There are multiple stories about the Wolf Man over the past few decades and the details are available on a search online describing the story line. Several attempts have been made, and the newest one is directed by Leigh Whannell from a script he co-wrote with Corbett Tuck. For 2025, the synopsis is kept very brief:
SYNOPSIS: A family at a remote farmhouse is attacked by an unseen animal, but as the night stretches on, the father begins to transform into something unrecognizable.
The film is entertaining, the performances are good, and the cinematography captures the landscape very well. It does have reasons to cause members of the audience to jump or flinch with some of the scenes. There are some close-up shots of Blake in the latter part of the film that I could have done without viewing. They are effective on showing viewers how the disease worked on humans.
The film starts with the main character as a child, Blake Lovell (Zac Chandler) who lives with his father, Grady Lovell (Sam Jaeger), on a farm in Oregon. The area is spectacular to view. Grady is ready to teach his son how to survive, including teaching how to head out to the woods, totting a gun and hunting. Grady knows there is danger out there and speaks harshly to the young boy. Blake overhears Grady speaking to another man about hunting a man rumored to have a disease. Who knows if Grady ever told his son about the rumor and Wolf Man. The film skips forward 2-3 decades and Blake (Christopher Abbott) is a writer who lives with his wife journalist Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth), in the city. Blake receives legal notice that his father is declared deceased and that is when it is evident he has been estranged from his father for years. He reflects on his father’s behavior and looks at his own, especially when he is conversing with young Ginger. He loves his family (adorable scenes with Ginger) and Charlotte, but his fear is that his marriage needs a boost. He proposes that the family go to Oregon, clean out the father’s farm and have a respite.
The summer vacation in the Oregon woods is short lived when looking for the entrance to the farm. Blake sees something in the dark road and flips the truck where there are injuries. When the three arrive at the farm, it is not too long before the transformation begins. Blake sees and hears differently than before – especially the heightened sound. Those scenes are excellent and are left best undescribed here and experienced in the theater. Abbott excels in the work he does during the transformation and the makeup is well done.
The mother/daughter scenes are also very authentic, and Matilda Firth has memorable scenes. While this may not be the same as the classics, it is truly concise and to the point of what Wolf Man is about. Cast: Ben Prendergast, Benedict Hardie, Beatriz Romilly, and Milo Cawthorne.
Running time: 1 hour and 43 minutes, rated R and opens in theaters January 16, 2025.
Source: Universal Pictures
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