All howl and no bite
Universal Pictures made a clever move in releasing Wolf Man two weeks after Nosferatu. I’m guessing that—knowing what they had on their hands—the only way Wolf Man would be a success is if Nosferatu was also a success. I presume they hoped that audiences would fall so hard for reboots of horror franchises from the early days of cinema that they simply had to see another.
It was worth a shot, I guess, but a bad movie is a bad movie is a bad movie, so I don’t think Wolf Man—in its current form—was ever going to appeal to a widespread audience in the way Nosferatu has.
Wolf Man was announced way back in 2014 as part of Universal’s now-failed ‘Dark Universe’—a Marvel-style shared cinematic world of classic Universal Monsters, such as The Mummy, and Frankenstein. I don’t have time to get into all the ways that this terrible idea failed before it could even begin, but at least ten-plus years of development is more than enough time to write a good script.
Right?
Who’s a Good Boy?
When Blake (Christopher Abbott) returns to his remote childhood home in Oregon with his wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth), he discovers that the land surrounding his home is being plagued by an unusual, violent creature. As the family attempt to survive the monster’s harassment, an unusual illness falls upon Blake—one that threatens his family more than the beast outside.
So, as you could probably tell from my wind up, Wolf Man is somewhat of a failure, but most of that stems from an unfocused script as opposed to poor or lazy filmmaking. In fact, this movie looks pretty good. It’s not heavily stylised, and although I’m not sure what the merits are of making a grounded werewolf movie, the location, lighting, and sets all evoke the needed atmosphere of isolation.
The make-up and prosthetics that went into creating the titular character look great, too. While I’ve no doubt that some CGI was used, the bulk of the work looks practical, lending the Wolf Man a reality and texture that was pretty gnarly. He’s honestly hard to look at, so grotesque is his face at times, and I really enjoyed that visceral reaction.
Can We Keep Him?
So, yes, this movie was clearly made by passionate filmmakers who were eager to go the extra mile to make something worthwhile. Unfortunately, the foundations of this work are simply not worth that level of effort. Wolf Man is a movie with a splintered focus. Julia Garner features heavily in the marketing. In fact, her presence is what convinced me to see this movie in the first place.
I was a bit disappointed and confused when it turned out she was just playing the wife of the main protagonist, played by Christopher Abbott. ‘How misleading!’ I thought. ‘And a waste of talent!’ Then the movie switches point of view about halfway through and becomes, primarily, about Garner’s character. You might think that’s a good thing. It’s not.
Charlotte is a severely underbaked character. There’s no catharsis to be found in her arc because the movie spent all of its set-up time on a different character. Garner is also given insultingly little to do beyond run and scream. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows for her, but the movie could’ve pushed her so much further psychologically, and if it had been all about her from the beginning, this could’ve been something.
He Was No Longer Wolf Boy… He Was Wolf Man
Ultimately, I was bored by much of this movie. Not only was the grander arc of the script lacking, but the pace was sluggish especially towards the beginning. What should’ve been quick and snappy scenes to establish the stakes felt drawn out, and were ultimately inconsequential to the larger plot, too.
There just isn’t really much to recommend about Wolf Man unless you’re a true horror afficionado. In that case, go ahead. There are a few decent scares and some inventive visual moments from the Wolf Man’s perspective. There’s definitely enough creative ideas and passion here for a good movie, but the writing just isn’t strong enough to be emotionally compelling.
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