'Wolf Man' (2025) Movie Review

0:00 Once again, a character named Derek doesn't get much love. And I'm Derek, and that's Noah. And you're listening to a bite of what we're covering, Wolfman. That is very true. I do. I still want you to make just write something with all the Derek's throughout all media history and do their fates. Or if they're jerks, they're either jerks. Or die. Yeah, Well, most recently in the show Shrinking, there's a Derek who is very likable. It's like the first Derek in the history of TV and cinema, which is very exciting.

0:46 Unfortunately, we're not talking about that, no. The first Derek that I ever remember was Derek from Full House and he's saying I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy. Look him up. Wow, yeah. Look him up. What an intro to this episode of Wolfman, Wolfman. Nothing, we said. So far, Derek does. That is true. I think you need to write that. Hi, it's been a minute. It's been a crazy start to the year, but we are back. We're in our chairs. We're here to talk about Wolfman. I think we're on this theme of like spooky horror. For some reason. You didn't know Saratu. We're doing this monster now and it's like remakes, reimaginings of these characters.

1:31 Interesting. I love that. Yeah, I'm liking this ride that we're on. Before we get into everything because we're going to jump right into this, make sure you're following us. All the links are down below. Patreon, Discord, all of that. Go do that. Subscribe like comment below. All right, and if you don't want to be spoiled about the new Wolfman, stop listening. But we're going to proceed. So let us officially take a bite of Wolfman. Directed by Lee Whannell and written by Lee Whannell and Corbett Tuck. After receiving notice of his father's passing, Blake and his family returned to his childhood home in the mountains of Oregon. They quickly learned that something sinister lurks in the woods, and their fight for survival begins. So what did you think of Wolfman? Initial thoughts of Wolfman.

2:14 Initial thoughts of Wolfman. I. I'm making it jazzy, yeah. It's Troy and Abbott in the morning. Yes, I liked it. I enjoyed myself. I think it's an almost movie. There are things that Winel did or just Winel and Co. I'm not going to put the whole blame on him, but I think there was great concepts in this. I think the trying to revive these intervals of monsters is a lot of fun. There's been some hit or misses, but Winel did, I believe they wrote Saul, they did Insidious, they did Invisible Man 2020, Invisible Man with Elizabeth Moss. Very good. This one I liked, but they're just seem to be concepts or things happening that weren't fully explored. And I'm almost curious if that's because, you know, the the genre of it all didn't allow that exploration to happen. So there's a lot of things and we'll get into it, but there's things that are set up there's like beauty and nature, but it will also kill you.

3:17 There's the sins of the father passed down. So there's these elements that are happening that are neat in concept, but I felt like didn't fully deliver. But on the like, kind of suspenseful, creepy side, there was some really good moments on that. Yeah, I, I liked it as well. I mean, I'm not saying it's my favorite movie we've ever seen, but I did enjoy it. I, you know, I'm a fan of a quick movie, right? This ran about an hour and 40 minutes. It was the perfect length of time. I think it told the story. It told it pretty well. I do agree that there were some sort of hanging moments or things that were introduced early on in the movie that you're like, oh, that's that's a little crumb that's going to come back in the end. But then it never did.

3:59 So you know that it's funny because I think they did a lot of good with showing, not telling right about these characters. We learn about their relationship very quickly. We learn about Blake's relationship with his daughter as well as his relationship with his wife without them saying to us like, we need to go to therapy or something like that. But then they told us some things or they showed us some things that we didn't actually need to see. And so, you know, this movie, literally the first scene of this movie starts with this very creepy shot of a Hornet being killed by ants, right? And you're like, interesting. What are they saying?

4:39 The many come together and destroy the one strong thing. Or, you know, I'm like, oh, what's the metaphor here? Maybe you hit it that it's like the powerful forces of nature. In the beginning with the dad and Blake, younger Blake, he he mentions I think it's like right at top that he says that even though this is beautiful, it's dangerous. It will kill you. Like I think that's like almost the theme of it. It begins and ends with the same shot of the valley. So yeah, it's beautiful, but it will kill you. And again, while it's it's an interesting concept to talk about, I don't really understand how they connect, right? I don't understand how this face of the wolf, whatever this thing is, this hiker that disappeared and all of that, this myth that's around it.

