Writer and director Leigh Whannell has had an impressive streak in filmography over the past few years. Besides boasting influential and successful screenwriting credits on films like the first three originalSawmovies and the first twoInsidiousmovies, Whannell has also directed some unique (and violent) films. The director would turn his attention to a classic Universal Monsters IP in 2020, writing and directingThe Invisible Manreboot for Universal and Blumhouse. His latest monster movie,Wolf Man, is now headed to streaming after being chewed up in theaters.
According to a press release from Blumhouse and Universal,Wolf Manwill begin streaming exclusively on Peacock on April 18. The film is a modern re-imagining of the classic Universal Monster, with Whannell taking an interesting angle on intergenerational trauma through the lens of the main character, Lee, played by Christopher Abbott.Wolf Manis a small-scale horror film also starring Julia Garner, Sam Jaeger, Matilda Firth, and Benedict Hardie, with a tense atmosphere and disturbing and impressive practical effects.
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Wolf Man’saddition to the Peacock library will have it join other lesser-known horror projects and reimaginings, though it’s hard to say when the classic Universal Monster films will find their way to the streaming service. For now, fans will be able to check out Whannell’s vision for theWolf Manwhich, while definitely inspired, still struggled at the box office upon its initial release.
Leigh Whannell’s ‘Wolf Man’ is an Inspired but Unexpected Iteration on A Classic Monster
TheBlumhouse-producedreboot first released in theaters in January this year, but couldn’t find an audience.Wolf Manhad a budget of $25 million, and disappointingly only made $34 million at the box office, running a loss once marketing and other costs were included. Moreover, the horror movie received mixed reviews, with a 50% Tomatometer score on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, and an only slightly better 56% audience score.
Much of the animosity towards the film could be attributed to its unconventional take on theWolf Man, whose transformation is less of a curse and more of a virus that turns a person into an animal. The 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic was an inspiration to Whannell when he came up with the new concept for the classic creature story, with feelings of isolation and the idea of a virus playing into the story as he developed his new iteration of theWolf Man.
This would, in turn, lead to an unexpected design that is nowhere near what people have come to expect from werewolf movies.Wolf Manhad plenty of interesting ideas and themes that Whannell wanted to express through the character much like he did forThe Invisible Man, but the end result is a movie with mixed reception with nowhere near the same level of success. Still, the horror movie is a tense and atmospheric watch that will make for great viewing on Peacock when it hits the service on April 18.
Source:Peacock
