Movie Review: ‘Wolf Man’ Blu-ray

Tweet
Wolf Man has great visual effects and some effective (even if predictable) jump scares. It is supported by interesting premises and has a perfect isolated setting. And the actors play their parts decently enough. However, the overall story is a bit dull and lacks much suspense. Perhaps I have seen too many horror films or had a busy day before seeing the film, but there were a few points when I wanted to close my eyes and take a nap (I might’ve done that if I were watching at home instead of a crowded theater), while other scenes did have me wondering what would happen next.

The film begins with the main character, Blake, as a child on a hunting trip with his father; a survivalist trying to teach Blake how to be safe in a world full of danger. When Blake wonders off to try to catch a dear that ran off from his father’s view, Blake gets the first glimpse of one of the titular characters (possible spoiler, there are a few “Wolf Man” characters). It was this moment when I formed my first opinion of the movie. Not because of the character development, the brief creepy-ish appearance of the titular character, or the audience’s expected reaction to said appearance. As the camera focused on the young Blake and looked around the empty forest, I specifically thought, “there’s going to be a jump scare and it is going to be his dad whom we won’t hear walking/running up to Blake” and (spoiler) that is exactly what happened. I won’t lie, I still flinched a bit, but knowing the film started with this often-used cliché softened any potential expectations I may have had going forward.

Cut to thirty years later, a grownup Blake (Christopher Abbott; Girls, Poor Things, and Kraven the Hunter) now has his own daughter and is trying to be a different kind of father than his dad. He and his wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner; Ozark, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and the upcoming Fantastic Four) aren’t having the best marriage, as evidenced by their stubbornness to avoid each other’s space when needed. When Blake gets documentation showing that his long-missing father has been declared dead, he and Charlotte pack up and head to his father’s farmland. A decision they, especially Blake, probably regret before even reaching the farmhouse. After getting attacked by one of the creatures, Blake slowly starts to change into one of them and Charlotte and her daughter are left struggling for survival against the unknown creature outside and potentially the husband/father they may no longer know.

I did like that the film doesn’t try to overcomplicate or overexplain the story. The film is fairly straightforward, leaves out most previous werewolf myths, and it is mostly left up to the audience to understand what is happening once the horror/action begins (I actually heard someone in the audience say “it’s his (spoiler)” when a tattoo was shown – other movies might have verbally spelled that out and dwelled on what it means for a few minutes instead of moving on with subtle impact on the story). I also enjoyed the switch to Blake’s wolf-vision (reminded me of Stranger Things), especially during the darker scenes since it allowed the audience to see what was happening. On the downside, with only three main characters for much of the film, one of which is a child, it seemed unlikely that two of them would die which meant the only real suspense was regarding Blake’s fate (very few screen writers are willing to let kids die) and you can guess that that wouldn’t be resolved during the horror/action scenes. Until then, it’s just “how are they getting out of this situation”.

Blu-ray is in stores on Tuesday, March 18th.