Warning: This article contains spoilers for Wolf Man.
In the classic franchise tradition, 2025’s Wolf Man frames its horror story through the lens of a tragic romance — but this time, it doesn’t work, and there are a few key reasons for that. Wolf Man is director Leigh Whannell’s second retooling of an iconic Universal Monsters property after his 2020 redo of The Invisible Man. Much like with The Invisible Man, Whannell connects Wolf Man’s horror tropes with a real-world social issue. Where The Invisible Man tied an invisible stalker to an abusive relationship, Wolf Man ties a father-son werewolf duo to generational trauma.
But Wolf Man’s blend of horror and drama doesn’t work nearly as well as The Invisible Man. Wolf Man sets up two interesting dramatic narratives drawn from the history of the Wolf Man franchise — a doomed love story and an estranged father-son relationship — but neither of them lands effectively. The twist of the father-son story can be seen coming from a mile away, and the couple at the heart of the love story don’t have any chemistry. The ending of Wolf Man is supposed to be a tearjerker, but the emotions just aren’t there.
Tragic Romances Are A Key Part Of The Wolf Man Movies
Larry Talbot’s Love For Gwen Conliffe Was The Emotional Core Of The Original Wolf Man
Tragic romances have been a crucial part of The Wolf Man and its sequels and remakes from the very beginning. George Waggner’s original 1941 movie, The Wolf Man, is a love story between Lon Chaney, Jr.’s Larry Talbot and Evelyn Ankers’ Gwen Conliffe. Gwen is the proprietor of the local antique shop that Larry falls for. Gwen continually rejects Larry’s proposals for a date, because she’s engaged to a man named Frank. When Larry transforms, his werewolf form attacks Gwen, the last person in the world he’d want to hurt. The whole thing is a monstrous metaphor for unrequited love.
1941’s The Wolf Man was Universal’s second werewolf movie after the less successful Werewolf of London in 1935.
Joe Johnston’s 2010 remake, The Wolfman, put even more emphasis on the romantic element. In this version, Benicio del Toro plays Larry and Emily Blunt plays Gwen, and Gwen is the former fiancée of Larry’s late brother Ben. Larry initially sends Gwen away to avoid hurting her in his werewolf form, but they both eventually confess their love for each other. At the film’s climax, Larry’s werewolf form chases Gwen through the woods and corners her, forcing her to shoot him. As Larry dies in Gwen’s arms, he reverts to human form, ending their love story on a heartbreaking note.
It’s what makes an otherwise standard monster movie unusually sad. It’s what makes the audience care about the human being underneath all the fur.
The main focus of the Wolf Man movies is, of course, the werewolves themselves. Whenever a new Wolf Man movie comes out, there’s a lot of discussion about the creature design, and that is important (the underwhelming creature design in the new film is a big reason why Wolf Man’s reviews are so mixed). But the romance is just as important, if not more so, because it’s the emotional undercurrent of the story. It’s what makes an otherwise standard monster movie unusually sad. It’s what makes the audience care about the human being underneath all the fur.
Wolf Man’s Tragic Romance Had A Lot Of Potential
Telling The Werewolf Transformation Story As A Tragedy About A Strained Marriage Could’ve Worked Really Well
2025’s Wolf Man takes a vastly different approach to its tragic romance, but that element is still prominent in the story. Wolf Man isn’t about Larry Talbot; it revolves around a brand-new character, Blake Lovell, played by Christopher Abbott. Blake had a deeply unhappy childhood on an Oregon farm, because his H๏τ-tempered father was obsessed with tracking down the fabled local werewolf. 30 years later, Blake lives in San Francisco with his daughter Ginger, who he’s determined to raise better than his dad did, and his miserable, workaholic wife Charlotte, played by Julia Garner.
When Blake’s father is finally declared legally ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, he’s tasked with driving back to the farm and packing up his dad’s things. Since his marriage has been on the rocks, he suggests that Charlotte come to the farm with him for a makeshift vacation. There was a lot of potential in this setup. Bringing a married couple to an isolated location is a great dramatic tool to bring their marital tensions to the surface. Stanley Kubrick used that tool to deeply disturbing effect with Jack and Wendy Torrance in The Shining. But in Wolf Man, it didn’t work.
Christopher Abbott & Julia Garner Lacked Chemistry As A Married Couple
They’re Great Individual Actors, But They Have No Chemistry
Individually, Abbott and Garner are two of the finest actors working today, who have each given fantastic performances in other projects. Garner rose to iconic status with her phenomenal turn as Ruth Langmore in Netflix’s crime drama Ozark; she played Ruth as an authentically tough-as-nails badᴀss, while still maintaining an underlying vulnerability that made her human and relatable. Abbott, on the other hand, has given three-dimensional performances in all kinds of movies and TV shows, ranging from psychological thrillers like It Comes at Night to pitch-black comedies like Catch-22 and On the Count of Three.
|
Actor |
Role |
|---|---|
|
Christopher Abbott |
Blake Lovell |
|
Julia Garner |
Charlotte Lovell |
|
Matilda Firth |
Ginger Lovell |
|
Sam Jaeger |
Grady Lovell |
|
Benedict Hardie |
Derek |
On paper, Abbott and Garner seemed like the perfect choices to lead the Wolf Man cast. They have the dramatic chops to elevate a well-worn horror story with depth and nuance. But the problem is that they just don’t share any on-screen chemistry. Abbott shared palpable romantic chemistry with Allison Williams in Girls, while Garner shared palpable romantic chemistry with Tom Pelphrey in Ozark. But their romantic chemistry with each other in Wolf Man just isn’t convincing. When they’re in scenes together, they both seem like they’d rather be anywhere else.
Wolf Man’s Story Held Back Blake & Charlotte’s Romance From Working
Wolf Man Didn’t Give The Characters A Chance To Connect
The lack of chemistry between Abbott and Garner isn’t enough to hold the movie back on its own. Since Blake and Charlotte are supposed to have gradually grown apart and become emotionally distant, the lack of chemistry might have been an intentional creative choice. But that’s not the only problem with Wolf Man’s love story. There’s also the issue with the script not giving the characters a chance to feel really connected. It dives into its werewolf story too quickly to explore their romantic difficulties in any real depth.
It dives into its werewolf story too quickly to explore their romantic difficulties in any real depth.
In its first act, Wolf Man cuts right to the chase. Blake and Charlotte don’t even make it to the farm before they’re attacked by a werewolf, and Blake is infected with the lycanthropic disease before he even knows what hit him. By that point, Abbott and Garner have only had two generic, cliché-ridden scenes to show the strain on their relationship. After being infected, Blake becomes a monster who can’t communicate for the rest of the movie, so there are no more opportunities for the characters to connect on an emotional level (and, as a result, they don’t).
