Wolf
Man 4K (2025/Universal 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B+ Sound: A-/B+ Extras: B-
Film: C
Wolf
Man
(2025) is a modern re-imagining of the Universal Monsters classic
directed by Leigh Whannell, who also directed The Invisible Man
remake a few years ago. The modern remake goes out of its way to
include no references whatsoever to the original film and doesn't
even bait the fans with an easter egg or a nod. It's almost as if
Universal and Blumhouse want the brand recognition without the fan
recognition, which is why I have nicknamed this film ''Wolf Meh.''
This
iteration of Wolf
Man
didn't start out with a good taste in people's mouthes. Back in
September, a terrible rendering of his new vision of the character
was revealed at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights and the internet
did not take it well. Why Director Whannell chose to go with a less
hairy and less animal-like rendering and didn't just take a page out
of Rick Baker's masterwork in the (far superior) Wolf
Man
remake from 2010, only he will know. What is sad is that this film
on paper sounds fantastic and its cast is nothing to bark at with
stars Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott, Sam Jaeger, Leigh Whannell,
and Benedict Hardie.
In
Wolf
Man,
an awkward couple (Garner and Abbott) with relationship issues and a
small daughter (Sam Jaeger) take a scenic countryside to claim a dead
relative's property (haven't heard this horror trope before.) As
they try to get to the property, they get into a car accident where
the temperamental dad is attacked by a Wolf Man and starts to change
gradually over the course of a few days into the Wolf Man. It
doesn't take long until he's howling at the moon and is a ravenous
threat to his daughter and wife. Can they survive against this hairy
madman? Could there be a twist behind his transformation that ties
back to his dead relative which he inherited the house from?
Wolf
Man 4K
is presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc with HDR10, an HEVC / H.265
codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and lossless Dolby Atmos
(Dolby
TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems, both 48kHz
24-bit and true HD ONLY on the Blu-ray). The film looks and sounds
fantastic on the format and was shot beautifully. The special
effects are well executed and the film is up to standards in terms of
sharpness in both image and sound. Also included is a 1080p transfer
with a nice enough transfer for the format.
Special
Features:
Unleashing
A New Monster
featurette
Designing
Wolf Man
featurette
Hands
on Horror
featurette
Nightmares
and Soundscapes
featurette
and
a Feature Commentary with Director / Co-Writer Leigh Whannell.
Wolf
Man
is a hit and miss effort from Blumhouse, a company that is so
desperate for brand recognition that they forget what drew people to
these movie franchises in the first place. I strongly feel that the
gothic period setting is a necessary component in telling the Wolf
Man story. This film should have been called something else and
judged on its own merits instead of the inevitable comparisons
between it and the Lon Chaney classic. If you watch it with the
mindset that its not trying to compare then its not a terrible film,
but far from perfect.
To
read more on the Chaney Wolfman, try our coverage of its 4K release
at this link:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15993/Universal+Monsters:+Icons+of+Horror+Collection+4K
-
James Lockhart
https://letterboxd.com/jhl5films/
