A young man and his father go hunt in the mountains near their home. While hunting a deer, some unseen creature gets closer and begins to stalk them.
Terrified, the man and his son retreat to an old hunting tower and take shelter. Before the creature can attack them, it gets distracted by the deer and rips it apart.
Years later, the young man Blake grows up and played by Christopher Abbott. He takes his wife Charlotte, played by Julia Garner, and their young daughter Ginger back to his father’s mountainside farm.
On their way there, a creature runs into the middle of the road and causes Blake to crash their truck over a cliff. The family flees to the farmhouse, but Blake is scratched by the creature along the way.
Blake slowly gets sicker as the movie goes on, as a mysterious infection overtakes him. Charlotte and Ginger are forced to fight off the creature that’s outside while Blake begins to turn into a creature himself.
With Blake now a monster, Charlotte must do everything she can to save what remains of her family and make it out of there in one piece.
‘Wolf Man’ is a welcome addition to the werewolf genre but it still left me wanting more. The setting, cinematography, and acting were incredible, but the one problem I have with it — there wasn’t enough wolf in this wolf-man.
I have this issue with several other werewolf movies, the design and look of their werewolf isn’t as wolf-like as I’d prefer it to be. I understand that time and budget restraints exist, but I’d still like to see a better-looking werewolf.
Overall, I still really enjoyed ‘Wolf Man’ and like many other movies, the success of this one can lead to better ones in the future. More werewolf movies are always OK with me.
During the movie, I enjoyed how real the infection felt. It wasn’t the standard full moon triggering the werewolf transformation, it was like a virus slowly taking over, turning him little by little into the monster.
Even though I wanted more, the practical and digital effects used to create the werewolf did look very good. They had prosthetics to make his jaw longer and to make his muscles look huge compared to his pre-werewolf self.
The movie also gets a little emotional towards the end. Blake knows he’s a danger to his family, but he must stay around to protect them from the other werewolf. Charlotte wants to help Blake, but she knows he could tear them apart at any second.
They are both forced to make some horrible decisions during their ordeal to protect their family and the last few minutes had me crying pretty good.
Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner did an amazing job, as did the rest of the cast and crew. The passion that they all have for this movie really shines through in their performances.
I highly recommend seeing ‘Wolf Man’ especially since other classic monster movies like ‘Nosferatu’ have come out recently. It’s a fun watch and a howling good time.