From Blumhouse and The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell comes a terrifying new lupine nightmare, Wolf Man. In the movie, Golden Globe nominee Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) stars 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; The Fantastic Four: First Steps), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth; Coma).
However, 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, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, leaving Charlotte to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal.
What we've seen of the new Wolf Man design has so far split opinions but Whannell is taking his body-horror cues from an undisputed classic.
"What The Fly did that a lot of other practical-effects-driven horror movies from that time did not do was bring the tragedy out of these practical effects," the filmmaker told Empire (via FearHQ.com). "It wasn’t a joke in The Fly. It was there to illustrate someone who was dying of an illness."
"I was like, 'I’ve got to do that,'" Whannell continued. "It’s not about being funny or icky or gory. This is about the tragedy of the human body falling apart."
As for what Garner brings to the table, he teased, "She’s going to be the emotional compass of this film, and she’s going to be what Shelley Duvall was in The Shining. You don’t get scared in The Shining without Shelley Duvall. And so I was like, ‘I’ve got to find someone who can drink up the audience’s empathy.’ And she did an incredible job."
After Universal's "Dark Universe" plans fell apart, Blumhouse has done a solid job with its modern reimaginings of these classic monsters. Despite a design that veers from what fans expect, there's every chance Wolf Man will exceed expectations early next year.
The movie co-stars Sam Jaeger (The Handmaid’s Tale), Ben Prendergast (The Sojourn) and Benedict Hardie (The Invisible Man), with newcomer Zac Chandler, Beatriz Romilly (Shortland Street) and Milo Cawthorne (Shortland Street).
Wolf Man is directed by Whannell and written by Whannell & Corbett Tuck. The movie arrives in theaters on January 17, 2025. You can check out a new still from the movie in the X post below.