Effective horror is anchored in a grounded world, and director Leigh Whannell and screenwriter Corbett Tuck laid the foundation with the story of Blake Lovell, along with his family. With his past seemingly behind him, long-buried secrets get unearthed and threaten his family as they explore the Lovell farm, an inheritance from his deceased father.

Blake, a struggling father and husband, is played by Christopher Abbott (Poor Things), who director Whannell thinks breathes life into the tortured character. “Chris is unable to be inauthentic,” Whannell says. “He doesn’t hit a false note. He’s not a showy actor, and he’s allergic to performative acting or reaching. He just wants to bring it into a living, breathing zone, and it’s a magic trick to watch.” 

They’ve also gone to great lengths to match that authenticity with practical makeup and prosthetics as Blake transforms into a monster, with lengthy discussions on how Abbott would interpret this evolution.  “Leigh and I talked a lot about illnesses from Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s,” Abbott says. “In terms of the transformation, it was letting go of the reality of what it is to be a healthy human and stripping that away.” 

Julia Garner (Ozark, Finding Anna) plays the role of Charlotte, the breadwinner of the Lovell family. Keeping the family afloat atop a very demanding job as a journalist stirs resentment within her, directed at her husband Blake. “In terms of her emotions, Julia is such an open wound,” Whannell says. “They’re so close to the surface, and she’s able to tap into them in such a real way. When Julia’s getting ready to go into character, she wants to live it. There’s no lounging around on her phone waiting for the take to start. She is just bristling with energy, and it changes the temperature of the set. When someone walks on in that headspace, everyone goes quiet.”

As her husband goes through a dark transformation, Charlotte goes through her own psychological changes. Garner found herself riveted by the script and drawn to this story of love and loss. “It’s about connection and grief,” Garner says. “When somebody’s in front of you and they’re slowly disappearing, it’s not a sudden death, but a slow process. Early on, Leigh discussed wanting to connect and then having that person not be there anymore. When we started prepping, I told him that I wanted it to feel that the audience was going through the seven stages of grief in one night. When Blake is going through the physical stages, Charlotte is going through the mental ones.”

The heart of the Lovell family is eight-year-old Ginger, who is played by Matilda Firth. As her father, Blake, begins to transform, we see his struggle between his fierce paternal instinct and the emerging monster.

Watch the Lovell family live through the nightmare as Wolf Man arrives in Philippine cinemas on 15 January.  Follow Universal Pictures PH (FB), UniversalPicturesPH (IG) and UniversalPicsPH (TikTok) for the latest updates.