Sat, 18 Jan 2025 05:51:39 -0500WeeblyFri, 17 Jan 2025 20:15:26 GMThttp://oscartwoten.com/movie-blog/wolf-man-2025-a-modern-twist-on-lycanthropy-and-generational-traumaI’ve been ravenously excited for Wolf Man ever since the film was announced. I’m a huge fan of the classic Universal monsters, and the original The Wolf Man is one of my favorites. On top of that, this new remake was helmed by the guy who made the tragically underseen sci-fi thriller Upgrade and the nearly perfect remake of The Invisible Man, so I had all the faith in the world that he would knock it out of the park once again. I bought a ticket for opening night as soon as I got the chance, and now that I’ve finally seen the movie, I’m happy to report that it does not disappoint.

Wolf Man was directed and co-written by Leigh Whannell, and it stars Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, and Matilda Firth. In the film, Blake leads a seemingly normal life with his wife Charlotte and his daughter Ginger, but that all changes when he receives some sad but expected news about his father. The guy apparently went missing years ago, and after what we can only assume were numerous fruitless searches, he’s finally been declared dead.

In the wake of this pronouncement, Blake inherits his childhood home, and when he goes there to pack the place up, he decides to take his family with him. Before they reach the house, they’re attacked by a mysterious creature that looks humanoid but acts like an animal, and it appears intent on making this poor family its next meal. Luckily, Blake and his crew make it to safety before the monster can seriously hurt them, but they don’t escape entirely unscathed. Blake has a scratch on his arm, and if you know anything about werewolves, you can guess what happens next.

On the surface, that might sound like a really generic werewolf story, but Wolf Man takes a somewhat novel approach to its time-honored monster. Once the creature attacks, the rest of this movie takes place over the course of a single night, and it juxtaposes two different kinds of horror. For starters, even though the characters find shelter, the werewolf that attacked them still wants its dinner. It stalks them periodically throughout the film, so we get plenty of traditional lycanthrope action.

But Blake throws a bit of a wrench into that conventional formula. As the night wears on, he slowly transforms into a werewolf himself, so his half of the terror is very reminiscent of the 2000 cult classic Ginger Snaps (hence the girl’s name) and David Cronenberg’s magnum opus The Fly. Sure, he turns into a full-blown monster eventually, but for most of the movie’s runtime, his side of the tale is more body horror than monster horror.

And if you ask me, both elements work pretty well. Let’s start with the traditional stuff. If you saw Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, it should come as no surprise that the guy once again shows himself to be a master of tension and suspense. Every time the threat of a werewolf attack rears its ugly head, you’ll instantly find yourself involuntarily moving towards the edge of your seat, and whenever that threat materializes, Wolf Man gets even better. The lycanthrope action here is top-notch, so if you enjoy this brand of terror, you’ll definitely get your money’s worth.

Along similar lines, the horror of Blake’s transformation is pretty fun too. It’s not nearly as gut-wrenching as, say, last year’s body horror sensation The Substance, but it has its moments. It’s brought to life with genuinely convincing practical effects, and there’s one scene in particular that felt a bit like the famous transformation in An American Werewolf in London.

But hands down, the most interesting thing about Blake’s metamorphosis is the way Leigh Whannel conveys the changes going on inside the guy’s head. There are multiple times when we see what he sees and hear what he hears, and that peek inside the monster’s brain is super cool. It’s a unique touch we don’t normally get in this genre, and it further cements Whannell as one of the most exciting and innovative horror filmmakers around.

All that being said, Wolf Man doesn’t rely solely on the strength of its horror. Both the story and the characters have some real substance to them, so let’s turn now to the weightier parts of this movie. On the character side, all three lead stars do excellent work. To be fair, there are times when their performances feel a bit generic, but when these actors have to display heartfelt emotion, they absolutely shine. To take just one example, there’s a scene early on where Charlotte explains to Blake that she struggles to connect with their daughter, and actress Julia Garner makes her character’s pain nearly palpable. Your heart will break for this poor woman, and Garner’s costars, Christopher Abbott and Matilda Firth, do equally great work.


They lay an emotional foundation that grounds the story from start to finish, and that’s important because Wolf Man is way more than just a mindless exercise in terror. Like most werewolf films, it’s also an allegory for the dark side of human nature, but once again, the movie takes a unique approach to this tried-and-true genre staple.


The film begins by giving us a taste of Blake’s childhood, and we learn that he lived in constant fear of his father. The man was a rough parent with a short fuse, so even though he clearly cared for his son, his anger far overshadowed his love. After that, when we finally meet Blake as an adult, the movie immediately crafts an obvious parallel between him and his dad. He’s on an outing with his daughter, and when she does something unsafe, his anger rears its ugly head as well. But unlike his father, Blake controls his rage, and he says he doesn’t want to be that kind of parent.


