Wolf Man (2025)

Wolf Man (2025) And we’re continuing the line of bad films that failed in 2025! And yet, I would have loved to have been able to say things like : Purists will tell you that it’s always disappointing, but with a neutral eye, this film is excellent! The transformation is slow and the tension is there throughout. There’s a clever mix of disease and curse, so… it’s a far cry from the usual crude transformations, and that’s what makes it so original. It’s true that it’s dark, but after all there’s no spotlight in real life.

But I’m not going to be optimistic, or positive! Because, yes, this film is well and truly a dud. Despite a particularly successful introductory sequence featuring a hunting party, which manages to create a heavy, even oppressive atmosphere, Wolf Man, alas, despite its good promises, quickly drones on and is disarmingly flat.

Still, it has its positive points. There are some very good scenes. Far from being a silly horror film for teenagers whose sole aim is to frighten, and far from falling into the trap of jump scares or incessant gore (although there is some of that anyway!), Wolf Man is as scary as we expected, as unpredictable as we hoped and as touching as it is dramatic. Above all, it’s the story of an infected father who slowly loses his daughter and his wife at the same time as his humanity, of a little girl who loses her father who becomes a monster, of a woman who loses the love of her life, all under the threat of the original werewolf. Quite upsetting and frightening.

But it’s very badly delivered! And it’s not always very well acted! I hope Julia Garner will give us a much better performance in a future biopic, given that she’s apparently been chosen by Madonna herself to play her. That alone!!!

There are also the foundations of a discourse that will justify the return of this creature that was there at the beginning and now disappears: the hereditary character of a dysfunctional paternal shadow, who can only find the way to express his own fears to his child, who will obviously be led to make the same mistakes, through the abuse of traumatic authority. What better way to do this than to emphasize the contagious aspect of lycanthropy, which is treated here in a more clinical and therefore… realistic way? The transformation into a werewolf is visually successful, but spreading it throughout the film is a risky choice that doesn’t really serve the story.

A family with fragile ties, whether in terms of marital breakdown or mother-daughter relationships on the verge of reaching a point of no return. Only a good electroshock in the form of a monstrous attack is going to solve the problems. But at what cost?

Come on… that’s enough compliments on this film! I know I exaggerated, but I tried to change my point of view. It was just to find interest and discover what was there to make us think. But, in the end, the film sinks into so many incomprehensible inconsistencies that the story is ruined.

And why make a film called that? When we know full well that there was the first The Wolf Man (1941) and its remake in 2010.

Very, very long film. Everything takes place at night, if ever. It’s important to know this, because remember: at night all cats are grey, but especially at night, it’s night…

The dialogue is pretty pathetic and artificial. There’s an overabundance of good feelings and characters making decisions that are each more idiotic than the last. To tell the truth, there’s not much exciting going on, it drags on and on, with no unbearable suspense or thrills, even if the make-up is scary and impressive. It’s not unbearably CGI.

Connoisseurs will not appreciate this attempt to do something new with lycanthropes. They’ll think this isn’t a werewolf film, but a caveman one!

The music is there to wake up viewers who have dozed off for the duration of the film. Everything about this thick black forest in Oregon exudes malaise and decay. It’s a fact, this is not a film for the faint of heart. But who is this film for? And why? And what a funny idea it was to create it!

The author must be passionate about the relativity of hearing and seeing (yes, let’s leave aside the more gustatory senses here). Between human and non-human (if only a mammal), he shows and films the difference in appreciation – which can be frightening! The way we see the world is just one of many. The director, Leigh Whannell – who also acted in the first Saw (2004) and Insidious 4 (2018), among others – has imagined and staged visions and sounds that are rather striking, unexpected and original. This is probably the most sought-after aspect of the film. More than the metamorphosis itself, this metamorphosis is a classic (though not a classic here!).

Despite their screams, the mother and daughter (who are unbearably naive, which weighs the film down even further) don’t play it all that well. In any case, these uninteresting characters don’t seem to need psychotherapy at the end, and that’s surprising! On the other hand, the werewolf plays well. This actor is reminiscent of the main male characters in some brilliant films, such as Billy in Gremlins (1984), Charley in Fright Night (1985) or – given the werewolf genre – David in An American Werewolf In London (1981).

A really unsuccessful film. It’s a shame and quite incomprehensible. After the very unsuccessful ‘The Mummy’ of 2017, but the very good ‘Invisible Man’ of 2020, Blumhouse and Universal persist in trying to revive the great hours of Universal Monsters on the big screen. Unfortunately, it’s yet another failure. Some have said that ‘The only thing that’s really scary is a spider you see in the house’ or that ‘Nothing’s worth the price of a cinema ticket!’