'Wolf Man' featurette teases Christopher Abbott's fur, 'horrifying' new look

Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Universal Pictures teases Christopher Abbott's "horrifying" new look in a Wolf Man featurette released Monday. The film opens Jan. 17 in theaters.

In the video, director Leigh Whannell and makeup effects designer Arjen Tuiten discuss their approach to designing the film's werewolf. The pair envisioned "something very different," rather than repeating the iconic werewolves created by Rick Baker in An American Werewolf in London and Jack Pierce, who designed Lon Chaney's Wolf Man.

Abbott plays Blake, a man who begins to transform after a wolf bite. Behind-the-scenes footage shows a glimpse of his furry back and closeups of arms and legs, but not the entirety of Blake's transformation.

Whannell said he took more inspiration from horror movies about creatures than werewolves.

"I was really inspired by movies like John Carpenter's The Thing, David Cronenberg's The Fly," Whannell says.

Tuiten described his Wolf Man as "two anatomies trying to mix that don't quite go together, and it's a painful one at that."

Julia Garner and Matilda Firth play Blake's wife and daughter, respectively.

Whannell previously wrote and directed Universal and Blumhouse's The Invisible Man remake.