Wolf Man
Within the First Epistle to the Corinthians are a handful of phrases bound to send chills up anyone’s spine, regardless of their religious affiliation. For instance, Christ’s apostle Paul declares, “I wanna hide the truth/I wanna shelter you/But with the beast inside/There’s nowhere we can hide.” Later, he further opines, “They say it’s what you make/I say it’s up to fate/It’s woven in my soul/I need to let you go.” Such arcane declarations reflect how the duality of humanity has always been a fixture of art. The tug-of-war between the good and bad humans are capable remains eternally on our minds. Maybe that’s why the original Universal Monsters Wolfman is so enduringly popular. That and the incredible makeup work done to transform Lon Chaney Jr. into that hairy beast, of course. Inevitably, this creature has received a 2020s update since Universal refuses to let its creepy-crawlies from the 1930s/40s lay dormant for long. Following the likes of The Invisible Man and Renfield, this creature receives a 2020 update, arriving as a vintage brute into the modern-day world in Wolf Man. Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell takes charge of this reboot, one that will prove frustratingly familiar for monster movie fans. Wolf Man begins in 1995, with a young Blake awakened by his uber-strict father on their remote Oregon father. Theirs is a household where parents grip their kids by the arm if they misbehave, and something is always lurking in the woods waiting to kill them. After this glimpse into yesteryear, Whannell and Corbett Tuck’s script cuts to the modern world. Blake (Christopher Abbott), now a writer turned stay-at-home dad living in New York City, is married to journalist wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and caring for their daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth). Continue Reading →