Wolf Man (2025)

The review calls it far from a howler, praising its scary sequences and strong performances while noting it doesn't fully marry themes with the horror surface. Sound design and inventive camerawork stand out for building tension.

The critic describes it as a hairy hybrid of creature feature and family tragedy that mixes modern anxiety with the werewolf tale but ultimately feels divided and academic rather than visceral.

This exciting horror remake is equal parts The Shining and The Howling and gets the monster transformation absolutely right. Whannell’s sturdy craft rescues the film on the level of a visceral ride.

Whannell's update reframes the classic monster story for the present day, focusing on a family man's transformation and its personal and contemporary resonances.

A decent horror effort with full-on body horror, effective jump scares and creepy moments, but disappointing after The Invisible Man due to limp themes, thin characters and a plot that runs out of steam.

It offers a thoughtful but rarely scary reboot focused on fatherhood in freefall, with impressive prosthetics and body horror, though it falls short of The Fly's pathos and electricity.

The critic finds it half a movie with some good scares but notes it strands its characters in the murk and lacks emotional weight or human specificity in the transformation story.

The film is a dour domestic drama in wolf's clothing that starts with an effective set piece but weakens as the emotional stakes are spelled out too obviously, resulting in a bit of a howler overall.

The film is half-hearted and underdone, with little character depth, thematic payoff or effective horror filmmaking despite some gruesome transformation scenes.

The critic finds the film jumbled and confused overall, with Christopher Abbott's wolf man too tame to frighten. Whannell has the right idea in updating the monster but the execution falls short.

The critic says the reboot lacks bite and doesn’t convincingly reinvent werewolf folklore, landing in somber, predictable territory with murky compositions and cheap jump scares.

Leigh Whannell’s unfocused follow-up to The Invisible Man is a howling disappointment. The film is misjudged and dull with dud storytelling and middling prosthetics.

A boring, shaggy body-horror endurance test and weaker attempt to update Universal monsters with modern anxieties about parenthood and fear; the transformation effects are effective but the film feels hollow and illogical.

The critic calls it a dark and toothless January mess, noting that while Whannell succeeded with The Invisible Man, werewolves prove much harder to tame.

Whannell gives the Universal property contemporary relevance as a metaphor for parenthood, marriage and masculinity, with grounded emotional performances, but the chiller is occasionally thoughtful and ultimately undone by its grander ambitions.

The critic highlights the film's well-handled psychological subtext of toxic patriarchy and family tensions in an intimate werewolf story where the protagonist remains half modern man to the end.

The critic finds it a basic but creepy mid-tier Blumhouse horror entry that satisfies without soaring. The soundscape and score are singled out for praise.

The critic finds Whannell's contemporary reboot effective overall, crediting it with smart relevance to family and relationship dynamics while delivering generous gore. Abbott's committed performance as the transforming family man is singled out for praise as the emotional core.

The review calls the film a scary and interesting take on the werewolf story anchored by a haunting performance, but notes it falls short of Whannell's prior work like The Invisible Man. Abbott's tortured portrayal of the infected father is highlighted as the standout element amid familiar plotting and uneven monster effects.

The critic finds Whannell's take a moody atmospheric thriller that reinvents the curse as a story of generational abuse and family tragedy but feels split between its emotional and horror elements, never fully satisfying either. It singles out the strong body horror, sound design, and lead performances for praise while noting stilted dialogue and insufficient scares.

The critic finds it a bland family drama with superficial characters and barely any scares. She praises the gore and practical effects but complains about flat characters and a repetitive, derivative premise.

Whannell tempers the scares in favor of family melodrama, turning the story into a tragedy about a father losing himself and his connections to his wife and daughter. The practical effects and slow transformation sequence are singled out as impressive highlights.

The film succeeds as a bloody creature feature blended with family drama about inherited trauma and loss of communication, delivering thrilling and claustrophobic set pieces. It is less creepy overall than Whannell's previous work and the creature design is not especially frightening.

The critic notes it does right by the wolf with effective transformation sequences and agile scares but lets down the man with muddled themes on masculinity, paternity, and generational trauma.