I Watch Films: Wolf Man

 

Wolf Man (2025)

Blake Lovell grows up in remote rural Oregon, brought up by his father who mostly communicates with his neighbours by CB radio. They’re talking about a missing hiker and the possibility of “Hill Fever” from the wildlife, a virus known as “The Face Of The Wolf” by local native Americans (never seen on screen). They go out on a hunting trip, where Blake is constantly being told off by his father. They encounter a strange creature, take cover in a deer hide, later go and see the most beautiful valley imaginable. The father suggests to his neighbour they hunt the creature to protect both their sons (Blake and Derek) but nothing comes of this.

Thirty years later Blake is a writer in New York city with his wife Charlotte and a daughter Ginger. He also loses his temper when he thinks his child is doing something dangerous. They get the call that his father, missing for some time, is now declared dead, so they decide to go to his house in Oregon to pack things up and try and spend some family time together without the stress of work, the big city etc.

They get lost (no cell service, the modern horror indicator that things are going bad), meet Derek the neighbour’s son, now grown up, who guides them. In the dark they see the monster like the one Blake saw thirty years ago, and crash the truck. The monster attacks, drags Derek away, scratches Blake. They escape to the house and hole up, trapped with a monster out side and, inevitably, one inside as well.

How does this stand up as a werewolf film? It’s efficient, with a few nice touches as someone changes into a werewolf – sound and vision changing. Every piece laid down goes somewhere. It’s more concerned with monster scares than tragedy, but does have some of the latter too. This werewolf doesn’t care about the moon (the majority of the story takes place over 24 hours) or silver or wolfsbane or any of that, it's (maybe) a virus, or possibly a Native American curse.

Watch This: Stylish werewolf film about communicating with loved ones
Don’t Watch This: Rather silly monsters kill people horribly