Rating: R | Runtime: 103 minutes
Release Date: January 17th, 2025 (USA)
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director(s): Leigh Whannell
Writer(s): Leigh Whannell & Corbett Tuck

Sometimes when you’re a daddy, you’re so scared of your kids getting scars that you become the thing that scars them.

A military veteran obviously suffering from PTSD cannot shield his violent temper from his son, so his attempts to protect the child on their farm inevitably become what scares him most. The boy leaves as soon as he comes of age to later marry a woman in the city who chooses to bury herself in work so as not to risk discovering she’s an inadequate wife and mother. This avoidance is precisely what ensures that inadequacy.

After what Leigh Whannell did with The Invisible Man, I was excited to see him also drag Wolf Man into the twentieth century and that above narrative conceit seemed primed for similar success. Unfortunately, he and co-writer Corbett Tuck never really build upon this mirroring to deliver anything more than a guilt trip for Charlotte to agree to accompany Blake back home to Oregon.

The result leads to a pretty one-dimensional, single-night creature feature that leans into an intriguing dual perspective wherein Blake’s transition from man to beast is shown as contrasting sensory experiences between himself and those perceiving him. While a nice bit of aesthetic flair, it’s just as superficial as the parenthood theme and indigenous appropriation of ma’iingan odengwaan. The film is solid enough midnight fare, but only if you’re not expecting more.

And kudos to Ginger for telling her parents that she’ll never fight in front of her own kids … while they are in fact fighting in front of her.

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Christopher Abbott as Blake in WOLF MAN, directed by Leigh Whannell. © 2025 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.