Wolf Man Described As A “Companion Piece” To New Invisible Man Film

Wolf Man is Leigh Whannell’s latest attempt at a modern retelling of the Universal monster movies after directing the critically acclaimed The Invisible Man reboot from 2020. The upcoming remake went through several development phases, with Ryan Gosling attached at one point, but Wolf Man is officially arriving in theaters next year. A low-budget horror film, Whannell describes his version of Wolf Man as a close relative to his previous monster flick.

In an interview with Empire, Whannell explained how Wolf Man came about after directing The Invisible Man, which has a lot in common when it comes to his approach to remaking the classic Universal monster films. And no, there is no indication both movies take place in the same universe. Like The Invisible Man, his Wolfman reboot will take a new approach to the iconic material and delve into unfamiliar territory. In fact, Whannell says he made a list of things to avoid including in Wolf Man that were already done in previous iterations.

“I think of it as a companion piece to The Invisible Man. I didn’t want this film to be a nostalgic or a retro Wolf Man film in any way. [I was] actually writing down in my notepad everything that’s been done, and then saying, ‘Okay, that’s the list of what not to do. I’m hoping that you go in and say, ‘Oh wow, I haven’t seen that werewolf movie before,’ when the lights come up.”

Wolf Man is Going Back to Basics

After the disastrous Dark Universe ended before it started with the release of The Mummy, the next Universal monster films promise to be comprised of standalone projects. Following The Invisible Man, Whannell’s Wolf Man is a smaller, isolated horror film that includes a handful of original characters. Producer Ken Kao spoke to Screen Rant about the new approach to adapting Universal’s iconic monster library, moving away from the failed copycat version of the MCU.

“As an outsider, I would say that The Mummy’s Dark Universe, in my humble opinion, felt like it was reactive to what was going on with all the superhero stuff — the MCU and DC universe, and we know there’s been a lot of talk about what happened with all that [in] the last year or so. I guess you could call it maybe more like the Joker approach. In my opinion, especially if you’re going to do it for contained pieces like Blumhouse is really good at doing, [it] makes a lot more sense to me. So that’s a good playbook.”

Wolf Man follows Christopher Abbot (Sanctuary) as Blake, a family man who moves into an isolated home in Oregon with his wife and child after the presumed death of his father. The film also stars Julia Garner (Ozark) as his wife Charlotte, Matilda Firth (Hullraisers) as their daughter Ginger, and Sam Jaeger (The Handmaid’s Tale) in an undisclosed role. Check out the complete synopsis of Wolf Man below:

Christopher Abbott stars as Blake, a San Francisco husband and father, who inherits his remote childhood home in rural Oregon after his own father vanishes and is presumed dead. With his marriage to his high-powered wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth).

But as the family approaches the farmhouse in the dead of night, they’re attacked by an unseen animal and, in a desperate escape, barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. As the night stretches on, however, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable, and Charlotte will be forced to decide whether the terror within their house is more lethal than the danger without.