5:22 I'm not too sure how that connects to each other or the broader message of whatever it is. Because I feel like once the transformations start happening with Blake, it loses itself in the genre of it all, where I feel like Invisible Man really stayed true with what it was trying to say. This one just lacked. That's why I said it's almost a movie, because there's like these things that are simmering and cooking, but they never fully thicken. Yeah. By the way, let's take a moment to mourn the fact that the beginning text of this movie says, as in it almost is alluding to the the the year old year of 1995.

6:03 And as a almost 40 year old millennial, that really hurts my heart. That like going in the past for a character is the 90s now. Yeah. So I was just like, oh, I just hung my head at that point. Well, there's people that say people that were born in the 90s were born in the 1900s. So it's just like, Oh yeah, I mean, that's cool. I know I just, it's like, wow, OK, I, I, I realize I have AI have a colleague now who's, who's in their 20s and I say things like, well, when I was young, but I also going back to Blake and his father, I, I was curious to know what made his father such a survivalist.

6:44 What made his father so, you know, intense about nature and nature's forces? And I wanted to know, where was mom, right? It almost seemed like, oh, maybe he lost mom in an accident or in some horrible way. And that's what's made him so vigilant. Maybe. I mean, he says something about, like, you know, sometimes people are just taking from you and it's like, OK, the mom died, obviously at some point. Yeah. And it is weird because it's like, OK, you live in Oregon. Like, why, like, did somebody make you live there? Like, it seems awful. Yeah. But also, I think, you know, there is something to be said about like, you know, again, the sins of the father or just the the father and son relationship that like he doesn't want to become his father.

7:25 His father was very protective. But I believe Blake says some type of line to his to his daughter Charlotte or Ginger of like, you know, sometimes you you try to protect him from the scars and then you become the one that does the scarring. So it's the same thing. Like he doesn't want to become his father, but he ends up becoming his father in some weird way. So it's fine. I think that this movie did a lot of things where it's like expected. I expected every single jump scare or thing that was going to happen. Well, some of the things were really unique and cool, like the perspective of Blake when he was turning into this wolf. And put that in quotes, because I don't think this is a wolf. It's a wolf, man. It's it's like a hardly it's an adjacent to a canine. I don't know what it is.

8:09 It reminds me more of a windigo than it does a werewolf, but. Yeah, or like a lichen or something. I guess I shouldn't say werewolf because it is wolf man. Yeah. Is that what they were called? What in Underworld? Lichens. Yeah, well, that's just that's that's werewolf, werewolf mythology. Oh, OK. Yeah, I was. I thought there was like a plant that's known as like a lichen or something like that. I thought I was missing, but there is. Oh, OK. You're saying all things that are true, OK, good, that are a thing, but it's not this thing. And I think that's like important to remember, I guess, is that like, this isn't werewolves. This is a particular story about a wolf man. You know, it's like a disease or like a, a virus that kind of passes. It's very odd.

8:51 Yeah, and can we talk about that for a second? How does 1 become a wolf man? You get scratched. That's it, right? But then also like Derek so. So there's a character named Derek in this that pops up. He's literally in it for 5 minutes and then he gets I guess murdered by the wolf. But then why didn't he become a wolf? I like how you say I guess they found his arm. But I mean like I, I, I guess what I'm saying is, was he murdered? Is murdered the right word? He was, I'm sure. But yeah, so anyway, it's like when you first see him though, he's kind of just like splayed, like he's, he's hurt and it's like he doesn't become a wolf. Then he gets heat, but then Blake gets scratched by the wolf.

9:32 But is it? Is it because his father's the wolf? So he has wolf DNA in him already. You're asking questions that I don't think we will ever get the answers. I'm asking you to to hypothesize with me. That's. What I'm doing again, I I I think that this movie is there's pots that are simmering, but like you just have to be like, OK, you know, it's like, yeah, his father is the wolf, but like Blake Wallen wolf ish transition did could sympathize or could protect them at some point, but also maybe he was past that point, but is it always still there? Like, I don't know, like did his father recognize him? It did seem like he was missing for a long time and that's why he was pronounced dead I guess, but like. I have no idea.

10:18 He was too far gone into his wolf mandem. Yeah, he was. Too far gone. What did you think about Julia Gartner? I thought that she. Gardner. Was fine. Again, I think that she served the purpose of the film and but I don't think that there's any way to say like she'd had a great performance because it was a fine script, you know what I mean? But I think that her character had an interesting journey of being someone that there's obviously friction between her and her husband, even her and her daughter, and this situation forces them to come together as a family. And daughter, not daughter. I'll talk about that daughter in a second. Yeah, I like Charlotte a lot. I think in the beginning it's funny because they're very gloomy. These are two gloomy people, and they obviously have some issues, which is fine.

