WOLF MAN First Reactions Hail Leigh Whannell's Reboot As "Gruesome, Terrifying" And Surprisngly Emotional

WOLF MAN First Reactions Hail Leigh Whannell's Reboot As "Gruesome, Terrifying" And Surprisngly Emotional

The first social media reactions to Leigh Whannell's Wolf Man are in following last night's press screenings, and it sounds like horror fans are in for a hair-raising good time...

By MarkCassidy - Jan 07, 2025 09:01 AM EST
Filed Under: Wolf Man
Source: Via FearHQ

The first press screenings for Wolf Man took place last night, and the social media reactions have been very positive so far.

Although a lot of horror fans were disappointed by the creature design (of both the first werewolf and the monster Christopher Abbott's Blake transforms into) in Blumhouse/Universal's reboot, this doesn't seem to have been an issue for the majority of critics.

Overall, it sounds like director Leigh Whannell has delivered a worthy follow-up to 2020's acclaimed The Invisible Man with a terrifying, gruesome, and surprisingly emotional film.

It's always worth keeping in mind that these initial reactions do tend to be quite effusive, but we haven't come across a single negative post, which is usually a pretty good sign.

Have a read through the reactions below, and we'll continue to update as more come in.

What if someone you loved became something else?

From Blumhouse and visionary writer-director Leigh Whannell, the creators of the chilling modern monster tale The Invisible Man, comes a terrifying new lupine nightmare: Wolf Man. Golden Globe nominee Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, It Comes at Night) 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; Ozark, Inventing Anna), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth; Hullraisers, Coma).

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 will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without.

The film co-stars Sam Jaeger (The Handmaid’s Tale), Ben Prendergast (The Sojourn Audio Drama) and Benedict Hardie (The Invisible Man). Wolf Man is directed by Whannell, whose previous films with Blumhouse include The Invisible Man, Upgrade and Insidious: Chapter 3.

The screenplay is written by Leigh Whannell and Corbett Tuck, Lauren Schuker Blum & Rebecca Angelo (Dumb Money). The film is produced by Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum and is executive produced by Ryan Gosling, Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner and Leigh Whannell.

Wolf Man howls into theaters on January 25th.

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xfan320
xfan320 - 1/7/2025, 9:42 AM
Not surprising. Leigh Whannell is actually a really talented writer and filmmaker and can recognize when something looks good or bad.

Let this man cook.
FrankenDad
FrankenDad - 1/7/2025, 9:42 AM
This January

You will see

That WolfMan

Has Nards
HammerLegFoot
HammerLegFoot - 1/7/2025, 9:47 AM
Why dont they just let him make the monstersverse?
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 1/7/2025, 9:50 AM
@HammerLegFoot - I know right?.

Dude seems like he would be perfect to oversee something like that.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 1/7/2025, 9:55 AM
@HammerLegFoot - I think they've given up on shared universe, it's just gonna be individual standalone movies.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 1/7/2025, 10:01 AM
@MarkCassidy - if they were smart they'd go the way of the old films... Focus on individual films and then see what your roster looks like and crossover after
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 1/7/2025, 10:44 AM
@Slotherin - This is the way.
Arthorious
Arthorious - 1/7/2025, 12:42 PM
@MarkCassidy - I'm ok with that. Not everything needs to be connected. For the longest while I thought they were going to have Jason, Freddy, Alien, and Predator have a connected share universe because of those 2000s movies.
lazlodaytona
lazlodaytona - 1/7/2025, 2:19 PM
@Arthorious - if Ash isn't involved then it's all moot
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 1/7/2025, 9:51 AM
Sweet , glad to see the positive reactions thus far!!.

Doing a take on the Wolfman that emphasizes the body horror and transformative nature is something I’m surprised hasn’t been done before atleast to my knowledge so I’m glad Leigh Whannell is behind it now…

I liked his previous works such as Upgrade and The Invisible Man so hope this is similarly well reviewed & successful as those were.

