WOLF MAN (2025)

WOLF MAN (2025). Director: Leigh Whannell.

When his long-missing father is finally declared dead, Blake (Christopher Abbott) and his wife, Charlotte (Julia Garner), and young daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth), head out to the old man's farm in Oregon. Along the way they nearly run over a feral creature who appears to be at least partly human. This creature keeps attacking the farmhouse even as Blake begins to transform into a wolf-like version of himself who can no longer understand English just as his wife and child can no longer understand him. Now Charlotte and her daughter face terrible danger from two sources, the carnivorous monster outside and her husband, who is slowly mutating into something just as dangerous ... 

Leigh Whannell, who wrote and directed the creditable Invisible Man, doesn't hit one out of the ballpark with this new picture. Despite attempts to make this some kind of family drama -- Charlotte is bothered by the fact that her daughter has bonded more with her father than with her -- Wolf Man, despite some exciting moments, just never catches fire. The acting is good, but you're never really on the edge of your seat, and the plot is just too insubstantial. Another problem is that the film is seriously underlit during several key sequences, further blunting the impact. An interesting aspect is that when a neighbor who tries to help the family gets attacked by the monster, the little girl asks if he survived, but not the mother. Not one of the more memorable werewolf pictures. 

Verdict: Watch Scream of the Wolf instead. **1/2. 

CRUSH 2013)

Lucas Till 

CRUSH (2013). Director: Malik Bader.

Scott (Lucas Till) is a handsome and athletic high school student who inspires lust and romantic fantasies in some of the women surrounding him. This includes sort-of girlfriend Jules (Sarah Bolger), his English teacher Mrs. Brown (Camille Guaty) -- who pushes Scott and everyone else to read Charlotte Bronte's Villette --  and a painfully shy young lady named Bess (Crystal Reed). Bess works in a store with a sympathetic older woman named Andie (Caitriona Balfe) and her boss, David (Leigh Whannell), and has a friendly "stalker" of her own named Jeffrey (Reid Ewing). When strange and sinister things start happening -- including attacks on women and nasty emails -- Scott is sure that Bess is responsible, but his true enemy may be hiding in plain sight. 

Bess' fantasy: Till with Crystal Reed

Crush is one of several movies, often with the same title, that feature young women obsessed with handsome young men. This is about on the level of most of them. The good-looking cast is professional enough, but the flick has a general gloss of mediocrity. Things get a bit lively at the climax, when a certain party tries to keep Scott captive in a basement. The movie is generally too tasteful to really have much impact,  however. Still, it does keep you watching. Leigh Whannell later wrote and directed The Invisible Man and also wrote films in the Saw and Insidious series. 

Verdict: Never quite cuts loose the way you hope it will. **1/4. 

THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020)

Elizabeth Moss

THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020). Written and directed by Leigh Whanell.

Cecelia Kass (Elizabeth Moss) finally manages to get away from her abusive and controlling boyfriend, Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), an optics genius, with the help of her sister, Emily (Harriet Dyer) and a cop-friend named James (Aldis Hodge). She relaxes for awhile when she learns that Adrian apparently committed suicide, but then weird things begin to happen which make her think that Adrian is not only alive, but stalking her -- invisibly. Is there any truth to her feelings, or is she losing her mind? Is Adrian still alive, or is someone else sneaking up on her in the night? 

Harriet Dyer with Moss

The Invisible Man has no relation to H. G. Wells' novel or film versions thereof, although the last name of "Griffin" is a nod to the protagonist of that novel. The Invisible Man is a slick, very well-made variation on Wells' classic tale that keeps you in suspense over what is really happening and who, if anyone, is doing what to whom. Director Leigh Whannell -- with the aid of a tense score by Benjamin Wallfisch --  keeps the creepiness factor at high level virtually throughout the movie. Elizabeth Moss offers an outstanding performance as Cecelia, with fine performances from the others named as well as Michael Dorman as Adrian's lawyer-brother and Storm Reid as James' teenage daughter. I might wish that some of the characters were better developed, but the movie is, understandably, mostly interested in tension and chills.

Fantasy or reality?

I believe The Invisible Man was simply meant to be an engaging thriller, but some critics and viewers have subscribed all manner of political motives to the movie. Some wish it was more "me/too," focusing more on the abuse suffered by Cecelia (interestingly her life with Adrian is never really shown) and others invoked that awful WOKE application simply because the hero in the film -- if he even is the hero -- is portrayed by a black actor and a couple of the white male characters are stinkers (in no way do I see this film as being guilty of "white-bashing.") Judge for yourself. I found The Invisible Man to be highly entertaining.

Verdict: The strengths of this film are hardly invisible. ***1/4. 

INSIDIOUS

Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson

INSIDIOUS (2010). Director: James Wan. 

Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne) seem to have perfect lives when one of their children, Dalton (Ty Simpkins), falls unconscious and doesn't wake up. It is not a normal coma, but medial science is at a loss to explain it. The couple are resigned to keeping Dalton safe in bed at home, but strange things and unearthly visitors further disturb their serenity. Even moving into a different house doesn't help, so Renai's mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey), brings them a psychic named Elise (Lin Shaye). Elise tells them that Dalton's astral body is lost in a dangerous dimension called "The Further" and that Josh has to go in and get the boy out before his body is inhabited by something ... horrible. 

Barbara Hershey

Insidious is an effective horror film that is perhaps more creepy than scary, but it is absorbing and builds up suspense nicely. The film has been overpraised in certain quarters, as the Poltergeist-inspired picture is not exactly strikingly original in either plot or images, but as an imitation it is more than okay. Screenwriter Leigh Whannell plays one of the psychic investigators. The film was popular enough to engender three sequels. Patrick Wilson appeared in Phantom of the Opera as well as in Wan's Aquaman. Wan also directed Dead Silence.

Verdict: Achieves the dubious distinction of adding menace to Tiny Tim's rendition of Tiptoe Through the Tulips! ***.