11:05 I like it. This is like the Stephen King fan in me where I like knowing everything about this character before something terrible happens to them. Because I don't know, it just makes me more attached to that person, makes me more like, oh, the potential of like mending this thing is completely gone. Because XY and Z, I liked her a lot. I, I, it makes me more excited to see her as Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four. And no, did I not pick this movie and also bring her up so I could talk about Fantastic Four, but here we are. But it does make me excited for her because I think seeing her in Ozark and then seeing her here, it's like she has the chops to do something great. It's going to be cool to see her in a role like this where it's horror in a superhero genre.

11:50 So I don't know, I think she's one to watch. I like her a lot. Do you want to talk about Ginger? No. So again, I think the problem is. The daughter is. So the the daughter Ginger, played by Matilda Firth. Delightful little actress. But I think that again, the script did Ginger no justice, right? She had some whoppers. Well, I, I, I think that's the interesting part because she, I think I had said something when we watched it. I said, oh, are we going back to where, like, kids are just awful in movies? Because she didn't help at all. She made things worse. And like, she just kind of was annoying. And it's not, again, the actor very much the script. I'm like, she she's acting like she's 5, but she's clearly like almost 10.

12:39 Yeah, you know what I mean. And so one of these things of like where something was sort of developing, but we never really got a clear cut answer is throughout the film, bond that she has with her father is that they have this little thing that they do where she he says, what am I thinking? She puts her hand on his head. And it's always something along the lines of I love my little girl, right? And so at the end of the movie, The final moment, well, one of the final moments is she and her mother are up in this deer stand, and the father in his wolf form comes up and she looks at the dad and she says something like he wants this to end. Yeah, he wants it done. Yeah, yeah. I was like, so is she really psychic? But do you know what I mean?

13:20 It was like, it was like such a like philosophical thing for a child to say that it felt like whoa. Yeah. I mean, I think you had mentioned earlier there was like bread crumbs for this movie. Yeah, there was like the mushrooms that could kill you if you eat it, that the, you know, reading the mind and stuff like that. It it it was interesting for them to do that. And the only instance aside from that, that it actually like came to something was when she went to him, when he was in his in between state and you could see his perspective. And when she had her hand on him, he could understand her finally. I'm not too sure why whenever you're turning into this thing that you can't understand them and they can't understand you like that. I think that's really interesting. Maybe it's just to cut you off, but she was able to, he was able to understand her for a second.

14:09 And I'm like, wait, why? What's happening? And then they just like went away. So it was, it was interesting, weird decisions, especially with the child. Yeah, yeah. I because she, she almost never really felt like she was in immediate danger. I was more worried about the mother than I was with the child. Do you do you know, it's like, I felt like I was like, the child's going to be safe. The child's fine. But they also kept making these decisions in the film where they'd be like, you know, Ginger, go in the other room, be safe. But then they would completely leave her by herself on another floor of the house. There was a there was a part, I think it's when the mother went to go look for the keys before they went to go out to the car. And it's first like I would say the first big jump scare where you see the other wolf. She's full downstairs.

14:54 Like this guy is literally biting his like eating his own flesh. And she's like, I'll be right. I'm going to go downstairs. Can you watch her real quick like? I got an idea. I'm like girl, like your husband is a wolf, like you were just on the radio, like being like my husband's not himself. Something is wrong and then you're just going to leave your child that can't fend for herself. Like watch Ginger. It was so funny, it was so silly. But in the let's, let's like, let's go to the good parts of this, right? Because I do think there are some weird script decisions and stuff. Performances are good. I really appreciated the use of sound in this movie.

15:36 The sound was so freaking cool, especially when his hearing got heightened. Loved it. Yeah, I was actually going to mention that too. That was my favorite part of the movie as well. I thought the sound design was really good. Like I mentioned that first scene of the ants taking over the Hornet. I thought that was really effective, how they really ground down to the noises that were happening. We also get the noise both in the past and in the present story of the generator of the farm going on, which really made you feel isolated in that moment. And I think the the scenes that you mentioned of seeing it from Blake's perspective, the way they would work the camera right. And they did this really smoothly throughout the whole film, which I appreciated was they would always have this panning shot going from, you know, the human point of view to the wolfman point of view. And in that panning shot, it would all kind of turn over and we'd see how he sees things and we'd hear how he hears things. And so I did think that that was really one of the strongest things in this movie.

