Anyone who saw director Leigh Whannell’s sci-fi thriller Upgrade in 2018 knew The Invisible Man would be better than Universal Picture’s failed beginning of The Dark Universe. This is how to properly do a remake of a classic horror film (looking at you, The Mummy).
With a reported $9 million budget, The Invisible Man squeezes tension and drama from the real-life horror concept of: how do you get away from a toxic relationship when no one will believe you?
Horror is at its best when it leans into our subconscious feelings, and the first two-thirds of The Invisible Man leans heavily into this to craft a relatable protagonist that the audience genuinely cares about in Cecilia, portrayed expertly by Elisabeth Moss. Whannell does a lot with a little here, slowly giving you information about Cecilia’s past abuses at the hand of the now-presumed-dead Adrian. Is Cecilia going insane, or is there actually an invisible person stalking her?
The answer, of course, is no. And that’s the biggest (only?) problem with the first two-thirds of the film: all the mystery assumes that the audience hasn’t seen any of the promotional marketing – or, for that matter, noticed that the title is literally The Invisible Man.
Because of this, the film doesn’t become truly great until the third act, when a shocking twist allows Whannell free reign to unleash his bag of sci-fi action tricks to give the audience the cathartic release they were waiting for. All of the The Invisible Man‘s best scenes are here – which is both a positive and a negative. I always say a movie’s finale is its most important ingredient, and this ending was so satisfying I had to physically restrain myself from dabbing.
Overall, the hype for this film is mostly deserved, albeit because of a tremendous final 40 minutes. For my money, Whannell’s best film is Upgrade, but I still absolutely recommend you see this in theaters.
[Side note – my girlfriend called this “the best horror movie I’ve ever seen”. But she also gave Frozen 2 a 10/10, so take that with a grain of salt.]
The Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge
The Elevator Pitch: (Invisible) men are trash.
The Score: 8.5/10
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