Monster movies have been on the rise for a while, and with new takes on classics like Dracula and The Invisible Man, the market is only gaining speed. The much anticipated Wolf Man is just around the corner, making its debut on our 2025 Movie schedule. The modern-day interpretation has all the basics of the historic hairy monster but the tone has been alluding to more. Its director, Leigh Whannell, just confirmed my suspicions that it’ll be beyond our typical monster mayhem fare because The Fly influenced his version.
The director shared with Empire about the upcoming Wolf Man and how another classic horror story influences his modern-day take. He was careful to recognize and bring to life the realities of what happens to a human body after being affected by something grandly. He said:
What The Fly did that a lot of other practical-effects-driven horror movies from that time did not do was bring the tragedy out of these practical effects. It wasn’t a joke in The Fly. It was there to illustrate someone who was dying of an illness. was like, ‘I’ve got to do that.’ It’s not about being funny or icky or gory. This is about the tragedy of the human body falling apart.
With Whannell’s detailed attention to the finer points of the 1957 story by George Langelaan, it really seems that this current legendary lycanthrope retelling will have very human layers. Don’t be fooled though, I think it’s safe to say that there will still be plenty of physically jarring scenes, that may rank with some of the best body horror movies.
After all, the Australian director is behind the Saw series and is no stranger to exploring the duality of horror and the human condition all in one go. I’m very interested to see how it plays out, especially with Julia Garner essentially being the center point of the film, I know she always delivers.
Personally, while I am intrigued about the complexity of this monster movie, I’m still a bit bummed about Ryan Gosling’s original vision getting scrapped. No question that what we will be getting in 2025 will be extremely entertaining (and probably heartbreaking) but I’m still a sucker for a good monster comedy, like Your Monster. Anyway, knowing that the human tragedy of The Fly heavily influenced Whannell’s film makes me excited to see this monster movie break through some classic tropes.
If you’d like to watch Whannell’s The Invisible Man you can watch with a Prime subscription. Or, if you’d like to watch a different type of classic, you can watch the Saw franchise with a Max subscription.