Whannell — best known for co-creating the Saw and Insidious franchises with James Wan and the cyberpunk action-thriller Upgrade — deserves significant credit for the monsters’ resurgence. The Australian filmmaker revived the Universal Monster IP from critical and financial ruin after the notorious failure of 2017’sThe Mummyremake by delivering a bone-chilling take onThe Invisible Man (2020). After that adaptation’s success, the disappointment of Universal’s previously planned “Dark Universe” movie franchise was easier to forget.

'Wolf Man' Review - Leigh Whannell Takes Another Wild Swing with the Universal Monsters (1)

While Leigh Whannell has returned to the realm of the Universal Monsters, his creative approach to Wolf Man (2025) couldn’t be more different from The Invisible Man. Wolf Man centers on Blake (Christopher Abbott) and Charlotte (Julia Garner), a couple struggling with their marriage who decides to take their adorable daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth), away from the busy metropolitan streets of San Francisco on a family retreat. Given that Blake has just received news of his estranged father’s passing, heading up to his old farmhouse deep in the beautiful Oregan forest to collect his dad’s belongings feels like the perfect excuse to get away from Charlotte’s workaholic lifestyle. However, once they arrive, they are met with a monstrous surprise.

Wolf Mandoes a fantastic job of using its titular monster on a practical and thematic level, instilling fear into the audience with thrilling scares while conveying fascinating themes about the fears of parenthood. Many will be quick to say that Wolf Man treads similar ground as The Invisible Man, telling another story that serves as an allegory for domestic abuse. However, the script, co-written by Leigh Whannell and his wife Corbett Tuck, focuses on trauma linked to parenthood, specifically when parents fail to uphold their promises. In this way, the film excels at making the Wolf Man not only a physically imposing presence but also a beast of tragic circumstances. A monster that is truly hard to forget.

'Wolf Man' Review - Leigh Whannell Takes Another Wild Swing with the Universal Monsters (2)

Christopher Abbott (Possessor, Poor Things), Julia Garner (Ozark, Inventing Anna), and newcomer Matilda share the majority of screen time together with very few other actors. Moving at a brisk pace, Wolf Man could arguably spend a bit more time getting to know how Abbott and Garner function as a couple. Yet, once danger creeps in, each of the actors is allowed to shine. Abbott’s grotesque, infectious disease-inspired transformation into the Wolf Man is a sight to behold. The movie’s unique werewolf design has already drawn some online controversy, but it totally works within the context of the narrative. Abbott’s physicality and feral commitment brilliantly showcase the slow breakdown of a loving father into a sickly, wild animal.

Matilda Firth is the glue that holds Wolf Man together. As Blake and Charlotte’s daughter Ginger, Firth delivers one of the better child performances in a horror film in recent years, managing to sell both emotional and terrifying scenes with effective ease. Julia Garner is great, just like always, but it’s hard to properly give praise when her role feels somewhat underwritten. The screenplay never spends enough time digging into her psyche, in terms of her individual personality and as an imperfect mother. WhereasWolf Manwants to mainly focus on the overbearing nature of parenthood shared between Blake, his daughter, and his own father, not much room is unfortunately left to flesh out Garner’s character.

'Wolf Man' Review - Leigh Whannell Takes Another Wild Swing with the Universal Monsters (3)

If you need one reason to seeWolf Manin theaters, the sound design is worth the price of admission alone. Leigh Whannell, once again, uses sound to convey terror in ways beyond most modern horror movies. The sound design utilized in Abbott’s Wolf Man transformation further immerses the audience in the grisly body horror on screen. This can be appreciated best in a silent room with speakers loud enough to make the walls shake. Additionally, Whannell introduces new visual motifs to the classic werewolf lore at play, putting spectators into the perspective of Blake’s deteriorating mind as he grows more savage as the plot progresses. This only brings us closer to the remaining humanity left in Abbott’s Wolf Man.

Wolf Man is the second home run in the Universal Monsters franchise for writer-director Leigh Whannell. The filmmaker takes a wild swing in his approach to the timeless Wolf Man character, creating something singular and of its own breed. Even if this interpretation doesn’t work for everyone, the last thing anyone can say is that it’s unoriginal or repetitive. With major help from prosthetics designer and makeup artist Arjen Tuiten, Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man finds no trouble clawing its own special place in the pantheon of the Universal Monsters. If James Wan’s Creature of the Black Lagoon and Lee Cronin’s Mummy adaptations follow suit by talking risky swings, then the future bodes well for this franchise.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Wolf Man hits theaters on January 17!

Release Date:January 17, 2025.
Directed byLeigh Whannell.
Written byLeigh Whannell & Corbett Tuck.
Based onThe Wolf Manby Curt Siodmak.
Produced byJason Blum & Ryan Gosling.
Executive Producers:Leigh Whannell, Beatriz Sequeira, Mel Turner, & Ken Kao.
Main Cast:Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Matilda Firth, Sam Jaeger, Benedict Hardie, Ben Prendergast, Zac Chandler, Beatriz Romilly, & Milo Cawthorne.
Cinematographer:Stefan Duscio.
Composer: Benjamin Wallfisch.
Production Companies:
Blumhouse & Waypoint Entertainment.
Distributor:Universal Pictures.
Runtime: 103 minutes.
Rated R.

'Wolf Man' Review - Leigh Whannell Takes Another Wild Swing with the Universal Monsters (2025)
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