The Invisible Man review

THE INVISIBLE MAN: 

CLASSIC UNIVERSAL MONSTER GETS A CHILLING UPDATE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** 1/2 out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Elizabeth Moss in The Invisible Man

            The classic Universal horror icon gets a modern update in The Invisible Man, a contemporary adaptation and re-imagining of the novel of the same name by H.G. Wells and reboot of Universal’s Invisible Man film series from the 1930s-1950s. Originally intended to be an installment of Universal’s Dark Universe that all started (and supposedly ended) with the “One Movie Cinematic Universe” known as the 2017 reboot of The Mummy starring Tom Cruise, but due to its poor box-office returns and critical reviews production on The Invisible Man along with the other announced films in the Dark Universe were halted and put into question. 

            This led to Universal changing their plans from a shared cinematic universe to standalone horror movies and brought on producer Jason Blum (Split/Glass, Get Out, Us) of Blumhouse as well as frequent James Wan collaborator Leigh Whannell (Insidious: Chapter 3, Upgrade) to direct. Things started to look up for The Invisible Man remake and when the trailer was first released I was into the direction they were going with the story, a modern take on The Invisible Man with a woman escaping from her abusive husband who happens to be a successful optics scientist but is soon haunted by an invisible entity that makes her go crazy. 

            Now that I got all that out of the way, how does this movie hold up? Honestly, a lot better than I expected given the track record for remakes of Universal monster movies. It isn’t a direct adaptation of the original movie or the book, but instead a modern re-imagining of the story done in an inventive, new way and balancing scares with timely social themes about the dangers of abusive relationships without ever feeling forced. 

            The film follows Cecelia (Elizabeth Moss-On the Road, The Old Man & the Gun, Us) who had just escaped from her abusive and sociopathic husband, a wealthy optics scientist named Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen-Going the Distance, The Raven, Dracula (TV series)) and is now hiding out with her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer-Love Child, No Activity, The Other Guy), childhood friend and police detective James (Aldis Hodge-Straight Outta Compton, Hidden Figures, Underground), and his teenage daughter Sydney (Storm Reid-A Wrinkle in Time, Euphoria, The Suicide Squad). However, when news comes up that Adrian had committed suicide and left a generous portion of his vast fortune to Cecilia, she suspects his death was a hoax. 

            Cecilia soon discovers that she is being stalked by an invisible entity that isn’t just out to destroy her own sanity but will also destroy everything and everyone she loves. Cecilia’s sanity is put to the ultimate test as she desperately tries to prove that she is being hunted by someone nobody can see. 

            The film also stars Michael Dorman (Wonderland, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, For All Mankind) as Adrian’s brother and lawyer Tom. 

            Overall, The Invisible Man updates its classic source material and results in one of the smartest and most terrifying scary movies I’ve seen in a very long time. I’m serious, the plot of this movie is brilliant and extremely clever by not just being another scary movie about an invisible killer but it also addresses the psychological effects it could have on a person witnessing it, made even better by the pitch-perfect casting of Elizabeth Moss in the lead role. 

            She legitimately looks crazy every time she’s on-screen, from her facial expressions to her body motions and the way she speaks, Moss gives a million percent in this movie but it’s never to the point where it becomes unintentionally hilarious. However, she still shows her vulnerable side and that she’ll do anything to keep her loved ones safe, which is enough for me to be invested in her character.

            In fact, Elizabeth Moss’ character leads into another aspect of the film that I absolutely adore, the plot focusing on the victim who’s experiencing it. The possibilities of this are pretty much endless and as mentioned before the film explores the psychological effects of what an invisible man attack would have on a person but also shows how women can be manipulated or abused in harmful relationships and the dangers it can have, it’s a scary movie that makes you think just as often as it scares you. 

            While this movie probably won’t keep me up at night, there are some genuinely scary moments and the film understands the science of how to build suspense and set an unsettling tone for what’s to come. The film constantly messes with your mind and you start questioning if you’re seeing something unusual during various scenes, but the film immediately proves there is nothing there, keeping the suspense going longer until the big scare, not to mention one of the coolest reveals of the Invisible Man ever in the attic, I’ll just leave it at that. 

            The Invisible Man offers a unique perspective on its classic source material and delivers a horror movie that scares but also has a surprising amount of intelligence. Whether as a remake of the original movie, an adaptation of the book, or as a standalone scary flick, The Invisible Man delivers the goods and should be the proper start of Universal’s Dark Universe, not Dracula Untold and especially not the 2017 version of The Mummy, this spine-tingling and relentlessly entertaining horror movie that I will gladly go watch again.