‘Wolf Man’ Review: Christopher Abbott Takes a Lycan for Flesh in Leigh Whannell’s Thrilling and Thoughtful Monster Movie [A-]

There have been many versions of werewolf movies over the past century, but it has been a long time since we have been gifted with one that says something new and interesting while paying tribute to an older form of filmmaking. Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man uses familiar tropes and legends to tell a story that searches for the humanity within the monstrous.

In his follow- up to 2020’s The Invisible Man, Whannell breathes new life into another iconic Universal monster. His werewolf story centers on Blake (Christopher Abbott), a writer living in San Francisco, far from the remote Oregon farm where he grew up. His wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) is a busy journalist, perhaps too busy for her family. Blake, though, is devoted to their young daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth), determined not to be like his brutal, survivalist father.

The family dynamic at the heart of Wolf Man sets the story apart from the many other lycanthropic movies that have graced the screen. From Lon Chaney Jr.’s Jr.’s.1941 The Wolf Man to the 1981 films The Howling and An American Werewolf in London, werewolf movies tend to focus on the lore and mysticism of the transformation from man to monster. Whannell’s version prioritizes the humans and the emotional toll such a transformation costs.

When Blake gets word his missing father has been declared dead by the state of Oregon, he convinces a reluctant Charlotte to head north for the summer to spend time as a family while he deals with the farmhouse they’ve just inherited. But as soon as they pull up in a moving van, a creature attacks them, biting Blake before the three escape and lock themselves in the house for a very long, terrifying night. 

The inevitable transformation takes place over many hours, unfolding in stages and shifting perspectives. It starts with Blake’s heightened senses as the danger still lurks outside. Before long, the cracks in Blake and Charlotte’s relationship become literal as they lose the ability to speak to or understand each other. We go back and forth, experiencing Blake’s changes alongside him while also sharing in Charlotte and Ginger’s fear and foreboding. Blake is afraid too, and it’s impossible not to feel sorry for this genuinely sweet man who doesn’t deserve any of what is happening to him. He had long ago escaped this place only to find himself back in its clutches and suddenly consumed by a deep need to simultaneously hurt and protect the only people he cares about.

There is a moment near the halfway point in which Charlotte looks sadly upon Blake’s sickly, sweaty face and knows she and Ginger are in imminent danger. It is a subtle, blink-and-you-miss-it expression that demonstrates the level of detail and care Whannell imbues into his particular style of horror movie. It is a moment of acceptance, not of the monster before her but of fate and circumstances beyond her control.

Performances in horror movies are so often underrated and Christopher Abbott delivers an empathetic and surprisingly tender turn while disappearing into a mask of prosthetics, false teeth, and facial hair. It should not come as a shock that Abbott is capable of bringing such emotional layers to a guy who is far more than a basic movie monster. Though he most recently starred as a villain in Sony’s Kraven the Hunter, Abbott has long been a favorite of critics and indie film fans. His first breakthrough came with the HBO series Girls, followed by acclaim and a Spirit Award nomination for the indie drama James White and Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominations for the limited series Catch-22. Mainstream movie stardom was inevitable, and what better way than in a wide-release, big studio creature feature that also happens to be good.

Julia Garner is equally talented, as her three Emmy awards for Ozark can attest. Like Abbott, with whom she previously worked in the 2011 Sundance darling Martha Marcy May Marlene, most of her film work has been in the indie world, along with a successful run of television roles. Garner approaches the character of Charlotte – a big city reporter – in a pragmatic and understated way. You can almost watch her thinking, calculating, figuring out what to do next. She may be in distress, but she is no damsel and Garner is entirely believable as a woman who would hate guns but also be able to figure out how to use one if she needs to.

With a runtime of under two hours, Whannell, who co-wrote the film with his wife Corbett Tuck, doesn’t dwell on extraneous details. We know enough about the characters to understand the horrible situation they face and to care whether or not they make it out. This is still a horror movie with plenty of gore and jump scares. But it doesn’t rely solely on those elements to manipulate the audience into having fun. Whannell and Tuck want us to feel something too.

By experiencing the night from both sides, we feel pity for dear Blake while simultaneously knowing Charlotte must, can, and will do whatever it takes to keep their daughter safe. Because we feel for Blake, we want there to be some magic eraser to undo the curse that has fallen on them. But just as Whannell used the idea of the Invisible Man to tell a story of domestic violence and survival, Wolf Man explores the idea of helplessly watching a loved one suffer through Alzheimer’s Disease, or addiction or mental illness. There is sadness, pain and fear in watching them suffer and change, knowing they are still in there somewhere, but feeling them slip further away. 

Through 1980s-inspired practical makeup and visual effects and slasher/monster movie levels of bloody violence, Leigh Whannell gives a fresh update to the Universal monster and a worthy new addition to his own collection. With two great revivals, why stop there? Perhaps it’s time to resurrect the Dark Universe and hand Whannell the keys.

Grade: A-

Universal Pictures will release Wolf Man only in theaters on January 17.