WOLF MAN HOWLS ONTO 4K UHD, BLU-RAY™ ON MARCH 18TH
- Movie Scene Canada
- Mar 23
- 6 min read
FOR THE FIRST TIME AT HOME BLUMHOUSE AND THE DIRECTOR OF
'THE INVISIBLE MAN' DELIVER A TERRIFYING TWISTON UNIVERSAL’S CLASSIC MONSTER NOW WITH ALL-NEW BONUS CONTENT!
WOLF MAN contains over 30 minutes of behind-the-scenes content, including a peek at the terrifying Wolf Man transformation, breakdowns of the gnarly action & scares scenes throughout the film, and much more! WOLF MAN is directed by horror-acclaimed filmmaker Leigh Whannell, and stars Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, It Comes At Night), Julia Garner (“Ozark”, “Inventing Anna”), Sam Jaeger (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Matilda Firth (“Hullraisers”), Ben Prendergast (“The Sojourn Audio Drama”) and Benedict Hardie (The Invisible Man).
From Blumhouse and the director of The Invisible Man comes a modern take on the classic monster story, WOLF MAN. Seeking a fresh start, Blake moves his wife Charlotte and daughter Ginger to his childhood home in rural Oregon. Upon arrival, they encounter a brutal animal attack, forcing the family to barricade themselves inside the house as an unseen creature prowls the perimeter. As the night wears on, Blake’s injuries worsen, and his bizarre behavior turns monstrous. To protect her daughter, Charlotte must decide whether to confront the danger outside or the growing horror within.
BONUS FEATURES on DIGITAL, 4K UHD, BLU-RAY™ AND DVD:
UNLEASHING A NEW MONSTER – Explore Leigh Whannell’s dark and gritty take on one of horror’s most iconic monsters. Learn what inspired the visionary director to create this tragic tale of family, loss, and a night of absolute terror.
DESIGNING WOLF MAN – Director Leigh Whannell and prosthetic designer Arjen Tuiten, set out to create a Wolf Man unlike any seen before. Take a closer look at the conceptual designs, sculptures and prosthetic make-up that aided in the creation of a monster that stays with you long after the credits roll.
HANDS ON HORROR – Strap in for a breakdown of the film’s most thrilling action sequences. Cast and crew discuss how practical effects enabled them to capture raw and realistic performances of the most terrifying, heart-pounding scenes in the film.
NIGHTMARES AND SOUNDSCAPES – Transition into Blake’s perspective and witness the world through the eyes of an animal. Learn how sound design and VFX came together to highlight the enhanced hearing, vision, and complete abandonment of humanity that materialized during the transformation from Man to Wolf.
FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR/CO-WRITER LEIGH WHANNELL
REVIEW BY: KURT MORRISON // 4 OUT OF 5 STARS
The Universal Monsters project continues and it's another home run as far as I’m concerned thanks solely in part to the genius that is writer-director Leigh Whannell. WOLF MAN completely subverts expectations both in terms of gore, style and storytelling to once again bring this lore down to earth with a small $25 million dollar budget and two great stars in Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner.
It has been nearly 5 years since the release of director Leigh Whannell’s first foray into the Universal Monsters catalogue with The Invisible Man - a film I like more and more every time I watch it. The film of course came out right before the pandemic hit but still did okay at the box office, grossing $144 million worldwide on a $7 million dollar budget and then gathering some speed and attention when it hit streaming the following year. And even as the wheels started turning to get WOLF MAN made, with the likes of megastar Ryan Gosling at one time proposing a story and being attached to star, this final finished product FEELS like a product of pandemic writing through and through and I loved it.
The film stars Christopher Abbott as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead. With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Emmy winner Julia Garner), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth).
But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte is forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger outside the house.
The film does lack some serious scares, instead opting for a mixture of a psychological family drama along with a body horror heavy monster movie. Unlike the typical werewolf lore that most, if not all adaptations have had, in which a full moon causes the transformation and a silver bullet could solve all our ‘problems’, WOLF MAN sees our family man Blake slowly start to become a hideous monster throughout the night, with no turning back.
Once he becomes the beast, he is the beast. The slow and squeamish body horror aspect that unfolds is a great homage to a classic like 1986’s The Fly, directed by Canada’s own David Cronenberg, where our protagonist begins to fall apart minute by minute both physically and mentally, and is still trying to hold onto that last bit of being human and protective of the thing he loves the most.
My biggest worry going into this was wondering if this was going to be a re-hash of the 2010’s The Wolf Man, starring Benecio Del Toro and Emily Blunt, which was a gonzo CGI-ladened mess. AND HEY, I ACTUALLY FIND THAT FILM SOMEHOW FUN AND ENTERTAINING. Is it bad - yes, completely. But it is still a goofy chapter in this type of character’s filmography.
So as the transformation of Blake begins in WOLF MAN, I was pleasantly surprised to see the approach taken to not only the look but the practical effects. It is nothing like any interpretation we’ve seen of a (were)wolf, instead opting for a slow descent into the transformation and physical ruin for our protagonist, with teeth falling out, then skin sweating and festering with rot, followed by neurological demise. I really enjoyed this aspect of the film and appreciate its out of the box thinking.
As mentioned, this feels like a product of pandemic writing and that idea of isolation and ‘feeling trapped’ immediately helps to garner a sense of anxiety once Abbott and Garner’s characters end up within the Oregon forests and inevitably at the farm house. Now mind you, there aren’t many jump scares throughout the film, but the level of suspense never slows once the beast in the woods reveals itself and starts chasing the family. If you’re going in expecting a scare-a-minute horror movie, I think you’ll be disappointed but the claustrophobia of the cabin along with transformation inside the cabin in addition to the slow burn of suspense of the danger outside of the cabin was a combination I really dug.
Whannell is great at crafting small-scale horror. Work with what you can and exploit the surroundings you have has always been his schtick - case and point with one of my all-time favourite horror films, 2004’s SAW. Things don’t need to be overblown or expensive to be frightening or anxiety inducing.
I am convinced Julia Garner is going to become an A-List Megastar in the next few years, and it’s not surprising to me that Whannell cast her as his female lead, as he has a knack for bringing out the best in his scream queens (See Elizabeth Moss in The Invisible Man if you need more evidence). It’s clear that she takes a backseat to Abbott and Firth within the first act, as we see Garner’s Charlotte understand that their marriage is in a rocky place, and that’s okay. Once the transformation of Abbott’s Blake begins, Charlotte has to come to terms with becoming the parent and guardian that her husband has always been for Ginger. It’s an interesting play because it becomes a case of “The Devil You Know vs The Devil You Don’t”, in which the looming danger outside the house is just as dangerous as the one now stalking her and her daughter in the house. Garner is such a presence on screen, both small and large, and this continues that trend.
WOLF MAN really knows what kind of horror film it wants to be and yet gave me so many different cinematic perspectives to explore the second I left the theatre. It thrives in its own little world as a self contained thriller that is complex and layered yet gory and gritty. I hope Universal and Blum House continue to go down this route with all their Monster catalogue because I really look forward to more of these kinds of films.
(Poster/Photo/Video credit: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)
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