“Wolf Man,” directed by Leigh Whannell, is a modern adaption of the 1941 film, “The Wolf Man”, originally directed by George Waggner. Released on Jan. 17, the movie follows Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) and his family as they return to his childhood home in a remote, wooded area. Their visit takes a terrifying turn when they are attacked by a mysterious force, setting off a chain of events filled with tension and suspense. Accompanied by an eerie score, the film’s atmosphere grows increasingly unsettling as danger surrounds them.
Blake’s relationship with his daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) reflects his desire to be both her best friend and someone she can lean on for support. Although there is a moment where Blake gets mad at his daughter, he reins himself in, revealing his effort to break the cycle of strict parenting he experienced from his father. However, his relationship with his wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner), is a tense one due to their jobs and how they interact with their child.
These events lead them to take a trip to Blake’s childhood cabin after his father dies, which sets the movie to its main event. Blake becomes infected by a werewolf virus, putting his family in danger as they hide away inside the cabin after being attacked by another unseen monster. Blake’s wife and daughter manage to escape and kill the infected Blake, which ends the movie with a parallel to the opening scene of the movie. At the end of the movie, Blake Lovell dies in full transformation, which consists of his human features dissipating. Instead, he becomes a mix of human and animalistic features.
In Whannell’s depiction of “Wolf Man,” his approach to the transformation is completely different from the approach that is shown in the 1941 movie by George Waggner. Waggner had made the transformation happen by the main character being bitten by another werewolf, unlike in the new depiction where it happened by a scratch. The scratch is a new way of transforming in a monster movie, which is unexpected since most people are used to the monsters biting. It was depicted as a virus.
Unlike the 1941 depiction, the 2025 film showed an on-screen transformation as Blake started to slowly succumb to the “virus.” Being able to see the transformation from the monster’s point of view in Whannel’s depiction was an interesting twist since it brought the viewers closer to the monster, allowing sympathy for it to fester in the audience. Some points in the movie showed how the monster would hear his family or lack thereof. They even, at times, showed how Blake saw things with his new vision as a werewolf.
The transformation in the movie took an approach of making Blake look more animalistic but with less hair or fur. They showed a new approach to how a man and an animal mixed together would really look like. They had added a snout-like face, snarl, big teeth and nails. At times, the transformation could look a bit funny, especially since the character started with curly hair all over and then became bald by the end of his transformation.
A hidden message can be seen in the movie when, in the end, it turns out to be Blake’s dad, who became a werewolf infected by another. The message could be that they cannot break away from generational trauma as easily. It is interpreted that Blake became just like his father, whom he did not want to become.
I felt it was a bit odd to bring a generational trauma message into a monster movie since I was expecting to be terrified. In a way, bringing a touch of realism to werewolf lore does make sense because it fits with how werewolves are defeated in some movies.
Werewolves are defeated or become human again if the initial host is defeated. Thinking of it this way, it is clear how Blake wanted to get away from his father’s shadow or personality. The werewolves being his dad was also a bit on the nose when it came to the hard feelings Blake had against him. Although killing the initial host didn’t change Blake in this movie, it sends a message that generational trauma will be there under the surface.
It was predictable that his dad was going to be the werewolf based on how the movie started with his childhood relationship with his dad. It was also leading up to when they went back to his childhood home after his dad died. As soon as that part of the movie came on, it was easy to pinpoint where the movie was leading up to.
The message of generational trauma in the film was the forefront of how the werewolf dynamic was going to continue. It didn’t take away from the movie but added a bit more of a foreboding since it made the audience want to see if the prediction was correct. It also gives the movie a deeper sense of feeling aside from the suspense. It can make the viewers uncomfortable watching how someone not wanting to be a monster of a parent becomes one in the end after trying so hard not to.
The movie was a fun watch that even people who are not used to horror or thriller can watch it with no issue since it mainly has suspenseful scenes rather than gore. Although a good suspenseful dramatic thriller, its subtle scares make it a good watch for anyone that is not a horror enjoyer.
