Wolf Man

Expected better from the writer/director of The Invisible Man (2020). Had basement floor expectations for Wolf Man (2025) given the reception amongst trusted friends and this unfortunately meets them. Becoming something admittedly mediocre. A creature feature with a confined setting, no structural fat, and a strong thematic core should work but this specific combination of these factors just refuses to cohere. A metaphor for the movie as a whole: Garner and Abbott individually? Great. Together? Zero effort at chemistry. (Footnote: defenders could argue that being the point? But then why bother having it in the first place? Why should I care what happens to anybody in the family if it seems the actors can’t even try to bring it to their few scenes together?)  Really wish this worked but even in a truncated state, the third act drags and at no point was I even a little excited. Not a moment went by where I wasn’t thinking that I could’ve been spending my time rewatching something better.  P.S. Hate to dogpile on the design of the Wolf, but it really just is another piece of aggravation. Humanlike but also just off putting enough that they felt the need to cover it up with some shoddy nighttime photography.