Warning! Contains major spoilers for Wolf Man

Leigh Whannell’s 2025 take on the classic Universal Studios monster Wolf Man centers around a man turning into a werewolf, but via a strange disease known colloquially as “Face of the Wolf.” Whannell’s interpretation of the classic story makes some notable changes to the plot points and settings shared by the original Universal Studios The Wolf Man (1941) starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and Joe Johnston’s 2010 remake of the same name starring Benicio del Toro. Wolf Man features Christopher Abbott as Blake Lovell, who undergoes the infamous transformation after becoming infected by another creature.

As a young boy, Blake and his father encountered a creature while out hunting in the mountains of Oregon near their home. Blake later overheard his father on a ham radio communicating with a nearby friend about what he saw, what they believed it was, and how they needed to stop it before it came after their children and community. 30 years later, upon his father’s supposed death, Blake returns to his father’s farm with his family, and by the ending of Wolf Man, he succumbs to the disease locals refer to as “Face of the Wolf.”

What The Face Of The Wolf Disease Is In Wolf Man

It Seems To Be A Physical Illness As Opposed To A Supernatural Curse

A brief written opening is the first thing that appears on the screen in Wolf Man, and it provides some context to the movie’s first scenes. It describes how, in 1995, a hiker went missing in the mountains of Oregon, but there were a number of subsequent sightings of the man by members of the local community. They began to speculate that he had contracted an animal-borne virus that they referred to as “hills fever”, which the Indigenous people of the area knew by another name: ma’iingan odengwaan, or “Face of the Wolf.”

As Wolf Man later reveals, Face of the Wolf does not appear to be some sort of supernatural curse that suddenly transforms a regular man into a mᴀssive, hairy creature with the head, teeth, and long claws of a wolf. Rather, it appears to be a communicable disease, pᴀssed along via physical contact with an infected person (likely directly via the bloodstream, as it requires a scratch or bite). The transformation doesn’t occur immediately; the infected person begins to show symptoms as they would with any other illness, with their body slowly transforming over time.

While the original infection could have possibly had supernatural origins, nothing of the sort is hinted at in Wolf Man. Whannell’s take on the Wolf Man curse is, in a way, more grounded and realistic, with a slightly more scientific origin as opposed to something born out of dark magic and evil. The end result is still a man transforming into a vicious creature that has no conscience or empathy, but it takes a long time to get there, and the victim retains their humanity through most of the process.

Blake’s Family’s Connection To The Face Of The Wolf Disease In Wolf Man

Blake’s Father Hunted The Infected Before Becoming A Victim Himself

Blake’s father was a member of the rural community mentioned in the movie’s opening preface, and as a hunter who lived and tracked in the mountains of Oregon he was undoubtedly one of the people who had seen the missing hiker that had transformed into a beast. This explains why he is so strict about Blake staying near him and staying safe/vigilant while they are out hunting together, and explains why he is so determined to find and kill the creature. He is well aware of the danger it poses to his son and the community.

Blake’s father is eventually lost to the woods, and despite no body ever being recovered, it was his death certificate (after being missing for so long) that brings Blake and his family back to the farm 30 years after Blake’s initial encounter in the woods. The werewolf that initially attacks Blake and his family actually turns out to be his father, who had been infected by Face of the Wolf, probably by the very creature that Blake saw in 1995. The werewolf bears the same tattoo as Blake’s father, which is how Blake realizes his true idenтιтy.

How Wolf Man’s Face Of The Wolf Disease Pᴀsses To A New Victim

It Doesn’t Require The Typical Werewolf Bite

While a werewolf’s curse is typically pᴀssed along via a bite, the Face of the Wolf disease doesn’t require anything so severe. The werewolf merely scratches Blake’s arm as he hangs in the moving truck after it spills off the road, opening a large cut but ultimately not doing severe damage. That physical contact with the blood stream is apparently enough to pᴀss along the infection, which follows with the real-world pathology of some animal-borne diseases. While a bite would certainly also pᴀss along the infection, a scratch is enough to cause a person to start transforming.

How The Face Of The Wolf Disease Compares To Past Wolf Man Movies

A Man Stricken By The Face Of The Wolf Disease Is Far Less Hairy

The Face of the Wolf disease bears a number of differences from the curses seen in The Wolf Man (1941) and the 2010 remake. For one, Whannell’s Wolf Man looks very different from his more traditional counterparts, as he is not covered in hair and hasn’t undergone a full-body transformation. Like his earlier cinematic counterparts, the Wolf Man has long teeth, long claws, increased strength, durability, and a form of night vision, but physically he still looks very much like a man, albeit a strange and terrifying one.

Due to the Face of the Wolf being a disease and not a curse, it isn’t contingent upon a full moon to manifest. It is a permanent state that can be transferred via physical contact with the blood at any time, and once a person is infected, there is no going back. Once symptoms of the transformation begin, there doesn’t appear to be any method of stopping it, and that person is doomed to be a beast until their death.

Another notable difference between the new Wolf Man and the original is how easily he can be killed. While there are very strict rules for killing a werewolf in traditional lore, such as using a silver bullet, the werewolves in Wolf Man can be killed by any traditional means. Blake, in his werewolf state, fights and kills his father by ripping his throat out, from which he does not heal. Blake’s wife finally puts him out of his misery with a gunsH๏τ to the chest, which kills him instantly as it would any other man or beast.