Having seen Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man (2025), I have plenty of thoughts about it. Overall, it was enjoyable. Not as great as his take on The Invisible Man (2020). But, I understood why the film makes the choices it does, and overall I had a fun time. I have my criticisms, but this isn’t a review and I do not necessarily want to dwell on those.
There will be spoilers here.
Mostly, I want to weigh in on the divided response to the film, and where I have seen the discourse revolve. Many of the “criticisms,” which I use that turn loosely, are based on two central points. These points are 1) the film not being what they expected, and 2) the wolf man not having a “full,” furred transformation. I am generalizing here based on discussions I have followed on Reddit and social media regarding the movie, of course. This isn’t universal, but these issues come up enough that I felt like exploring them.
And that is not to say the movie can’t be criticized. I think it had issues – my old nemesis, pacing, was a mess. There were a few sequences where it felt we had a significant time jump that made the film feel smaller than it needed to be. I also think the overall siege element of the story was okay, but wasn’t explored as well as it could have been. Plus, what body horror was there was nice, but more could have helped sell the horror of the transformation.
But let’s focus on those audience criticisms that I think are more based on expectations not being met, rather than the actual issues with the film and its interpretation of werewolf themes and aesthetics.
Expectations Walking In
There are certain expectations and tropes that audiences expect regarding werewolf films. There are certain beats that films tend to stick to. What people expected from the film, I feel, was a brutal and bloody werewolf chase. Something a little more violent and intense than it was. Audiences were probably not expecting an exploration of generation trauma and parenthood.
Wolf Man had plenty of thrilling moments, but the audience was probably not prepared for how vulnerable and hurt Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) was throughout the film. Blake’s third-act turn aside, for most of the film he is a vulnerable, loving father. He is also sensitive to his ailing marriage. Even his heroism is tempered by the practicality of dealing with injury and disease.
The horror of the film is not about him being a bloodthirsty killer. Instead, Blake’s chief goal in life, even as he struggles with the affliction, is not perpetuating a world of violence and rough masculinity he saw in his youth that rattled him and shaped him. He keeps himself in check, rejecting an antiquated notion of fatherhood his dad represents.
The Wolf Metaphor Tracks
With all that in mind: his realization of the body horror, his deteriorating mental state, and his developing violent aggression nearly unravel the identity he created for himself. He becomes the cliche of the alpha male, down to killing his own, infected father. He loses himself for a time in this moment and the support structure he built for himself collapses, and he becomes the thing he hated in his youth: raw and violent aggression.
All of this works and clicks for me, but I also tend to be a little bit more tapped into this kind of stuff than a general audience, or the gorehounds. However, I can also understand the disappointment. We’re been beating the generational trauma drum in horror films for close to two decades now. I get some people just want to see a Wolf Man be a Wolf Man.
But also carrying such expectations with you into the theater and then claiming the film is bad because it is not what you set it up to be in your mind is a drum I see audiences beat, far, far too often.
On that note, another expectation of the audience that backfired was how the titular Wolf Man appears.
Here There Be Wolf Men (kinda)
I am a big fan of werewolves across the media, and I even write my own fiction about the creatures. Of course, I also love seeing unique takes on monsters, as there is always meaning attached to such decisions that can be explored by creatives and audiences alike.
I also teach about horror and monsters as a way to bridge composition and analysis in a college environment. So I am a little more knowledgeable on werewolf lore and aesthetics than a general audience. But the chief criticism regarding the look of the Wolf Man isn’t from a general audience, but rather the hardcore fans of werewolves who are conditioned to very specific visions of what a wolf man is.
And frankly, that kind of sucks when this version of the Wolf Man features so many fascinating elements going on.
There is a trend among werewolf enthusiasts to idealize the aesthetic werewolf. Big, muscular, with definitive lupine features. It’s an attractive and appealing look for the monster, undoubtedly. I would know, as I designed Fang with that in mind. But also, lycanthropy and other such curses and conditions are often supposed to be portrayed as horrible. Being a seven-foot-tall hot werewolf guy does not sound all that horrible, does it?
Ugly Wolf Men
The thing is, werewolves have become a power fantasy element for people for a few decades now. Less scary, freakish, and horrific. Even Lon Chaney Jr.’s 1941 Wolf Man still has a little bit of an idealized look. Today his wolf man look is a little friendly, and maybe even a little cute for us freaks. But, consider when the look of the werewolf goes off the beaten path. I remember a lot of criticism of the look of Remus Lupin’s bestial form in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). He was emaciated and lacked fur, looking freakish. I recall many complaints about that.
Complaints like I hear now regarding the Wolf Man‘s approach. This isn’t the idealized werewolf. But I would argue it is an accurate one.
I think the portrayal of Blake and his father in their deteriorating state makes sense, especially given the context of the werewolf lore presented in the film.
As we got our detailed looks at the transformed wolf men of the film but the end of the second act, I was struck by two things. First, this was very much a modern interpretation of 1941’s werewolf form, with more body horror. Secondly, the depiction of Blake’s decomposing body and inhuman rot reflects folklore about such transformations.
It’s the second point I want to explore there.
Is Blake an “Actual” Werewolf?
Too often, we tend to think about werewolves, culturally, as literal hybrids of humans and wolves. Some fusion of an animal and man in an uneasy relationship. And in doing this, we’ve collectively moved on a spectrum toward that idealized werewolf form. However, from historical records and folklore, lycanthropy was more indicative of bestial behavior, things outside of the pack that was the village or community. Violent, predatory behavior that was so far out of the norm you could only compare these people to animals.
So many historical instances of werewolves and vampires (the two were often interchangeable) were a culture’s way of processing sins like murder, rape, and gluttony. Before we had the concept of psychopaths and serial killers, in the earliest days of society, we had werewolves. Like good ol’ Peter Stumpp.
Why am I so certain this is the interpretation of the Wolf Man as the basis for the take on the creature? Because the film goes as far as naming a Native American connection. Also, Blake and his father so closely resemble Wendigos and other beast-man lore. The minute I saw the chewed-off lips of Blake’s father, it was everything I needed to know about what Whannell and his team were doing.
The infection presented in the movie is not the idealized form of the lycanthropy, an uneasy fusion. it is the older, uneasier, and largely unknowable manifestation of the evil that emerges and can overtake someone in the tribe.
Expectations Have Been Dead and Buried (by the Wolf Man)
With such expectations in mind from the idealized werewolf, I can see why people can come out of this film disappointed. I enjoyed Wolf Man and even I have a few greasy bones to pick with it. But what I am seeing emerge in the general discussion is a lack of broader folkloric connections and an unwillingness of some audiences to come to the film on its terms. I place no blame on the audience for the former, but I am certainly critical of the latter.
Coming in with expectations of a film is fair and natural. But I feel lobbying criticism of a film and being unwilling to engage with it further because it did not do what you wanted of it is weak footing for a valid opinion.
Make your determination about Wolf Man when you see it. But please, keep in mind the broader historical context of lycanthropy and be willing to take an artist as they come, without preset notions.
Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man (2025) is currently playing in theaters as of Jan. 17, 2025.
