The Universal monster movie franchise has hit a major snag of late. Dracula: Untold was supposed to launch this massive universe until it bombed, so they decided to shift that to The Mummy in 2017. That also bombed and the universe got scrapped. Now they are taking their monsters in a horror direction with their new film The Invisible Man. Can this film get these monster films back to prominence in the eyes of the audience? Without a doubt, it can. The Invisible Man takes the franchise to a new level by bringing genuine terror to a very real situation and making the audience as terrified as the protagonist.
The Invisible Man is a reboot of the classic character but taken in a new direction. We follow Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) who escapes her abusive relationship with her boyfriend Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) by running away. Two weeks later it is revealed that Adrian has committed suicide and left her $5 million in his will. All seems normal again for Cecilia until things start to act weird and happen without anyone being there. Adrian has found a way to make himself invisible so he can torture Cecilia from the “afterlife”. As an audience, what we are now subject to is the work of a master filmmaker. Director Leigh Whannell is so confident orchestrating this film and you can feel it. The mounting tension, the sense of dread, the sense of helplessness. All of this feels real and Leigh puts us there in this box of torture we cannot escape. He locks you in from the opening scene and then has you so wrapped around his finger that he can pan the camera to an empty doorway for ten seconds and still make us uncomfortable. The way he directs both the horror and action is done in such a unique way that you can’t help but be in awe by what is accomplished.
Now, the original telling of this story is about a man who becomes invisible and becomes murderously insane. That is not the direction Whannell took. Instead, he takes in a more modern approach that focuses on a victim instead of the monster. This film is very much so a metaphor for believing women in an abusive relationship. That if we deny them and do not believe, it can only get worse. Sure, this is not the case 100% of the time, people can lie, but when a woman is so desperate to get away from an abuser that it is the only thing on her mind, she has to be taken seriously. This is what Whannell captures so well is that sense of loss. That no one will believe Cecilia and every time she opens her mouth, she just sounds crazier and crazier to those around her. How can you believe someone who claims an invisible person is torturing them? The Invisible Man, with every passing scene, makes that possibility more and more impossible to the point where she is on her own.
Now, all of this would not have been possible if the leading actress could not sell the material, and that is not the case here. Elisabeth Moss is astoundingly good in this film. It is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the best performances in a horror film I have ever seen. From the opening moment, we can see the abuse she has taken from her relationship. Not through bruises and cuts, but through her eyes. Then as the film goes on and she is told she is insane by everyone, the damage on Moss’s face becomes more and more apparent. She is unstable and lost trying to figure out this extraordinary situation she is in. By being tortured by somebody invisible to everyone. On top of that, Moss also has to do physical acting by swinging her body and fighting something that is not really there while being dragged across the floor and thrown against walls. If you thought Toni Collette was great in Hereditary and deserved an Oscar, you will be on the same train for Elisabeth Moss. This is a powerhouse performance by an actress that always goes all out who takes it to another level in this film.
The Invisible Man is not only a revival of the classic Universal monster movies that makes them respectable again, but it is also a continuation of the great wave of horror we have been experiencing. Leigh Whannell has announced himself to the world as a filmmaker to take notice of and brought along Elisabeth Moss who puts out a performance rarely seen by most. This movie is genuinely terrifying and unsettling that will have you paranoid when you go home wondering if an invisible person is standing right behind you. Our first great film of the new decade.
The Verdict