Wolf Man is the latest Blumhouse horror movie to grace our screens, with horror director Leigh Whannell returning to showcase his take on the classic Universal monster movie. He’s done it before with The Invisible Man, spinning it as a tale of gaslighting and domestic abuse, and his vision for Wolf Man tells a similar, emotionally devastating tale, making it a great entry into this year’s new movies.
Speaking to TechRadar, lead actor Christopher Abbott spoke about why Blake’s transformation into the horrifying titular character means the horror is as much a tragedy as anything else, as the theme of loss runs throughout the narrative.
When asked if any other performances influenced his, he told us: “Yeah, I would say The Fly, Elephant Man, there’s a little David Lynch in there. I guess there’s sort of like a tragic element with both of those monster creatures, you know, and I think this has that.”
This was one of my most anticipated horror movies of 2025, and it really did deliver. While, yes, it was scary and the jumpy moments were effective I did find myself more disturbed by the psychological torment and the emotional moments, especially when it came to the breakdown and total loss of communication between Blake and his wife and daughter (played by Julia Garner and Matilda Firth, respectively).
It’s a big reason why I wanted to do the movie because when I first saw the designs, I just thought there was something very tragic about the monster.
Christopher Abbott, actor
Wolf Man features some brilliant scenes where the POV shifts from the wolves to the humans, so we get to see both sides of the situation. Their inability to communicate and understand each other makes Blake’s transformation deeply sad, as he’s morphed into something completely unrecognizable, mirroring the ways we can’t communicate with any species except our own. That sense of isolation and the primal animal instinct taking over is the real horror at the heart of Wolf Man. The audience already knows Blake and his wife Charlotte’s marriage is strained, and now they’ve had the ability to talk it out ripped away.
Abbott added: “ They’re miscommunicating. They’re talking around each other, they’re not communicating well. You just need that idea to then help set up the more fantastical thing where, where the communication then gets taken from you. And then how do you, how do you then communicate when you’re not even, uh, physically able to?”
Not only was there the breakdown of a bond between husband and wife, but also a father and daughter. Abbott praised his young co-star Matilda Firth, who played his on-screen daughter Ginger, revealing: “She was oddly seasoned. It felt like she was oddly seasoned. I loved her, but it was almost off-putting. She felt too much like a pro. I felt like I was working with like an 80 year old theater vet. But she just takes things in stride. She’s there to play. You can throw something at her and she’ll do it or try it.”
Wolf Man is in theaters from Friday, January 17.
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