Did we really need another movie about werewolves? In this case, yes, as “Wolf Man” is an intriguing take on the genre. Its focus on family and medical origins are nice twists. Bolstered by a great score and innovative cinematography, the film does a great job using make-up and practical effects to induce scares.

Introductory script informs us that a hiker disappeared in 1995 in rural Oregon. Speculation abounds that there is a condition called “hills fever” which affects humans in strange ways.

At a farm in the area, a young Blake Lovell (Zac Chandler) gets ready to go hunting with his father, Grady (Sam Jaeger). They stand admiringly by a beautiful vista as they prepare to enter the forest.

Grady’s focus is on protecting his family at all costs. He talks to Blake about how easy it is to lose one’s life. He warns him about poisonous mushrooms. Blake is subservient and obedient.

They spot a deer. Blake decides to separate from his father and go to a better position to shoot the animal. He appears to get lost when a sudden noise and a quick glance at a tall creature rivet him to the spot. His father appears and lectures him. Sensing that they are in danger, he and Blake go up a ladder into a deer blind.

A creature’s breathing is heard as it too ascends the ladder. At one point, Grady shoots through the door at the creature, which falls. When they look over, it is gone.

Cut to San Francisco. An older Blake (Christopher Abbott) is walking the streets with his daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth). They have a great rapport. When Ginger puts herself in a potentially dangerous spot, Blake overreacts in his concern. He apologizes to Ginger, but says that it is his job to protect the family.

At home, his wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) arrives. She is a journalist, busy on her phone. She feels that her rapport with Ginger is not as good as her husband’s is.

Blake reviews a letter with some keys enclosed that indicates that his father, who disappeared some time ago, has been declared dead. Blake suggests that the family take a break and go up to Oregon to clean out the farm. He suggests that Charlotte can work on her book.

Soon their rental truck is driving along the road. As they approach the farm, Blake feels that they are lost. None of their phones work to give them directions.

They spot what looks like a human figure in a deer blind. He approaches the truck. It turns out that he is Derek (Benedict Hardie), who Blake knew years ago when they were both children. Derek gets in the truck to help guide the family.

As they drive down the road, a large hairy figure appears in the headlights. Blake overcorrects and sends the truck through the woods to the edge of a cliff. Derek falls out and a creature drags him away. As Blake tries to close the door so that the monster cannot enter, he is bitten on the arm. And so begins the struggles of the Lovells to survive in Oregon.

“Wolf Man” has many positive attributes. One is the score by Benjamin Wallfisch. His work begins as the Universal rotating-planet logo is accompanied by evocative, eerie music. The score never overpowers the action, while providing pounding tension to the scarier scenes. In other places, such as the mountain vista, it strikes the right chords that complement the beauty of the sight.

The cinematography by Stefan Duscio is very innovative in showing us the perspective of humans from a werewolf’s eye. As Blake becomes more and more infected by the bite on his arm, the human form as he sees it begins to change over time. These visuals are accompanied by a unique sonic landscape as humans speak but are not understood clearly. Kudos to the sound team for this work.

I was impressed by the fact that this film chose to have a limited scope. It is essentially a story about how one family tries to survive in one night. There is no beating about the bush about the danger; once the truck crashes, the game is on.

Choosing this focus means the family dynamics have to click or else no one will care about these three people. The early scenes in San Francisco lay the perfect groundwork for establishing the Lovells’ care and concern for each other. Blake has grown up to be a much different, more emotionally-accessible parent than his father was. Communication about issues is the norm. In short, the Lovells are extremely likeable but not in a saccharine way.

In film clips, director Leigh Whannell talks about how he wanted to use make-up and physical effects to create a scary werewolf. The gradual changes in Blake over time begin subtly but accelerate rapidly. Some effects reminded me in many ways of films like “The Howling.” Whannell said that he was trying to get an 80’s movie feel like “The Thing” or “The Fly.”

The net result is truly scary and frightening. The ways in which the monsters retain a touch of humanity intensifies their creepiness.

The movie alternates between moments of calm inside the farmhouse to jump scares outside when they try to escape in Grady’s old pickup to the creature invading the farmhouse and fighting with whatever Blake is becoming. The progressions are organic and never contrived. Fear is palpable throughout the latter half of the picture.

This was a movie that did not need gory moments to achieve its goals. Yet there are some scenes that are appropriately gruesome for those who love their blood splashed about.

I can remember as a child seeing the original 1941 “The Wolf Man” with Lon Chaney and Maria Ouspenskaya. It scared the daylights out of me at that time. In the same manner, this modern version is too frightening for young children and may be too intense for tweens. Teens will love it as will horror fans.

All in all, this is another triumph for Blumhouse Productions. A top-rate horror film, I give it four and a half out of five stars.

What if someone you loved became something else?

From Blumhouse and visionary writer-director Leigh Whannell, the creators of the chilling modern monster tale The Invisible Man, comes a terrifying new lupine nightmare: Wolf Man.

Golden Globe nominee Christopher Abbott (Poor Things, It Comes at Night) 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 (Emmy winner Julia Garner; Ozark, Inventing Anna), fraying, Blake persuades Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit the property with their young daughter, Ginger (Matlida Firth; Hullraisers, Coma).

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.

Cast: Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner and Sam Jaeger, Matilda Firth, Benedict Hardie, Ben Prendergast, Zac Chandler, Beatriz Romilly, Milo Cawthorne
Written by: Leigh Whannell & Corbett Tuck
Directed by: Leigh Whannell