Anyway , seems good imo so looking forward to it!!.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 1/7/2025, 11:42 AM
@TheVisionary25 - I can only say I've seen it in other werewolf films like Ginger Snaps
Forthas
Forthas - 1/7/2025, 9:57 AM
This means nothing to me until there are at the very least 50 or so confirmed reviews before I believe any early reviews. They said the same thing about Wonder Woman 1984.
Apophis71
Apophis71 - 1/7/2025, 10:02 AM
@Forthas - Erm, there were warning signs it was bad in even the best first reactions to WW84' although in more general, yes, they can be misleading at least and tend to need to look more at what they don't say than do (ie if they focus only on one good performance and a weak positive like 'fun' and nothing about the rest of cast, narrative and visuals then that tends to mean BAD even if it reads good on a surface level).
bobevanz
bobevanz - 1/7/2025, 9:58 AM
Batman VS Superman got a standing ovation. So any of these bullshit early reactions mean nothing.
JobinJ
JobinJ - 1/7/2025, 10:00 AM
@bobevanz - personally love BvS..but I agree, never trust these paid first reactions.
DrDReturns
DrDReturns - 1/7/2025, 12:42 PM
@JobinJ - Agreed. Love BvS, but all public reviews are bought.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 1/7/2025, 10:02 AM
It should be emotional so I'm glad for that much
Spawnnn
Spawnnn - 1/7/2025, 10:03 AM
Whannels take on Frankenstein would be cool.
mdwilliamson24
mdwilliamson24 - 1/7/2025, 4:21 PM
@Spawnnn - It might be, but we got Del Toro's version coming soon too.
Demigods
Demigods - 1/8/2025, 5:37 AM
@mdwilliamson24 - and I’d rather Del Toro tackle Frankenstein... to be honest, I’d rather Del Toro tackle almost any of the Universal Monsters outside of the more science-based. While Frankenstein is science based, he’s largely based upon Heinrich Dippel, who was genuinely trying to make a flesh golem using his Elixir of Life and alchemical processes... Also just Del Toro.

I’m happy this wolf man is using practical effects... but it just isn’t doing it for me.
RegularPoochie
RegularPoochie - 1/7/2025, 10:04 AM
Good, hyped!
kg8817
kg8817 - 1/7/2025, 10:18 AM
“Surprising and emotional with heart and addresses generational trauma”

Been calling it for months like others, the grey haired wolf is his dad and was probably a POS. He changes and scares his family and movie makes it seem like he’s a mindless beast who will eventually kill his family but the grandfather wolf gets a hold of them at the end and then dad wolf will fight him and kill him. But it’ll imply there’s no changing back and Julia Garner will have to kill him in front of the daughter.

Which admittedly, sounds pretty emotional. Invisible Man was awesome.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 1/7/2025, 10:21 AM
@kg8817 - This probably will be the story, but I thought they might change it up s but because it's so similar to most of the other adaptations.
emeraldtaurus
emeraldtaurus - 1/7/2025, 11:10 AM
Loved Invisible man...so I have alot of hope for this. Trailers have been good so far. Loving the practical effects. The cgi in Wolfman was dodgy at the best of times.
narrow290
narrow290 - 1/7/2025, 11:11 AM
This all sounds good but if the design doesn't at least resemble a damn wolf, this shouldn't be called the Wolfman.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 1/7/2025, 11:44 AM
@narrow290 - OG Wolf Man really didn't look much like a wolf.
narrow290
narrow290 - 1/7/2025, 5:15 PM
@Slotherin - That's true. But I LOVE the OG design
TheRationalNerd
TheRationalNerd - 1/7/2025, 11:33 AM
Buying my tickets first thing. It is mandatory that we support the love of practical effects in horror/monster films. (The Thing, The Fly, Jurassic Park etc.) Glad to hear they knocked it out of the park.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 1/7/2025, 1:41 PM
@TheRationalNerd - you're a man of taste I see.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 1/7/2025, 11:40 AM
Yeah cool but that wolfman design is laughably bad lol
SheepishOne
SheepishOne - 1/7/2025, 11:42 AM
I have all the faith in the world in Whannel. Upgrade was fantastic, and The Invisible Man was one of the more memorable thrillers of the pandemic era.

I’ve been following his career since he wrote Saw. The man knows his stuff.
DrDReturns
DrDReturns - 1/7/2025, 12:41 PM
@SheepishOne - "Saw" was his peak in my opinion.
WADEZILLA13
WADEZILLA13 - 1/7/2025, 11:46 AM
But, but all of the precognitive experts on this site told me this was going to suck?! Are you saying we should actually wait and see the product before evaluating it?? I’m so confused!!
marvel72
marvel72 - 1/7/2025, 11:54 AM
"Gruesome, Terrifying And Surprisngly Emotional"

And The Wolfman design looks shit.
DrDReturns
DrDReturns - 1/7/2025, 12:40 PM
From the same guy that made "The invisible (wo)Man"...
It will be garbage.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 1/7/2025, 12:55 PM
@DrDReturns - You... really don't like women, do you?
DrDReturns
DrDReturns - 1/7/2025, 12:58 PM
@MarkCassidy - I really don't like that movie.

You're a paid editor here?
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 1/7/2025, 12:59 PM
@DrDReturns - Yeah, I'm not just basing my assessment off this one comment.
DrDReturns
DrDReturns - 1/7/2025, 1:08 PM
@MarkCassidy - Right. So, the "women can't be funny" comment I made yesterday too. Very good. Bravo.
You've "assessed" definitively.

Anyway, this subversion of classic stories that Whannell has shown is not to be my taste. Making these Universal Monsters stories center around a female protagonist is a box-checking done in recent years.
McMurdo
McMurdo - 1/7/2025, 1:41 PM
@DrDReturns - he got you. Read ya like a book my boy.
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