‘Wolf Man’ Director Leigh Whannell Is Prepared for the Hate

In a couple of weeks, director Leigh Whannell will unleash his version of Wolf Man onto the world, and he’s already prepared for the backlash the movie might get when it comes to how his lycanthrope will be received by fans. Starring Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, and Matilda Firth, Wolf Man follows in the footsteps of Whannell’s 2020 hit The Invisible Man by reimagining an old classic, this time in a much more confined setting.

Sitting down with SFX magazine recently, Whannell spoke about Wolf Man – which sees a family terrorized by a werewolf whilst trapped inside a remote cabin in the woods – and what fans can expect from his version of the mythical creature. He mentioned that though his werewolf is “100% practical” with absolutely no CGI involved, the design does stray from what people are used to. The result, he said, is something folks might not take too kindly to.

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Based on the latest trailer for Wolf Man (seen below), the film also differs from the original 1941 classic in that there doesn’t appear to be any Romani fortunetellers, latent pentagrams, or walking sticks adorned with a silver wolf’s head. Instead, it seems to take its cues from another iconic movie, An American Werewolf in London, at least when it comes to Abbott’s painful transformation, which makes it seem as if Whannell is leaning into the body horror aspect of his movie.

What About That Halloween Horror Nights Reveal?

Perhaps one of the reasons Whannell is so prepared for how his werewolf will be received is because of a hiccup last year during Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando, which saw someone take the stage in full make-up, and, well, the internet had a field day with that one. “I see people in Walmart that look more like Wolfman than this,” came one comment at the time.

During the reveal, fans saw what resembled an elderly man with scraggly hair and clubbed hands, complete with sharp teeth and tattered clothing, wandering about trying to look menacing. Unfortunately, people found the design more humorous than frightening, but to clarify, Whannell said that’s not what the creature looks like in the film.

“Things slipped through the cracks, and it was like, ‘Oh, they’re doing this promotion for Wolf Man at a theme park, but it doesn’t look right. We shouldn’t be putting that out in the world, because people are going to think that’s what our wolf looks like.’ My only response is to say, ‘Look, that doesn’t represent what we’re doing.’ All I can do is wait for the movie to come out. Then hopefully people will be like, ‘Oh, I see what they were doing.’”

It should be noted that the particular design seen in Orlando does briefly appear in the trailer, albeit with a much more menacing look within the confines of the final cut. You can see for yourself how it all comes together when Wolf Man hits theaters on Jan. 17 from Universal Pictures.

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Wolf Man is a reboot of the classic Universal Monsters movie The Wolfman. Christopher Abbott stars in the lead role and is helmed by The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell. The film follows the same premise as the original and the 2010 reboot, focusing on a man who becomes a werewolf after falling victim to an ancient curse.

Release Date

January 17, 2025

Main Genre

Horror