WOLF MAN Director Says Monster is "100% Practical" and Explains Why Some People Won't Like It

Wolf Man director Leigh Whannell recently talked about the design of the werewolf monster that we’ll see in the movie. He explains that while the effects to bring the monster to life is “100% practical”, some people aren’t going to like it.

Whannell shared in an interview with SFX Magazine: "I think you have to bring a new approach. Maybe there are some people that won't like it because they love the traditional wolf too much, but that was the approach I wanted."

The filmmaker also adds that the Wolf Man is "100% practical, all make-up - there are no CGI elements."

Yeah, I’m one of those guys that loves the traditional wolf. I love those original Wolfman movies from Universal Pictures, and I was pretty turned off by that first look of the creature that we got. It looks comical to me.

Out first look came during the 2024 Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights event in Orlando, when a performer in make-up came out for a Wolf Man photo-op. When talking about that the director previously said:

"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.'"

Now, the Wolf Man design was teased in the trailer, and it looks exactly like what we saw at Halloween Horror Nights. But, I guess we’ll just have to wait before we see more.

Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, It Comes at Night) stars as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, “who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead.

“With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner; Ozark, Inventing Anna), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth; Hullraisers, Coma).

“But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter.

“As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without.”

The movie comes from Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell and a script written by Whannell and Corbett Tuck as well as Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, the latter duo previously wrote the comedic drama, Dumb Money.

Wolf Man will be released on January 17, 2025.