16:33 I think because it was set out in the country, kind of out in the middle of nowhere that really let a lot of these noises of, let's say, the scratching or the car trying to start. It was really more effective than if it would be in a city where there was a lot of ambient noise or not ambient noise, but like, white noise. Yeah. Yeah, and the the gore itself. I, I, I felt like it was lacking a little bit. I'm a huge fan of like body horror and stuff that makes you uncomfortable. And there was moments of it, but I felt like, let's go further. Like let's go like like the transformation when he fully transformed into the witch or witch into the wolf surprise into this wolf. I was like, OK, like you just got some cheekbones and like longer claws.

17:18 And his, his jaw jutted out. Yeah. Yeah, I the the design of said Wolf I was a little disappointed with because like I mentioned earlier, Wendigo feeling until dawn, you know, not wolfy like not hairy enough. It didn't give me Wolf. Where was his tail? Where ears? In fact, his ears were going away. Yeah. They were going into his head. Yeah, it. Was an interesting 'cause if you think back, I can't remember who did it, but Hopkins was in it. I can't remember the other actors. Man 2010's Wolfman until I got to like the CGI wolf. Great, great, great, great.

18:00 I wonder if, I mean, I don't, I wish I would have done some research because it does mention the beginning, that the indigenous view of this beast in the forest. I wonder if maybe in that myth that's what it looks like. You know, I don't know. But yeah, I I think that it's funny, I think zoomed out the wolf didn't look good, but the zoom in body horror was much better. The him gnawing off his leg, him in that like squatted position, gnawing had his arm, the the like full on claws coming out and busting out of his nails like that I thought was pretty effective. But I agree that the full Wolfman picture wasn't that scary.

18:44 Right. And then, well, I mean, it just didn't give Wolf, you know what I mean? It was like, I get why, like the legend would be like, that's a wolf, man, because it sounds like a wolf. It runs like a wolf. You know, it must be a wolf. But then it's like it's not hairy. I needed the hair. Not fubby enough. I needed the ears, I needed the tail. No, I didn't need a werewolf. And I know there is a difference between these two obviously, but it just it felt a little like I could use a little a little more, a little more, but I get what they were going for. I Is there like a universal monster that you would want to see done again, even ones that we've already gotten? Because I know we're getting Frankenstein. That's right, Toro, we haven't gotten Dracula in a good minute since, like, what, 2000?

19:30 I guess. What about a good mummy? I think we well, we got Tom Cruise's mummy when they try to reboot the. Oh, the Brandon Fraser. Oh, no, yeah, yeah. It was the little bit of that. Yeah, it was the Tom Cruise. I think I would like to actually see that, but I'm curious if like, because Brandon Fraser's The Mummy so good, I'm curious if it's just going to be so hard to get past that. It's almost like the Jurassic Park movies where it's like they keep trying and it's like, while they're fun, they just don't have that magic. Will Jonathan Bailey save the franchise? I mean. Although I don't think the franchise is not doing well. I just. The last one made a billion dollars. I know and I don't know a single person that watched. It me either I don't either but or or what about like a like black? What is it the?

20:17 Picture from the black. Yeah, the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I could see that. I mean, we probably when was the last time we had something like that? A long time, right? Yeah. I mean, that's true. Yeah. I mean, I did like this. I just. I think I was expecting more, you know, like, even though I think in our last interview or interview, the last episode we were talking about in Nosferatu, we were like, it was good. It was paint by the numbers almost. It's like this is the story of Nosferatu, but there was some moments in there where it was unique and they told a different thing and it just felt a little fresher. This felt very predictable. Absolutely. And it was a little disappointing and not following through with some of those bread crumbs. And I don't know if that was by design or if it just kind of took over itself, like there's too much. I think, yeah, I think they should have made the decision of do we want this to just be point blank like a quick Forrest horror movie, or do we wanted to have a little more meat to it? But it seems that they couldn't really decide that. And so it was an odd mix of the two, Kind of like a wolf man. With a space.

21:20 Right, exactly. Yeah, it it, it's interesting because it's like the last shot. If you think about it, it's like it has the mother and the daughter and then they're in that valley again. It's bookending that. What is what are they trying to say? You know what it's like. Yeah, I think that you. They're going to leave. Right. Like totally. And like, right before the transition, I loved, loved. I was really hooked into this movie. And while I did like some of the other stuff, it just felt like it, it changed a little bit. I liked the car crash. I liked everything leading up to that and up to him fully transforming. And then I was like, yeah. I did like the reveal of the grandfather being the wolf that attacked him. Yeah, I clocked I, I mean, in my head I was like, it's the dad.

