Wolf Man Teaser Stalks the Woods at Night
Universal is howling at the moon again. The studio’s latest attempt to resurrect the Universal Monsters (sort of) is creeping up on us, as they’ve released a teaser for Wolf Man, a werewolf movie that is being called a reboot of the 1941 classic The Wolf Man. (No “the” this time; take that, society.) Wolf Man finds a family visiting a house in the middle of the woods they just inherited, where they’re hunted by a werewolf (it’s called things like “unseen animal” and “creature,” but why beat around the bush?) who may or may not be the husband/father. Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Matilda Firth, Sam Jaeger, Ben Prendergast, and Benedict Hardie star in Wolf Man, which is directed by Leigh Whannell from a script by Whannell, Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo, and Corbett Tuck. It’s also being produced by horror label Blumhouse. Wolf Man is scheduled to arrive in theaters on January 17, 2025, and you can see the teaser below:
I don’t want to seem super negative, so I’ll admit that the Wolf Man teaser shows promise. They’re keeping it personal and intimate, and it’s dark and creepy in that cabin-in-the-woods setting, which is the right way to go. The reason the Universal Monsters movies were so good (aside from the acting and characterizations) was the atmosphere, which, for me, is the key to a successful horror story; that’s why I typically prefer horror novels to horror movies. I can’t say if Wolf Man will be suitably atmospheric yet, but the teaser suggests it could be. They’re definitely going for more than just the spooky atmosphere, though, as evinced by that knife-slicing clip. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I hope the film doesn’t get too mired in gore, especially since it’s supposed to be invoking or updating or whatever it’s doing to the Universal Monsters.
That’s where I think these movies are making a mistake. Universal has tried to bring the Universal Monsters back a few times, and it never works when they do a 1:1 remake/reboot/buzzword. They remade The Wolf Man in 2010, and it completely misunderstood the original and Larry Talbot as a character, so it ended up being a dour bore, made watchable by some excellent special effects (offset by some lousy ones) and Anthony Hopkins livening things up by understanding the kind of movie he was in. Dracula Untold, which told Dracula’s origin story, bombed, as did the awful version of The Mummy with Tom Cruise. Wolf Man appears to be taking a different route; this isn’t about Larry Talbot, so they’re not as constrained by the character or setting of The Wolf Man. I think that’s smart, not only because it frees them up but because it saves this film from having to measure up to a classic. Given that, I think they should give it a new title and stop calling it a reboot, especially if these movies aren’t connected, as the filmmakers suggest. Let it be its own thing, and maybe it’ll catch on.
As for the talent behind Wolf Man, I’m not sold. I haven’t seen anything else written or directed by the creatives except for the first Saw (which I didn’t like), but that most of the writers have few to no writing credits under their belts (and the ones they do have are not horror movies) doesn’t fill me with promise. As for the actors, I’ve apparently seen Christopher Abbott in a couple of things, but for the life of me, I don’t remember him. I’ve only seen Julia Garner in the first season of Ozark, which I didn’t care for. That doesn’t mean any of these people are bad (although I’ll bet Universal is pissed that Ryan Gosling dropped out of starring in this), just that I have no frame of reference for them. So, who knows? I’d like it to be good so that there’s another decent werewolf movie out there, but I’m not excited.
Let us know what you think of the Wolf Man trailer in the comments!
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