Fans of SCTV may remember a Monster Chiller Horror Theatre episode in which Joe Flaherty’s late-night host, Count Floyd, mistakenly programs a made-up Ingmar Bergman film, Whispers of the Wolf, thinking it’s a simple werewolf picture instead of a moody, existential mashup of Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf and Persona.
The new Wolf Man from Universal Pictures and co-writer/director Leigh Whannell may likewise provoke some puzzled Count Floyd-esque looks of confusion among horror fans. Not that it’s a failure or a joke. Whannell, whose bracing, sharp-edged 2020 remake of The Invisible Man ushered us into the cold-creeps Covid era, makes genre films for a wide audience, adults included. He doesn’t play these Universal franchise reboots for kicks.
Summary:
A seriousness that is heavy going.
