Leigh Whannel's Invisible Man: a thrilling 2020 update of the classic tale
By Dan O’Brien / @vedafy1 / Published May 25, 2020
Invisible Man was released to theaters (remember them?) on February 28, 2020 to glowing reviews, and through word of mouth it was filling up cinemas across the globe…..until a thing called Covid-19 shut down most of the civilized world.
2017’s The Mummy failed to ignite a shared universe of monsters culled from Universal Picture’s archives, so all of the planned big-budget movies based on characters such as the H. G. Wells’ classic story of the man who could turn himself invisible were put on hold.
Fortunately for all involved, we may very well end up with a new era of smart, small-scale, “humans are the real monsters” horror films such as 2020’s “Invisible Man”.
The star and main focus of this psychological horror/thriller is the always outstanding Elisabeth Moss, taking on the role of a spouse held under intense and relentless control by her abusive husband, played by British actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen.
As seen in the trailers, Moss is terrorized by her hidden stalker throughout the movie, as she’s pushed to the breaking point by her presumed dead husband. Of course, no one believes her improbable story of an invisible person haunting her, so she is going to have to take matters into her own hands.
One thing we know: no one plays the role of the abused and desperate, but far from helpless and incompetent, woman like Elisabeth Moss.
One of the undeniable highlights of this film is the writing and directing abilities displayed by Australian film maker Leigh Whannell. After massive success from his Saw and Insidious franchise screenplays, Leigh took over the directing chair with Insidious: Chapter 3”. He followed this up by hitting his next movie out of the park with his underappreciated 2018 Blumhouse release, Upgrade.
This is a spectacularly terrifying two hours of non-stop tension and twists, with unexpected contemporary themes such as spousal abuse providing a new take on a character first introduced to cinemas during the Depression era period of the 1930’s. Invisible Man grips the viewer immediately, from it’s unique opening credits until the screen turns black.
I had the pleasure of seeing this in a packed theater before the shutdown, and there were at least three moments where audible gasps could be heard throughout the theater. These are not jump scares thrown in randomly, these are true horror moments that will make you jump off your couch. They are perfectly timed and executed; if you have seen this movie already, then you know exactly what I’m referring to.
The Invisible Man is now available for streaming. With the Coronavirus impacting things so dramatically, all of the major studios are now releasing 2020 movies right to your home, so please support them. This is one of the top films released so far this year.
See below for the streaming services offering The Invisible Man.
