The Invisible Man (2020) Review

The Invisible Man (2020)

Directed & Written by Leigh Whannell

Produced by Jason Blum & Kylie du Fresne

Based on Characters and concepts created by H. G. Wells for The Invisible Man

Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Plot Synopsis: (via Wikipedia)
It follows a woman who believes she is being stalked and gaslit by her abusive and wealthy boyfriend even after his apparent suicide, and ultimately deduces that he has acquired the ability to become invisible.

My Opinion:

I missed out on this one at the time. I think it was because it was at the start of the pandemic so I missed it in the cinema & then didn’t have the streaming service it went to just after that. I wasn’t that bothered anyway as it’s a Leigh Whannell & Blumhouse film and they’re both very hit or miss (but mostly miss, especially with the horror stuff). While I do like the story Whannell wrote for the first Saw movie, I hated the sequels as they became way too gross and it turned me off of liking Saw at all anymore. I’ll never understand that torture porn crap. And I’ve just looked up Blumhouse Productions to see the full list of their films and, wow, the quality is all over the place on those. How can you go from good stuff like Whiplash to a lot of very meh or absolutely rubbish horror such as Unfriended (god I hated that movie). I also have to admit one other thing: I really don’t like Elisabeth Moss, although I have no good explanation for that. So this movie had a lot against it but then Horror Twitter started raving over it. To be fair, Horror Twitter raves over every horror movie so I’ve learned to ignore that but it did make me a little curious.

Damn, I thought this movie was pretty great. At least, it’s pretty damn good when compared to all the rubbish modern horror that gets made and compared to a lot of the other Blumhouse horror output. This is my type of horror: supernatural, psychological, and none of that in-your-face gory crap. It’s pretty intense, as the guy is invisible (obviously!) and you never know when he’s there stalking Elisabeth Moss. That was all very effective with some cool reveals to show his presence. I also thought that using this story in the context of an abusive relationship worked really well without it feeling like it was just trying to be “woke”. Plenty of psychological thrillers have involved abusive relationships & the thought of an abuser having the ability to become invisible is terrifying. But I should admit now that I’ve never seen the first film made & don’t really know the original H. G. Wells Invisible Man story so I’m kind of just assuming it’s not about an abused woman but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong! I’d like to see the 1933 Claude Rains film now.

One other positive about this movie: The characters are pretty good (for a horror film). I even ended up liking Elisabeth Moss okay! It’s one of those movies where no one believes the main character & they think she’s going crazy, of course, which is super cliché in horror but that’s because these kind of stories require that. Of course no one is going to believe that some dude has made himself invisible. So that adds to the character’s feeling of isolation and having to find a way to fight this on her own. Oh! And I loved the ending. I usually hate horror endings! Her detective friend & his daughter were also strong & likeable characters (man, I was so worried about them). The abusive “Invisible Man” himself character was pretty one-dimensional, though – there’s really no character development there to explain why he does this. The character of the sister of Moss was also not great & kind of just there to be a “bitch” for not believing Moss but, hey, in horror I’m happy with three likeable characters and a main character who gets some good development going from an abused woman to someone ready to fight back.

The only slight negative about this movie, besides a pretty one-dimensional baddie (which doesn’t bother me that much – I don’t care to know why a bad guy is bad), is that I have to admit it’s a bit too long & is too slow to really get going. I don’t want to be one of those people who moans about the length of a film, though. I love some very long movies, such as Seven Samurai. This isn’t exactly an epic Kurosawa film though, is it? The Invisible Man is actually only just over two hours long but feels longer due to such a slow start so I think that could have been improved a bit.

The length & early pacing are just minor complaints as, overall, I liked this movie a lot. It won’t be an “all-time favorite” like the ’70s & ’80s horrors I grew up with and it isn’t quite up there with the very few rare modern horrors I loved such as The Babadook & It Follows. But it’s a very good psychological thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat at times and I really enjoyed it. I’m always happy to see a good horror film. Hubby often asks me why I watch so many crappy horrors. I don’t want to watch crappy horrors – I want to watch good ones. I give them all a chance just in case I luck out & see a good one. The Invisible Man is a good one.

My Rating: 7.5/10