And the Wolf’s in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon | Wolf Man (2025) Movie Review
Well more than meets the eyes 👀
I LiveSky film reviews over on BlueSky, and then piece them together with commentary to make my full reviews here on Medium before they go to Letterbox’d. Please subscribe anywhere/everywhere you can for more of my shenanigans…
I have this theory about movie trailers. It’s probably not even accurate to call it a theory. It’s more like a hunch or suspicion. But explicitly, trailers are paired with the films they’re shown before by MPAA-rating and style/genre of film (in an attempt to appeal to the fabled “four quadrants”) by a combination of studios and theatre chains.
But with all the data available to us these days, especially now that movie tickets are increasingly being purchased through apps (meaning that data is personalizable and trackable), it would be insane for there not to be more sabermetrically-defined parameters and tactics at play.
All that is to say, anecdotally, I feel like I get a sense for the quality of the film I’m about to see, because (tinfoil hat time), I don’t think it makes fiscal sense to market smart movies to dumb people.
After a murderer’s row of Death of a Unicorn, Companion, The Monkey and Until Dawn (which is Sony, so I’m skeptical until I actually see it, plus The Woman in the Yard, which looks… whatever), I was pretty primed for a good, smart movie, based on my tinfoil-hat trailer theory.
I was not disappointed.
As a writer (that’s what’s my degree is in, anyway), I tend to analyze films primarily by/through their scripts, and in terms of a script, this movie works for me on almost every level.
The cold-open is tense, taut and poignant, and thematically resonant, constructed to perfectly tie in to the climax and conclusion. Everything you see here in the first eight minutes will pay off before the credits roll.
I kind of hosed myself, a little bit. My general process is to watch, analyze and review a film, publish my review, then — and only then — look to see what other reviewers have said or are saying about it.
But I happened to see on Letterbox’d that Amy Nicholson, one of my absolute favorite film critics, savaged this movie, giving it 1 1/2 stars and writing that if you closed your eyes, with all the creaking and grunting, you might well have been watching a different brand of ‘doggy style.’
Ouch. I even went back to my review on Letterbox’d and knocked it down from a 5-star to 4-star rating before getting hold of myself.
For me, this is a 5-star film.
Not every facet of it works. It’s not going to make my Perfect Films list.
Earlier on, the shadowy ‘face of the wolf’ creatures are shrouded in darkness and seen only at a distance and in glimpses. Which is for the best, because once you do see them up close, it’s not especially convincing or great. This is no American Werewolf in London — not that I liked that movie, but it is fun and a masterclass in practical, in-camera effects.
Wolf Man is not that. The ‘wolves’ if you want to call them that are pretty wonky, but there’s relatively little reliance on beholding the beasts, and the drama takes place squarely between the ears.
I initially thought Julia Gardner (whom I love from Ozark) was miscast as Charlotte Lovell, Blake Lovell’s (Christopher Abbott) wife. She has a sort of pixieish, eternal youth about her look, but as soon as she was plucked from the starting location and dressed down, her performance started to work really well for me. She might not have been the right choice for the opening 15–20 pages of the script, but she’s exceptionally well-suited to everything that comes after, and her difficult relationship with her daughter is at the heart of the film.
And once we get to the hills (and specifically valley) where the action takes place, it felt like the film was flying.
To Nicholson’s point, I thought the sound design was an especial strength of the movie, and I firmly believe that because I had to think so hard about it after she teased the film about it.
The sound design is thematically tied in, as well, as Blake (who has been attacked by a mysterious creature after a car crash, and seems to be infected) transforms, and we occasionally dip into his POV to see how things differ.
This is another strong point of the movie. Every horror (or genre) film is a commentary on its genre, in some way, and is either beholden to the tropes of that genre, or rises above them and plays with them in interesting, subversive ways.
This film is the latter.
We’ve all seen Wolfman movies, I dare say.
This script takes on a well-worn, tropey narrative and imbues it with fresh, vigorous new life. We dip in and out of Blake’s POV, often circling around the characters interacting, juxtaposing their radically-different perspectives and perceptions. It is effective in highlighting how far apart the mindsets and realities of the characters are.
I think that’s because this film is primarily a commentary on abuse and the cyclical nature of generational trauma. Granted, I bring into it my own baggage and distorted lens, so I’m apt to spot trauma and abuse in any narrative (and if you can’t, then you’re not really looking), but — at least as I see this movie — it’s the central theme, and it’s a strong and resonant one for my money.
I was blown away by how deftly and capably this modestly-budgeted horror film explored and resolved its metaphorical cycle of abuse, and I’m not ashamed to say that I wept pretty openly at the resolution of the drama, which was the perfect subversion of a dynamic that the film had previously set up three times (I think it was three instances, then the gut-wrenching subversion at the end, but it could just be two instances, then the twist; I’m referring to the ‘mind-reading’ game that Blake and his daughter, Ginger play).
And having been forced to think about it much harder than I planned for (because of my own insecurities, and the intense desire to be of an accord with other critics I respect and admire), I double down on my praise for this movie.
I think it has a strong case for Best Sound Design (an AMPAS tech category that horror films traditionally have shown well in, versus the major categories, where they’re often underrepresented relative to their popularity), a terrific script, and a message or substance that belies its at-times schlocky, tropey appearance.
If you watch this movie, I think a worthwhile question to ask is: is this a trope, or is this subverting a trope? If it’s subverting a trope, is the way the film is doing it substantive and satisfying and fresh?
I’d argue that, for Wolf Man, it is. Especially if themes of parental/spousal abuse and generational trauma resonate with you, I think there’s a lot to be gotten out of this deceptively-lowbrow-seeming genre film, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.