22:02 Oh see, I didn't get that. So I was like, because he was. Missing. And when he was like, we were waiting for this letter, I was like, it's the dad. Because they had talked to. They really made sure you knew, like the hiker went missing, this person went missing. They go, OK, yeah. I do. I'm glad. It was effective though, yeah. It got me and but I will say that I agree. I think that there were some things like we've been saying that just they didn't fully draw out, right. And so, you know, you had mentioned those mushrooms before when he's a kid and he's hiking with his dad. The dad's like, don't eat those, they'll kill you, right. And so you and I were like, oh, he's going to, he's going to take his own life by eating the mushrooms to save his family. Nope. And then in the beginning, well, by the end we're like, oh, she's going to, she's going to write about this because in the beginning she says, I'm not a writer anymore. I I don't write a I'm not a writer anymore. She does kind of sound like that. Yeah, they did sound like that.

22:53 Anyway, She's she's a journalist, but she had wanted to write a book. We learn. And it's like we're like, oh, she's going to write the book on this and then that'll bring, you know, whatever. Nope. Well, I mean, she I think that's like maybe she could, right? It's just interested, right, She could right. It's just interesting. It's like usually final shots, like you're either like left with a feeling, a specific feeling, and I'm not sure like what I'm like, oh, they're going to take over the valley and eradicate all the Wolfman, you know, like no, hopefully you go right about it. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, it ended. And I mean, I guess we could see it as she said that she didn't know how to be a mother to Ginger anymore, and now she finally is.

23:33 That fucking kid. Yikes. Oh, Ginger. Nothing against the. Actor I know Ginger didn't listen at all. Ginger had some whopper lines. Ginger was like kind of the mom was risking her life to save her and then she was blaming the mom for everything. The moment. So I will say the mom MVP of this movie, she tried everything. She fought back. She was going against the grandfather, she was going against her husband. She amazing, really. I was surprised, to be honest, I didn't know what to expect from this, but I liked them trying to get together and then slowly having to distance themselves, right. I after the whole car thing, when she had to jump start the car. She got her sick husband in the car, she got her bratty daughter in the car.

24:18 She did all this. She got away from everybody. She brings the daughter in there. What are you supposed to do? And then the daughter's like, you left him. And I was like, get her out, throw her outside. She's done. Get rid of ginger. Read the Room. Maybe the wolf man would like Derek with a little bit of ginger on time. Yeah, I know. We were just like, what? Yeah, she's a little. She's a little jerk. She doesn't know what she had. Yeah, I'm saying. RIP Blake though. But I'm I'm excited for what Winnell does next. I think track record great. This was fun. I I enjoyed myself. I wasn't checking the time. It was just kind of predictable and I wish they would have followed through with a little more unique themes that they had started to set up. Yeah, I think it's definitely like, look, when it comes out on streaming service, watch it.

25:07 You know, if you already subscribed to that, check it out. I think it was entertaining. I thought it was a little spooky at parts and I think it served its purpose as a monster. Movie looks great, yeah. Sounded great. Yeah, not enough blood, but it's fine. I. Was OK with that. He didn't like when he threw up the finger. I sure didn't, but I thought it was effective. What about he when he grabbed the knife multiple times? Oh. That I hate it was like, it's because that's like one of those things like where you're kind of like, you know, if you ever touch the blade of a knife, you're like even if it just gets you a little bit. He was like. But he's like grabbing it. That's why I really like the Evil Dead movies, because like, you know.

25:47 Grab knives well. Worse, you know, there's cheese graters involved. Like, yeah, the reason why I like it is because, like, there's moments in horror movies where you like, kind of like, and it like, never really fully goes that way or it like looks away. The Evil Dead movies don't do that. Like, they go and keep going and it's like, look like it gives you enough time to feel sick. And I'm like, that is scary. That is disgusting. I like that. And you didn't get that in this? No. Not to say like Evil Dead, the only movies I do it, but that's just one of the most recent examples that I. Could think of, and I do not like movies like that. So this was a really nice middle ground if you don't enjoy movies like that. All right, so I mean, I liked it, but it's nothing to like howl home about, but like.

26:37 Yeah, I give it 2 OHS out of five I'd. Get rid of three. OK, three who's? Oh, there you go. No, see, it's nothing to write home about. Oh, OK. Oh, all right. Back, back. Till next time. Bye.