The new Invisible Man movie was released this weekend so I gave it a look. This is more-or-less a new movie in the stable of the Universal Monsters, a theoretical-but-not-really remake or reboot of the series. And possibly-but-not-really the latest in the failed attempt at a Dark Universe (Universal Monsters) which more-or-less includes Tom Cruise’s The Mummy and Dracula Untold. But, since those movies failed, this is really it’s own thing… and a unique and well-told one-off at that.
The Invisible Man shares the name of the classic HG Wells novel but that’s it. This version tells it’s own unique story without credit to the novel. It’s about an emotionally (and physically) abused wife played by Elizabeth Moss who flees her rich (Mad) scientist husband’s home in the middle of the night. She lives in hiding and in fear of him finding her… until news of his death reaches her. She soon finds she’s inherited a lot of money with the stipulation she must commit no crimes (and remain sane). But the title of the movie gets in the way and soon her invisible husband starts to torment her.
This is a very well made, very thoughtful, very intelligent movie. It’s very much a suspense horror thriller and it could have played this as B movie schlock but it’s so much better than that. It’s a true film – it looks fantastic, there’s a very sure hand at cinematography and camera movements, and the scares are earned. There’s a certain silence to the film… it’s not on the level of A Quiet Place to be sure, but the movie knows when to play down the soundtrack and let silence work for it. That quiet shares space with the camera showing a little too much negative space where, perhaps, an invisible man might be lurking.
One fun and challenging thing about this film is that it’s budget was only $7 million. That’s almost nothing, even when compared to something schlocky like Dracula Untold ($70 million). That focus on a tight budget means, no, we don’t get extravagant special effects (this is not Hollow Man remade). Instead, we get a sharply-focused, very handsome film with great camera work. There are good but limited visual effects for the Invisible Man but the movie isn’t trying to reinvent that wheel. Instead, when we do get a look at how the invisibility works, it makes a certain (mad) science sense… while also being pretty visually creepy.
Elizabeth Moss is the star of the show and she does a good job. There were scenes in the trailer that they smartly cut where she appeared a little too crazy. Instead, she acts on a razor’s edge… being one part beaten down and paranoid, one part driven to the edge by the current circumstances, but also driven slowly back to being a strong, resourceful woman who is tired of being pushed around.
Her acting is on point and is helped by a very intelligent script that almost always allows its characters to be smart. When she tells people her dead husband is alive and invisible, they don’t believe her of course. She doesn’t sound reasonable. But they don’t immediately denounce her lock her up… and when she does get in trouble with the law, it’s a pretty air-tight scenario where, as the audience, we can understand why the cops don’t believe her. I was continuously impressed by how well the movie was plotted and how it let the audience figure things out on their own. Very little unnecessary exposition of the kind that suggests the studio doesn’t think the audience is smart.
I really do recommend this film. It’s rare we get a low budget horror movie that doesn’t look low budget but is also sophisticated and smart. It also has an idea about what it wants to say about domestic abuse but it doesn’t do it with a sledgehammer. Elizabeth Moss turns in a great performance along with the rest of her cast. Check this one out.
Score: 88