The original The Wolf Man had themes of men's rage being a danger to their loved ones and Whannell has tapped into that, even more directly, to explore the idea through fantasy of how we can be the worst danger to our loved ones, and how this may be connected to our own family traumas. Whannell explored coercive control in his masterful remake of The Invisible Man and tackles more themes of abuse in his remake of Wolf Man, a film that may not be flawless but remains a tight thriller that has something powerful to say.
I was struck by how many scenes felt like completely realistic depictions of dealing with domestic violence in families. There is a moment in the third act where Garner, who is the unspoken centrepiece of this film, stands her ground in a way I would expect in a domestic drama. Her performance is incredible, balancing complicated emotions and motivations and transcending the genre, helping to make Wolf Man about something other than lycanthropy.
Perhaps those seeking a thrill ride might be disappointed. Whannell focuses instead of drama and relationships. The powerlessness in Abbott's performance as he hurts the ones he loves, the tensions he feels as his desire to be a better man are not met, even before any werewolf attack, are so wonderfully portrayed. The film has A Quiet Place vibes in how it both keeps the story narrowly focused and highlights the horrors of parenting in the real world while also managing to be about something fantastic. Wolf Man might be a bit too on the nose a couple of times, but I appreciated its effort so much I forgave it and allowed myself to be taken in by the tragedy.
And I felt the film does a good job of getting "scary" when it goes for those moments. Whannell is quite good at building suspense and Wolf Man leans into that aspect of horror with less of a focus on gore or brutality. This is a calculated choice that I felt works well. If you are making a film deconstructing the impact of violence on families, having your film revel in violence is a bit of a contradiction. Instead the tension arises from all the conflicted emotions happening both by Abbott's character as well as Garner's and Jaeger's. The film even manages to have some underpinnings of the emotional labour women endure in response to male violence.
Wolf Man is concise at only 103 minutes and I felt restrained in other ways as well. I liked how the film downplayed the transformation aspect because this isn't as much about transforming. The brutality isn't necessarily all foreign to our title character. There was something elegant in the film's economy, taking place pretty much all in one night allowing the relationships between the characters to be the focus. I'd be down for Whannell to continue taking these classic monster tropes and exploring modern violence if he's up for it.
Wolf Man
Starring: Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Sam Jaeger
Director: Leigh Whannell
Writers: Corbett Tuck, Leigh Whannell
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