Palpable suspense and real-world relatability were some of the ingredients that made Leigh Whannell’s “The Invisible Man” contemporary film adaptation successful. James Whale’s 1933 film, based on H. G. Wells‘s 1897 novel, depicted a brilliant scientist slowly turning mad, giving himself over to a scientific advancement that made him objectively limitless. The modern update places the power of invisibility in the hands of an abusive ex-lover, where the prospect of not being seen is even more terrifying. Whannell goes about his work in the same way as 2025’s “Wolf Man,” where the painful curse of turning into half-man, half-animal doubles as a metaphor for a current theme. What if the carnality inside is just generational trauma and unchecked male angst? It’s a good template on the surface — but the film never gives these ideas to where you can form a sympathetic bond with all involved like Whannell’s 2020 predecessor. Instead, “Wolf Man” feels discomfort allowing characters to sit within the ideas it brings forth and looks to get to the action hastily without little connective tissue. 

Christopher Abbott as Blake in Wolf Man, directed by Leigh Whannell

Blake (Christopher Abbott) is a writer in between jobs who lives in San Francisco with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and their daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth). An internal struggle rages inside Blake, given his childhood experiences with his estranged father, Grady (Sam Jaeger), a war veteran stuck in survival mode. “Wolf Man”’s entry point depicts a flashback of their relationship early on, hinging on Grady teaching Blake about hunting and survival skills at his Oregon farm. Needless to say, Grady’s cold, nihilistic look at the world is a bit distressful to a young child. The film wants you to believe current day Blake struggles with the same type of anger without going into too much detail. There are brief moments where Blake may be a bit overprotective of Ginger and has some tension with Charlotte’s workaholic journalism career, but Whannell and co-writer Corbett Tuck cut off development at the expense of possible sympathetic points to come later. How long have Blake and Charlotte been having issues, and do they know the root cause? “Wolf Man” wants to hide its cards for some reason.

(from left) Charlotte (Julia Garner), Blake (Christopher Abbott), and Ginger (Matilda Firth) in Wolf Man, directed by Leigh Whannell.

One day, Blake gets a notice his father is dead, and with that comes the deed to their old house in Oregon. Nobody would blame Blake if he didn’t want to look back, not only for uneasy memories of the past but to the ‘Hills Fever’ folklore, which led him to a face-to-face encounter with a hairy-human-like beast. But you must confront your past to move on to a better future. At Blake’s behest, his family hops in a U-Haul and goes to the farm hoping for a reset – but they’ll soon find out Oregon’s sprawling countryside hides a terrifying secret. 

Whannell has the instinct to make his take on the “Wolf Man” creative and engaging. The film puts some of those elements on display, switching to the evolving “wolf vision” once Blake gets scratched by the classic antagonist. Whannell has a flare to display different points of view, as seen in 2018’s “Upgrade” and again in “The Invisible Man.” A particular scene earlier is a short iteration of what Whannell built in those other films. Cinematographer Stefan Duscio tries to create suspense by shrouding scenes in darkness (which sometimes works against the atmosphere it’s going for). The main crux of “Wolf Man” is confined to a house where the inhabitants are biding time until sunrise in hopes the unseen horror disappears. It becomes a “The Fly” inspired tale of a gradual physical transformation rending a man unrecognizable to the people he loves. 


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The problem is “Wolf Man” doesn’t fully understand the lesson into why Seth Brundle’s slow degradation was so impactful.  You spent time with his character, saw how he viewed/believed in his research, and even witnessed Brundle’s wide variety of emotions. Here, Abbott, Garner, and Firth combine their powers to illicit the audience to feel the dourness of their situation. The film understands the visual shock of a man transforming into a werewolf and the physicality it implores. There isn’t enough length in the tooth for these elements to work together satisfyingly. Thus, “Wolf Man’s” story feels as if it’s at odds with itself. Blake’s relationship with Ginger is based on wanting to protect her from the world’s dangers. Yet, he leads his family into possible calamity, knowing what is possible in his childhood house of horrors —not great for a person who gives off the impression he doesn’t want to retract the sins of his father figure. 

“Wolf Man” howls at the moon with only half its voice in tow. What could have been another au courant twist on another Universal Monsters legend falls apart due to conventional set pieces and an environment that opposes the new path it lightly imprints.