31 DAYS OF HORROR 2025 -Day 2: WOLF MAN (2025)

The extreme and inevitable results of generational trauma.

As they are my favorite classical monster, I will always give werewolf movies a chance, and more often than not I get burned. Such was case with Blumhouse's attempt at revivifying the Universal Wolf man template for modern audiences in much the same way that they succeeded with 2020's take on the Invisible Man. Instead of a straight werewolf yarn, what we get is an examination of generational family trauma and how it affects its adult survivors, and also the damage done to their children. 

Raised by a super-strict survivalist dad deep in the woods of Oregon and deeply impacted by their harsh relationship, Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) finds his adult life marked by a strained marriage, but he does his best to be the best father that he can be for his daughter. When his father dies, Blake takes his family on what's meant to be a trip to settle his father's estate, but that will also serve to help strengthen the family bond. What no one expects is the presence of a creature that stalks the deep woods, a creature that Blake's dad's harsh parenting prepared him for with little or no explanation. Local Native American legens mention a disease that renders the infected feral and savagely carnivorous, and while driving to his dad's estate, Blake becomes infected and slowly loses his humanity while trying to protect his wife and daughter from the creature that inflicted its curse upon him. There is no cure, and it's only a matter of time before the beast wins out, and mother and daughter are stranded in the deep woods, god knows how many miles from anything even resembling help.

The premise is interesting and the depiction of Blake's slow transformation is a study in tragic agony, but if you are looking for a werewolf story along the lines of THE HOWLING, AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, DOG SOLDIERS, LATE PHASES, or even the classic genre-defining 1941 THE WOLF MAN, you are shit out of luck. This WOLF MAN strives to be a study of the aforementioned trauma, as well as watching a loved one succumb to an incurable disease. It's not particularly scary, is rather dull, and in the end it's quite a disappointment and a squandered opportunity. I don;t even recommend this for werewolf purists. And, let's face it, the titular creature is simply not an actual lycanthrope. It's a person suffering from an infection. Instead, go for a re-watch of any of the aforementioned far better werewolf flicks.

 

                                                             Poster for the theatrical release.

31 DAYS OF HORROR 2025- Day 1: NOSFERATU (2024)

Nothing like the love of an undead suckface.

So, a remake of the 1922 vampire classic NOSFERATU, from. the director of the superb THE WITCH (2015).

Basically Bram Stoker's DRACULA with character names changed, you know the basic story, so I won't bore you with a recap. What you need to know is that it's well-crafted and thick with eerie, dreamlike atmosphere, but it's also glacially slow and dull. The performances are all strong and that they kept the vampire a revolting monster instead of yet another rote sexy undead suckface seducer was a welcome bit of trope defiance, but I feel the same way about it as I felt about the 2010 remake of THE WOLFMAN. It came off to me like a particularly turgid and overlong installment of MASTERPIECE THEATER in Hammer drag, but Hammer's films generally moved briskly, were lavishly colorful, especially when it came to its signature bright red "Kensington gore," and I found myself connecting with the characters far more than I did with almost anyone in this remake. Yes, there are moments of genuine creepiness and eeriness, and some of the set pieces are outstanding — the squirming throngs of plague-infested rats are especially douche chill-inducing — and the sequences featuring the vampire absolutely deliver, but there's too little of him and far too much of the boring human characters, though there were standouts among them, with Lily Rose Depp being the MVP.

As for the fear factor, I personally found none of it scary, but it is undeniably eerie, so there's that at least. It's a very slow burn, with it taking far too long for the vampire to enter the narrative. In fact, it's a good half hour before he shows up at all, and the first half hour could have been excised entirely. The film could have been much tighter if it simply opened with the solicitor rendezvousing with Orlock's carriage and filled the audience in from there.

Orlock's scenes are great monster stuff — the way Count Orlock feeds is original and chilling, very beastlike — and when we finally get a decent look at him, he's a hulking presence that resembles what we got for the titular creature in KRAMPUS (2015), only minus the horns, beard, and Santa gear. This vampire is a predatory embodiment of disease, a living plague, if you will, and he exudes a malevolence that few cinematic vampires have wielded over the past four decades, so that was a plus. His decimation of several characters over a three-night period is quite nasty, including the unflinching depiction of him feeding on two adorable little girls. (Fuck spoilers. It's a monster movie, and monsters are gonna monster, provided that the filmmaker isn't a pussy, which Eggers certainly is not.) I just wish we had more of him instead of all the other Merchant Ivory costume drama.

Overall, I found this iteration of NOSFERATU to be an unnecessarily overlong slog, but I’m glad I saw it so I can join the discussion and write about it. That said, I won’t be revisiting it. The original silent version from 102 years ago is far superior, and I had a hell of a lot more fun with the vampire mayhem in 2024's ABIGAIL. Totally different flavor of vampire, to be sure, but I came to be entertained, not offered a Gothic soporific.

 Poster from the theatrical release.

31 DAYS OF HORROR 2025-Intro

Another year, another 31 scary items to discuss.

If I may be candid, it has been one hell of a year. I survived a cardiac arterial bypass graft procedure, I've been bearing witness to my 92-year-old cancer-ridden mother's slow fading away, and a bunch of other shit, so being able to retreat into daily doses of spooky stuff will be a tonic for my soul. This year will be the usual hodgepodge of the good, the bad, and the fucking ridiculous, so saddle up and get ready for the ride!

 -Yer Bunche