Wolf Man (2025) Review: Is Blumhouse's Werewolf Movie Truly That Bad?
Copyright © Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Cloak & Co.
Title: Wolf Man (2025)
Director: Leigh Whannell Reboot of: The Wolf Man
Release Date: January 17, 2025
On top of all the spiritual or zombie movies, a werewolf movie can come every now and then. This movie may have gotten its pretty bad reviews, but beneath that, is it truly that mediocre? Today's movie is called Wolf Man, the recent star-studded reboot of the Universal monster film series, The Wolf Man. Way back in the 1940s, it started off with the titular film, which is about a man named Larry Talbot who becomes a werewolf. Throughout the decade, it spawned some sequels until Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. For this one, it gained a small $34.9 million gross success against a $14 million budget, although it gained mixed reviews from both critics and audiences. They praised the emotional depth and acting performances, but they also criticized the scares and pacing issues. While it could use writing and visual fixes, Wolf Man is a horror movie that does make a quite significant howl.
On top of all the spiritual or zombie movies, a werewolf movie can come every now and then. This movie may have gotten its pretty bad reviews, but beneath that, is it truly that mediocre? Today's movie is called Wolf Man, the recent star-studded reboot of the Universal monster film series, The Wolf Man. Way back in the 1940s, it started off with the titular film, which is about a man named Larry Talbot who becomes a werewolf. Throughout the decade, it spawned some sequels until Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. For this one, it gained a small $34.9 million gross success against a $14 million budget, although it gained mixed reviews from both critics and audiences. They praised the emotional depth and acting performances, but they also criticized the scares and pacing issues. While it could use writing and visual fixes, Wolf Man is a horror movie that does make a quite significant howl.
Summary
"Blake and his family are attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside a farmhouse as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable that soon jeopardizes his wife and daughter." - Google
"Blake and his family are attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside a farmhouse as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable that soon jeopardizes his wife and daughter." - Google
Reasons
The good qualities of Wolf Man are the solid story, striking performances, and familial chemistry. Just like with Drop, the story takes place in only one setting for about one day, except this movie is in a farm at midnight. The werewolf transformation builds up in the middle of the movie, so do not worry. It also has fair emotional weight, which is a good thing, and it shows what it is like to lose a loved one. Alongside the story, the performances stand out. Christopher Abbott's role as Blake Lovell adds emotional horror to the werewolf situation. Other actors, like Julia Garner and Matilda Firth as Charlotte and Ginger Lovell, respectively, are roles that were also worth the emotion. Speaking of which, the chemistry is raw and tense. The bond between Blake, Charlotte, and Ginger, goes from wholesome to heartbreaking. When Blake's transformation is complete, the tearjerking level goes higher.
Wolf Man also has a mixed bag filled with the scares, werewolf design, and predictability. If it comes to what Blake goes through, the jumpscares were quite effective to show the disease passed on from his dad. However, some of the scares were not really that creepy, and it did not have that much in addition. Be grateful that they are not all over the place just for the sake of being scary. Moving on, the werewolf design was questionable. In comparison to other werewolves, this design looked more like it could be in Planet of the Apes instead of Wolf Man, because it lacked the fur and animalistic features it was looking for. At least it used makeup and prosthetics instead of CGI. Following those two, the movie can also get predictable. The classic monster structure and foreshadowing were needed to make things simple. Unlike other films that hint at what will happen later on, the big twists and martial strife were more flat.
For the bad, Wolf Man didn't hit the mark because of the weak lore, uneven pacing, and clunky production. To get the wolf out of the room, lycanthropy is treated as a disease instead of a supernatural curse. The stripped-down mythology, like the full moon and bites, made it less of a werewolf film. Worse, the transformations were slow enough to miss any shock value. Because I mentioned "slow," the pacing was all over the place. Some of the scenes were even filler to pad the movie to the desired 1 hour and 40 minute runtime. Thanks to the second act staying in for too long, the climax comes in too late. As the minor but final point, the production was not that good. Originally, it was going to be a $60 million film led by Ryan Gosling, but it got lowered down to a $14 million film with a lesser-known actor afterward. Thanks to this, it led to the film looking less real, especially with the Oregon setting when the movie was rather filmed in Ireland and New Zealand.
Conclusion
Despite a handful of signature issues with the story and visuals, Wolf Man is enough to pass with a howl-worthy story and striking performances. It's weird because a month before this movie, Universal released Nosferatu, which gained severely positive reactions. The story and performances were fine, but if it truly wants to be a good werewolf movie, then it should fix the budget, lore, and writing. Overall, it is a lukewarm film at best. If you are a horror movie fan, check this out if you don't have anything else better.
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