Wolf Man: A Creature Feature That Lacks Bite (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Just five years ago, writer/director Leigh Whannell gave us his reimagining of "The Invisible Man," a film that not only received decent reviews from critics, but was also a smashing success at the box office, earning an incredible $144 million worldwide on a rather small budget of $7 million. It also reinvigorated Universal's interest in the classic monsters, which had been rather dimmed after the failure of their planned "Dark Universe" series. While the original plan for the new "Wolf Man" was to have Ryan Gosling star and Derek Cianfrance direct (from a script by Whannell and his wife Corbett Tucker), both ended up leaving the project, causing Whannell to step in with a new cast. He had already proven that he had a bit of a knack for putting an intriguing spin on one of the classic monster tales, but could he possibly make lightning strike twice?

The film begins with young Blake Lovell and his father Grady (Sam Jaeger) on a hunting trip in the mountains of Oregon, where they spot a strange humanoid creature that the latter believes to be a missing hiker infected with a mysterious disease from the area. Thirty years later, we find Blake (Christopher Abbott), now a writer, living with his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner), a journalist, and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) in San Francisco. He receives word that his missing father has been declared dead and inherits his cabin, prompting him to suggest that they vacation there since they don't get to spend that much time together.

They get a little lost in the region, but luckily find some help from an old childhood acquaintance who still happens to live in the area. However, before they can reach their destination, an encounter with a creature similar to the one Blake saw when he was younger causes an accident with the moving van. Blake, Charlotte, and Ginger are able to make it to the cabin safely, but it's soon revealed that Blake was attacked by the creature, which begins to cause strange changes to his body. With Blake transforming more and more, and the creature from before still lurking outside, it becomes a desperate struggle to survive the night.

When it came to "The Invisible Man," there was quite a wide range of possibilities as to how the concept could be used, and indeed, Leigh Whannell hit on one that worked rather well, resulting in a tense & compelling film that featured a great turn from Elisabeth Moss. However, when it comes to the Wolf Man, those possibilities get narrowed down quite a bit, which is not to say that it's impossible to do anything new with the classic monster, but rather that it's a lot harder to do so.

Whannell and co-writer Corbett Tucker clearly wanted to emphasize the family drama of their new iteration in an attempt to give the audience an emotional anchor as they witness the horrific circumstances that these characters find themselves in, even going so far as to set up the fact that Blake and Charlotte have been feeling rather distant lately. However, the problem is that it's barely touched on before they're thrust into their desperate fight for survival, leaving a distinct lack of development in the characters & their situation, development that was very much needed to form the attachment that the filmmakers wanted the audience to have in order for us to care about their predicament.

That said, even putting that aside, the aforementioned problem arises of it being a rather big challenge to come up with something new & interesting to do with the Wolf Man, and sadly, this time around, it ended up being too big of a challenge for Whannell. We do get to see Blake go through his transformation (eventually looking more like a troll than a wolf for some reason), but then it's pretty much what you'd expect: He fights the other creature, and then goes after his wife & daughter as he becomes more and more feral.

This might have been enough if more effort had been put into the character development, but as it is, it ends up feeling like a rather lazy attempt to bring back this classic monster icon. Again, it certainly would be quite hard to come up with something else for him to do besides attacking everyone in sight, and having it be his own family only made sense as far as establishing an emotional connection to the characters, but in their rush to get to the wolf-fueled action (in a film that only lasts about a brief 90 minutes without the credits), they ended up leaving behind the most important ingredient, the one that would make us care about these characters in the first place. Without that, or any risks taken in its familiar plot, "Wolf Man" ironically becomes a rather toothless horror flick that lacks bite, ultimately destined to fade away as a forgettable creature feature.

Video/Audio:

"Wolf Man" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. This is yet another horror flick that takes place mostly at night or in very dark locations, but the picture looks perfectly sharp & clear throughout the entire duration of the film. Likewise, the DVS Dolby Atmos audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Universal has done a great job in both departments for the film's debut physical release.

Special Features:

Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Leigh Whannell

Unleashing a New Monster (8 Minutes)

Designing Wolf Man (9 Minutes)

Hands-On Horror (7 Minutes)

Nightmares and Soundscapes (7 Minutes)

The Blu-ray comes with a pretty good selection of extras that includes a director's commentary and a series of featurettes (about 30 minutes in total) that delve into areas like the new creature design, the action sequences, and the sound design/VFX. Definitely plenty of material here for anyone looking to explore the making of the film.

Conclusion:

Leigh Whannell's "Wolf Man" is a rather lazy attempt to bring back the classic monster icon, lacking the necessary character & plot development to make the audience care about this horrific situation or the people involved, ultimately resulting in a toothless creature feature that lacks bite.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter @BeckFilmCritic.