The comparison is just about impossible to miss, but in case you’re not convinced, Wolf Man hammers the point home in a third-act scene I can’t describe without getting into spoiler territory. I wish I could say more about it, but trust me, you’ll know it when you see it. It makes Blake’s devolution into lycanthropy a clear metaphor for generational trauma and the various ways we can unwittingly perpetuate cycles of abuse with our own children, and even though I’m not a parent myself, I still found it pretty touching.


In particular, actress Matilda Firth does an amazing job of conveying Ginger’s love for her father even as he’s turning into a mindless killing machine, and the juxtaposition of her undying love and Blake’s clear trajectory towards abuse is utterly heartbreaking. That dynamic is the heart and soul of Wolf Man, and it elevates the film far above your typical mindless monster movie.


In case you couldn’t tell, I had a really good time with this film. Granted, it has a few lulls here and there, so it’s not quite as good as The Invisible Man or Upgrade. It’s not going to end up on my top-ten list come December, but I couldn’t have asked for a better movie to kick off the new year. If this is what January horror looks like in 2025, I can’t wait to see what the coming months have in store for us.

]]>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 19:32:00 GMThttp://oscartwoten.com/movie-blog/the-wolf-man-1941-a-haunting-allegory-of-sin-and-redemption“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Romans 7:15, 19)

With those words, St. Paul poignantly encapsulates one of the most horrific truths of the human condition: the universality of sin. No matter how holy we are, no matter how much we want to follow Jesus’ command to “be perfect” (Matthew 5:48), we all fall short. We all sin from time to time (and sometimes a bit more often than that!), and for those of us trying to follow Christ, this sad fact is a heavy burden. It makes us want to cry out like Paul himself just a few verses later, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:25).

Unsurprisingly, artists of all stripes have tried to capture this harrowing truth in various ways, and for my money, one of the most moving attempts is the classic horror film The Wolf Man. It tells the story of Larry Talbot, a man cursed to roam the streets as a wolf and commit grisly murders when the moon is full, and despite his best efforts, he’s powerless to stop these periodic transformations. It’s an almost perfect allegory for our struggle with sin, and the movie depicts that battle with a heart-breaking honesty few other films have ever achieved.

“Even a Man Who Is Pure in Heart”
Normally, I’d start this article with a brief overview of the movie’s plot, but I don’t think that’s necessary here. The Wolf Man is a very straightforward werewolf story, so if you’re familiar with basic werewolf lore, you know what this film is about. Instead, I want to begin with a short poem that we hear repeated a number of times throughout the movie:

“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”

When we first hear these words, their meaning seems clear enough. They tell us that purity of heart doesn’t counteract the werewolf’s curse. If you’ve been bitten by one of these creatures, you’re going to turn into a wolf “when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright,” whether you’re a good person or not.

But the next time these verses pop up in The Wolf Man, they take on another, much deeper meaning. There’s a scene where Larry’s father tells his son that the werewolf myth is “an ancient explanation of the dual personality in each of us,” and instead of explaining what this “dual personality” is, he simply recites the poem about a pure man becoming a wolf.

For him, these words don’t just mean that the curse can overpower a pure heart. Rather, they tell us that the whole idea of werewolves is a metaphor for our “dual personality.” It’s a stark, horrific representation of our baser nature, our propensity to sin, and no matter how good we may be, each one of us has a dark, sinful side that rears its ugly head every now and then.

And in case you’re still not convinced, The Wolf Man eventually pulls back the curtain entirely and makes its message impossible to miss. In the film’s second act, Larry’s father straight up says that werewolves represent “the good and evil in every man’s soul,” and that seals the deal for us. By repeating this idea multiple times, the movie makes it clear that this is in fact its central theme, so the entire story is essentially an allegory for St. Paul’s famous words about the universality of sin.

Larry Talbot’s Struggle
All that being said, a film can’t get by on its message alone. It also has to bring that message to life in a memorable way, and on that count, The Wolf Man succeeds brilliantly. Once Larry Talbot realizes that he’s a werewolf, the curse causes him untold anguish. Like I said before, the man doesn’t want to turn into a monster and murder people, but he’s completely powerless to stop his nighttime killing sprees.

It’s an utterly heartbreaking turn of events, and legendary horror actor Lon Chaney Jr. portrays the character’s torment beautifully. To be fair, his performance can be a bit wooden at times, especially in the early scenes, but once the story really kicks into gear, Chaney is fantastic. Everything about him, from the tone of his voice to his facial expressions, bespeaks a soul in tremendous pain, so you’ll almost feel Larry’s agony yourself.

The man practically embodies St. Paul’s cry, “Who will deliver me from this body of death,” so if you’ve ever struggled with sin (and let’s be honest, who hasn’t?), The Wolf Man is sure to resonate with you on a deep level. It’s a poignant metaphor for a cross every Christian has to bear, so despite being over 80 years old, this is still one of the best and most relatable movies the horror genre has ever produced.

