By Victoria Alexander
The movie is creepy and the prosthetics are impressive.
WOLF MAN begins with a tale about a hiker who went missing in Central Oregon, and the locals insist the hiker caught an animal virus and still lurks in the woods as a wolf-man.
Young Blake (Zac Chandler) lives with his father Grady (Sam Jaeger) in the woods. Grady is strict and has trained his son to be aware of the dangers of hunting in the woods. The accepted view is that whatever beast is lurking in the woods comes out only at night. Young Blake is a trained hunter, and when leaving his father’s side, he encounters a mysterious growling “force” in the woods.
Years later, Blake (Christopher Abbott) is a writer “between assignments” and has become a house husband and primary custodian of his young daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth). Blake’s wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner), is a San Francisco journalist who surprisingly knows all about firing a rifle and hot-wiring a car using an old battery.
I have no idea what Charlotte was doing but was impressed with her wide range of outdoor skills. It was as if I was on a plane on fire and, using my skill as a film reviewer, found a parachute and knew how to put it on, jump out of the plane, and know at what altitude to pull what cord.
Blake receives a notice from Oregon that his father has been declared dead and he needs to go to the farm to clear out Grady’s belongings. Since Charlotte is the main source of family income, her stressful career has distanced her from Ginger. Blake proposes they all go together to Oregon as a sort of family summer vacation. Blake does not tell Charlotte about the mysterious beast that haunts the woods at night. Clearly, Blake has spent many nights in the house hearing the growling monster trying to get to him and his father.
Getting close to Grady’s farm, Blake asks a man for directions to his father’s farm. With the friend along to guide the way, Blake sees a figure on the road and crashes the rented truck. The mysterious beast attacks the friend and grabs Blake’s arm. Getting out of the truck, the family runs to the farmhouse.
Blake does not bother telling Charlotte and Ginger what is outside the house trying to get in. He does not tell them that all they have to do is wait until daylight. But dawn is many hours away. Blake goes through the house and finds a CB radio, puts the utilities on but does not look for any weapons. Where are the rifles used for hunting deer?
There should have been a warehouse of weapons and ammunition. We are reminded of the classic line delivered by Private Frost in ALIENS: “What the hell are we supposed to use, man, harsh language?”
Meanwhile, Charlotte is catatonic. She does not speak.
Blake may indeed be changing, but Charlotte has forgotten she is a journalist. She should be asking lots of questions.
She just watches as Blake gets sick from his arm wound. Instead of freaking out and screaming and not being told about the beast’s nocturnal habit, Charlotte sees a truck and they go to the vehicle. It’s not working, but Charlotte knows how to get the truck going. The beast is on them. Back at the house, Charlotte passively watches as Blake starts to transform into a beast and loses his human voice. The beast gets in the house and mayhem ensues. Charlotte knows how to wield a fire tong at the beast. Blake kills the beast. Blake has already lost his human consciousness. He is full-on wolf-man.
The chaos and the dead man-beast in the kitchen should telegraph chaos. Charlotte remains calm and looks at the beast. Does she see a human being in the wolf? What does Blake see? Charlotte somehow finds a bear claw to restrain Blake, but he chews through his leg and gets free.
What would you do?
There is the horror story formula. You put people in a horror nightmare, and the audience watches to see what they will do to survive. Quickly, some characters get killed off because they do something stupid—like wander alone in the basement, or, when told not to leave the house, go outside to pick flowers.
In WOLF MAN, the formula is flipped. Instead of doing something stupid, one character – Charlotte – says nothing to figure out what is going on. This is a twisty horror mainstay: Make the reviewer yell at a character for their behavior.
Here, without weapons and Blake leaving all the information he has gathered as a child a secret, what the hell will the uncommunicative Charlotte do to save herself and Ginger?
The lack of weapons disturbed me, especially since old Grady had two animal hides in a back room. Blake not telling his wife and daughter what nights were like at the cabin is unforgivable. Did he expect to spend a summer of nights playing loud music to mask a beast banging at the door?
With three people trapped in a house and one of them not talking, we are left with an annoying child and a catatonic wife. We watch the transformation of Blake. You would think Charlotte and Ginger would be horrified.
This is the terrific part. Because as Blake transforms, his human qualities slip away.
Charlotte should have sent Blake outside or found another way to contain him. If San Francisco Blake had told Charlotte what may happen, they might have had a chance. What could Blake possibly retrieve from the rundown farmhouse? We must blame Blake for bringing his family to an area where a legendary monster lives.
Directed by Leigh Whannell with a screenplay by Whannell and Corbett Tuck. The movie is creepy, and the prosthetics are impressive.
The ALL is Mind; The Universe is Mental.” Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer Critic. For a complete list of Victoria Alexander's movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes go to:
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Member of Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Personal email: victoria.alexander.lv@gmail.com