Leigh Whannell reveals the werewolf’s horrible influences

After invisible man and Abigail, Universal has another modern version of one of their classic monsters coming to theaters. While it has taken some time to put together Leigh Whannell’s werewolf, It’s coming in about a month, and a new behind-the-scenes video delves into the film’s many inspirations.

In the featurette, Whannell readily admits that he used the film to explore “infection and transformation,” themes that have been at the center of werewolf stories. But his twist carries some extra weight: He wrote the script in 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, so the film can’t help but also be about how illnesses provoke feelings of “isolation, dread and anxiety.” Blake, our eventual Werewolf played by Christopher Abbott, is attacked by a werewolf and gradually transforms into the monster while his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and daughter Ginger (Matilda Firth) can only watch it happen… at least until it’s time for them to spend the rest of the night running far his.

On a similar note, the director considers werewolf an homage to two of your favorite ’80s body horror movies, The thing and He Fly. Those films also explore the fear of someone becoming (or being close to) something uncontrollable and dangerous. It’s a slightly different track for Whannell, who has been in the horror game since the original. Saw, but it moves like Insidious and Improvement focus on the terror of demonic possessions or evil and manipulative beings. He really likes using horror to “really delve into someone’s subconscious,” and with werewolf, Its goal is to offer an “auditory assault” and offer “something horrible and visceral” to the audience.

We’ll see if his bite is as scary as his bark seems when werewolf hits theaters on January 17, 2025.

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