]]>Fri, 17 Jan 2025 19:19:54 GMThttp://oscartwoten.com/movie-blog/mercy-and-justice-in-drag-me-to-hell-a-jubilee-reflection2025 means different things to different people. To wrestling fans, it means a new home for WWE Raw. To sports fans, it means another chance for your favorite team to make a storybook run to a championship. And to Catholics, it means a Jubilee Year, a special celebration that takes place every twenty-five years.

This concept has its roots in the Old Testament–where God commanded the Israelites to periodically set slaves free, return all land to its original owners, and cancel all debts (Leviticus 25:8-13, Deuteronomy 15:1-2)–and in the Church, we mark these momentous years with pilgrimages, special indulgences, and works of mercy.

In other words, the Jubilee Year calls us to celebrate God’s mercy and embody His mercy in our daily lives, and as a movie buff, I’d like to examine a film that perfectly encapsulates that idea: Sam Raimi’s 2009 horror comedy Drag Me to Hell. This may not be the first movie that comes to mind when you think of the Jubilee (or anything Catholic, for that matter!), but if you take a close look at its message, you’ll find that the fit is surprisingly snug.

The Basic Plot of Drag Me to Hell
To get our bearings, let’s start by briefly recapping the basic plot of Drag Me to Hell. The film follows Christine, a young loan officer vying for a promotion. She’s trying to impress her boss and prove that she’s not a pushover, so when she’s approached by Sylvia Ganush, an elderly woman asking for a third extension on her mortgage payment, she makes the wrong call.

Mrs. Ganush explains that she recently experienced a few unforeseen medical problems, but before these issues, she never missed a payment. She pleads for mercy and asks for just a little more time to gather some money, and at first, Christine is sympathetic to the poor woman’s plight. But when she brings the case to her boss, she changes her tune. The guy not-so-subtly pressures her to deny the request, and in her desperation to make a good impression, Christine chooses to foreclose on Mrs. Ganush’s house.

In response, the elderly woman places a curse on her callous loan officer, and soon afterwards, Christine comes under attack by a terrifying demon known as the Lamia. This creature torments its victims for three days and then drags them to hell (hence the movie’s name!), so as bad as these initial hauntings are, the worst is yet to come.

Unsurprisingly, Christine does everything she can to break the curse, but nothing works. When Drag Me to Hell ends, the Lamia emerges from the pits of hell to drag this poor woman to an eternity of fiery torment, and there’s nothing she or her loved ones can do about it.

Begging for Mercy
At this point, you might be wondering what Drag Me to Hell has to do with the Jubilee Year. God doesn’t miraculously save Christine at the last second, so what could this movie possibly have in common with a celebration of divine mercy? To answer that question, we have to pay close attention to some of Christine’s attempts to free herself from the Lamia’s curse.

First, a psychic suggests that a sacrifice might appease the demon, so the woman kills her cat and offers it to the creature. When that doesn’t work, she then attends a seance where a medium asks the Lamia not to carry out its hellish plan, but of course, the entity refuses. It stands firm in its commitment to take her soul when the time comes, and that rejection creates a striking parallel: the Lamia is treating Christine the way she treated Mrs. Ganush.

When Mrs. Ganush found herself in a desperate situation, all she could do to prevent the loss of her house was plead for mercy. She literally begged Christine for another extension, and the young loan officer could’ve granted the woman’s request if she wanted to. But she didn’t. Instead, Christine let the rules of foreclosure play out like they normally do, so Mrs. Ganush was forced out of her home.

Similarly, Christine is now in a desperate situation herself, and she too asks for clemency. She implores the Lamia to take pity on her and spare her an eternity of misery, but her pleas fall on deaf ears. The demon decides to let the “rules” of its curse play out like they normally do, so Christine ends up getting dragged to hell.

The Importance of Mercy
With that parallel, Drag Me to Hell tells us in no uncertain terms that Christine was wrong to deny Mrs. Ganush’s request for another extension. Sure, she may have been following the rules, but sometimes we have to abide by a higher standard. As the Church’s recent declaration Dignitas Infinita proclaims, “[e]very human person possesses an infinite dignity,” and that dignity far exceeds the importance of any rules or laws that govern mortgage payments. When people are in need, we have to help them, even if the “rules” don’t require it.

And if there’s any doubt about that, Drag Me to Hell hammers the point home in its final scene. When Christine erroneously thinks she’s broken free of the Lamia’s curse, she admits to her boyfriend that she should’ve given Mrs. Ganush another extension. She doesn’t say why, but I find it hard to believe that her experience with the Lamia didn’t influence her admission. Even if only subconsciously, she must’ve realized that she treated Mrs. Ganush just like the Lamia treated her, so the truth about her actions became crystal clear.

And once we come to that same realization, the relevance of Drag Me to Hell to this Jubilee Year becomes equally clear. This great celebration of God’s mercy calls us to put His mercy into practice in our own lives, so just like Christine, we too should act compassionately towards those in need. We have to go beyond the bare minimum our earthly rules require and put people’s needs first, and if we don’t already do that, there’s no better time than to start than this wonderful invitation from the Church to enter more deeply into God’s endless mercy.

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