The Invisible Man Is Worth Seeing
“I’m the invisible man; I’m the invisible man, incredible how you can see right through me.” – Queen from their album The Miracle.
After a couple of unsuccessful tries at reviving their Classic Monsters, Universal Studios seems to have finally knocked one out of the park with The Invisible Man. The studio that built Hollywood Horror has returned to basics and delivered a genuinely terrifying and unsettling horror film that leaves audiences on the edge of their seats from start to finish. So what makes The Invisible Man worth seeing?
The plot tells the story of Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss), who is running from her abusive ex-boyfriend Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who is a world-renowned scientist in the field of optic technology; shortly after leaving, Cecilia learns that Adrian has committed suicide and left her a substantial amount of money. In the following days, strange things begin happening to Cecilia that leads her to suspect that Adrian is not actually dead.
Part of what makes The Invisible Man so terrifying is the camera work; director/writer Leigh Whannell chose to incorporate a lot of unedited long shots to help build suspense as well as focusing on areas of a location for long periods with no action, drawing you in unwillingly as you search for a hit as to where the invisible man is in the room. The use of jump scares in a more non-traditional way also helps build the feelings of terror as you wait for the invisible man to make his move.
Unlike the 1932 film directed by James Whale, where there are traces of dark humor scattered throughout the film, this interpretation of The Invisible Man does not play to any humorous effects like the original. The plot of this film takes itself seriously, and rightfully so given the topic is touching on the genuine problem of domestic abuse, which is what makes this story so great. Aside from the concept of a person becoming invisible, the plot helps the audience feel more terrified as they watch this film, knowing that many of the basic elements portrayed in this movie are real.
The entire main cast of this film does an excellent job portraying their characters, Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen all play their roles convincingly with each actor bringing an essential element to the story that gives each character his or her own time to shine. My only complaint is we never saw the face of Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) before he became invisible. Understandably the face of fear is sometimes scarier when you cannot see it, but I feel that since we don’t see his face clearly until the last five minutes causes a disconnect with audiences by not giving them a face to be scared of when they cannot see it for the vast majority of the movie if that makes any sense.
All in all, The Invisible Man is a hell of a start for Universal’s next slate of movies based on their preexisting franchises. The film-making is suspenseful, the characters are believable, and the plot is grounded enough to render itself truly terrifying to anyone who sees The Invisible Man.
Want to subscribe to our newsletter so you won’t miss anything? Just sign up HERE
Want more horror movie reviews? Just search below:
