WOLF MAN director says Monster is ‘100% practical’ and explains why some people won’t like it

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

Whannell shared in an interview with SFX Magazine, “I think you have to take a new approach. Maybe there are some people who won’t like it because they like the traditional wolf too much, but that was the approach I wanted.”

The director also adds that the Wolfman is “100% practical, all made up, there are no CGI elements”.

Yes, I’m one of those guys who loves the traditional wolf. I love those original Wolfman films from Universal Pictures, and I was pretty disappointed with that first look at the creature we got. It seems comical to me.

Our first look came during Universal Studios’ 2024 Halloween Horror Nights event in Orlando, when a makeup artist came out for a Wolf Man photoshoot. The director previously said:

“Things slipped by the wayside, and it was like, ‘Oh, they’re doing this promotion for Wolf Man in a theme park, but it doesn’t seem right.’ We shouldn’t make it public to the world, because people will think that’s what our wolf looks like.’

“My only response is to say, ‘Look, this doesn’t represent what we’re doing.’ All I can do is wait for the movie to come out. Then hopefully people will say, ‘Oh, I see what they were doing.'”

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

Christopher Abbott (Poor things, it arrives at night) plays Blake, a husband and father from San Francisco, “who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his father disappears and is presumed dead.

“With his marriage to his powerful wife, Charlotte (Giulia Garner; Ozark, Inventing Anna), worn out, Blake convinces 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 farm in the dead of night, they are attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, they barricade themselves inside the house as the creature prowls the perimeter.

“As the night wears on, however, Blake begins to act strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror inside their home is deadlier than the danger outside.”

The film comes from The invisible man director Leigh Whannell and a screenplay written by Whannell and Corbett Tuck as well as Lauren Schuker Blum AND Rebecca Angelothe latter duo had already written the dramatic comedy, Stupid money.

The Wolf Man will be released on January 17, 2025.