When you think of the early days of horror cinema you tend to think of adaptations of classic horror literature. Stories like Frankenstein and Dracula are what immediately springs to mind. Universal wanted to tap into the mostly forgotten goldmine of these classic horror stories when they launched their ‘Dark Universe’ cinematic universe in 2017 with The Mummy. However, the overwhelmingly negative response to the film and horrendous commercial performance made Universal cancel all future projects. Then in 2019 Universal announced that they would indeed be bringing back their horror classics, but in standalone stories rather than a shared universe; drafting in Leigh Whannell to direct The Invisible Man. But where The Mummy stuck reasonably close to the source material, The Invisible Man would prove to take a different path entirely.
Late one night Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) drugs her abusive inventor boyfriend, Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and escapes his home fearful for her life. Whilst staying with her friend James (Aldis Hodge), her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer) informs them that Adrian has been found dead after committing suicide.
In the days following Cecilia begins to feel as though she is being watched, along with strange occurrences happening as well, her fragile mental state comes to the conclusion that Adrian has survived death and is stalking her. But when her family and friends begin to get hurt and she is framed for it, Cecilia must prove that Adrian is still alive and is somehow invisible.
Late one night Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) drugs her abusive inventor boyfriend, Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and escapes his home fearful for her life. Whilst staying with her friend James (Aldis Hodge), her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer) informs them that Adrian has been found dead after committing suicide.
In the days following Cecilia begins to feel as though she is being watched, along with strange occurrences happening as well, her fragile mental state comes to the conclusion that Adrian has survived death and is stalking her. But when her family and friends begin to get hurt and she is framed for it, Cecilia must prove that Adrian is still alive and is somehow invisible.
The Invisible Man originates from the late 1800’s as a story by H.G. Welles, but unlike Welles' story and the subsequent adaptations it has had over the years, Whannell’s version of the story doesn’t put the focus on the eponymous monster but instead on his victims. Cecilia is a truly broken woman, flinching at the sight of shadows and scared to even look out of the window for fear of encountering Adrian. We as the viewer are never given insight as to what kind of abuse she suffered under Adrian, but her permanent state of terror is enough to place the viewer in a similar state of unease at even the mention of his name.
Moss’ performance as Cecilia is completely captivating. I’m unsure as to what lengths Moss needed to go to in order for her to create such a broken character, but the result is so incredibly uncomfortable to watch that you’re not only scared for her but you’re also a little scared of her. In fact, during the first half of the film a decent amount of work goes into making the viewer question whether the torment that Cecilia is experiencing is all in her head. Spoiler alert, it isn’t, she really is being stalked by an invisible man, and once that reveal comes her terror turns into unhinged aggression. I haven’t seen anything quite like it since Shelley Duvall in The Shining and it’s well documented the kind of abuse Duvall underwent from director Stanley Kubrick in order to get that kind of performance out of her.
With The Invisible Man, Leigh Whannell and cinematographer Stefan Duscio have masterfully created a film where empty space is something to be scared of. Any area of the frame not occupied by a visible human being is dangerous and especially during the first half of the film they play into that paranoia extremely well. There are subtle clues as to whether an unseen person is present in a scene, but they often are blink and you’ll miss it kind of moments. Some of my favourite moments in the film are when everybody leaves the shot, but the camera lingers a little too long on the area where they’ve just been making you question whether they truly were alone. Or when the camera starts to track our invisible friend all whilst our visible characters are blissfully unaware and continue doing whatever they are doing. It’s the kind of thing that leaves you genuinely paranoid once you finish the film, unable to look at an empty space and not think someone is standing there waiting to hurt you.
The Invisible Man is best experienced with as little information as possible going into the film, and I’ve already said too much here. But this is a horror experience you should witness first hand and is one of the most inventive horror films of the past few years. Whannell has absolutely nailed every aspect of this film, and whilst I do feel like it could have been slightly shorter, or even just had more time building up to the reveal that Cecilia is actually being followed, the payoff in the final act and the explanation to what’s really going on does genuinely pull the rug out from under you thanks to plenty of clever misdirection’s throughout the film. This is absolutely going to be a horror I keep going back to again and again, and I recommend you check it out too.
Moss’ performance as Cecilia is completely captivating. I’m unsure as to what lengths Moss needed to go to in order for her to create such a broken character, but the result is so incredibly uncomfortable to watch that you’re not only scared for her but you’re also a little scared of her. In fact, during the first half of the film a decent amount of work goes into making the viewer question whether the torment that Cecilia is experiencing is all in her head. Spoiler alert, it isn’t, she really is being stalked by an invisible man, and once that reveal comes her terror turns into unhinged aggression. I haven’t seen anything quite like it since Shelley Duvall in The Shining and it’s well documented the kind of abuse Duvall underwent from director Stanley Kubrick in order to get that kind of performance out of her.
With The Invisible Man, Leigh Whannell and cinematographer Stefan Duscio have masterfully created a film where empty space is something to be scared of. Any area of the frame not occupied by a visible human being is dangerous and especially during the first half of the film they play into that paranoia extremely well. There are subtle clues as to whether an unseen person is present in a scene, but they often are blink and you’ll miss it kind of moments. Some of my favourite moments in the film are when everybody leaves the shot, but the camera lingers a little too long on the area where they’ve just been making you question whether they truly were alone. Or when the camera starts to track our invisible friend all whilst our visible characters are blissfully unaware and continue doing whatever they are doing. It’s the kind of thing that leaves you genuinely paranoid once you finish the film, unable to look at an empty space and not think someone is standing there waiting to hurt you.
The Invisible Man is best experienced with as little information as possible going into the film, and I’ve already said too much here. But this is a horror experience you should witness first hand and is one of the most inventive horror films of the past few years. Whannell has absolutely nailed every aspect of this film, and whilst I do feel like it could have been slightly shorter, or even just had more time building up to the reveal that Cecilia is actually being followed, the payoff in the final act and the explanation to what’s really going on does genuinely pull the rug out from under you thanks to plenty of clever misdirection’s throughout the film. This is absolutely going to be a horror I keep going back to again and again, and I recommend you check it out too.