The Invisible Man (2020) Universal/Horror RT: 124 minutes Rated R (some strong bloody horror violence, language) Director: Leigh Whannell Screenplay: Leigh Whannell Music: Benjamin Wallfisch Cinematography: Stefan Duscio Release date: February 28, 2020 (US) Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Box Office (affected by COVID): $70.4M (US)/$144.5M (World)
Rating: ****
I’m sure horror fans will agree it’s been a pretty anemic year for the genre. That is, until now. The Invisible Man is not only the first truly great mainstream horror movie of 2020, it’s also the best movie so far this year. It’s a hard reboot of the classic 1933 Universal horror film starring Claude Rains as the deranged scientist who achieves invisibility at the cost of his sanity. This new incarnation, written and directed by Leigh Whannell (Saw), tells a completely different story in a totally different way. Instead of centering on the title character, it shifts its attention to the woman he’s victimizing. It’s a horror movie for the #MeToo era.
When we first meet Cecilia (Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale), she’s escaping an abusive relationship with her controlling boyfriend Adrian (Cohen, The Haunting of Hill House), a wealthy scientist far more dangerous than even she realizes. Fleeing their home in the dead of night, she’s picked up along a dark road by her sister Emily (Dyer, The InBetween) who takes her to the home of their childhood friend James (Hodge, Brian Banks), a cop and single father to teenage daughter Sydney (Reid, A Wrinkle in Time).
After a period of trauma-induced agoraphobia during which Cecilia can’t even manage to walk a few feet to the mailbox without freaking out, she receives word that Adrian has committed suicide. What’s more, he left her a $5 million inheritance with conditions. She can’t be convicted of a crime and she can’t be declared mentally incompetent. The period of happiness following her windfall is brief with a series of bizarre events Cecilia attributes to Adrian. She becomes convinced his death was a hoax and he’s still terrorizing her. Naturally, nobody believes her and she starts to unravel.
It’s no big secret that Cecilia is absolutely right. Somehow Adrian managed to attain invisibility and he’s using it to gaslight her. He eventually frames her for a violent crime and she’s committed to a psychiatric hospital where she soon figures out the real end game. That’s when she decides to fight back.
None of what I just told you is a spoiler; it’s all in the trailer. Speaking of that, I’d like to start by commending Universal on bucking the trend and NOT giving entirely too much away. If you’ve seen the trailer, you might think you know how The Invisible Man will play out. Well, you don’t. Let’s just say it’s the best bait-and-switch I’ve seen in a long time. There are some genuine surprises in the movie.
I’m not overstating when I say The Invisible Man is excellent. It really is. It’s a sweet comeback for Blumhouse whose last two productions, Fantasy Island and Black Christmas, gave horror a bad name, one that has now been restored. It is FREAKING INTENSE! At times, I couldn’t even breathe. The idea of being stalked by an adversary you can’t see makes for some legitimately suspenseful sequences like when Adrian terrorizes sleep-deprived Cecilia in James’ house. It’s a game of cat and mouse in which the mouse can’t see the cat coming. There a few set pieces like this one including one at the hospital that is absolutely bonkers. There are also a few effective jump-scares. On that, I’ll only say hold onto your seat during the restaurant scene.
The entire cast is brilliant but The Invisible Man totally belongs to Moss. I know it’s early in the year but I’d like to see her on the Best Actress ballot at the next Academy Awards. Rather than play Cecilia as a mere symbol of girl power, Moss boldly displays her character’s psychological scars and bruises as she summons up the strength to fight an unseen enemy who still controls her mental well-being. We get to see the effect her toxic relationship with Adrian still has on her after he’s gone and how it makes her vulnerable, both physically and emotionally. When she finally fights back against her abuser, it’s a call to arms to all the silent victims of any type of abuse.
Cohen nails it as the worst kind of manipulative creep, the super-intelligent kind, one smart enough to unlock the secret of invisibility. He perfectly conveys his character’s insidious charm in one nicely staged dinner scene. Hodge, an actor looking at a brilliant career, provides ample support as the cop friend who wants to believe Cecilia even if he doesn’t trust her mental state. As for Ms. Reid, I wish they used her more. She’s a fine young actress with great things to come. Michael Dorman (the sci-fi series For All Mankind) is also great as Tom, the lawyer for Adrian’s estate who also happens to be his brother. He’s another kind of creep; I’ll leave it at that.
Ultimately, what makes The Invisible Man great is that it isn’t a mere remake or part of an attempt to build a cinematic universe as originally intended. The commercial and critical failure of 2017’s The Mummy put a stop to the proposed Dark Universe franchise. Whannell has the skill to successfully take an existing source and infuse it with fresh ideas, turning it into something timely and relevant. He also possesses the visual and aural panache to fill every frame with dread and anxiety. This includes not relying on a score to create tension during pivotal scenes. His screenplay, which takes the story in unexpected directions, is intelligently written. The cinematography by Stefan Duscio is simply amazing.
I don’t know what the rest of 2020 has in store for us in the way of horror movies but it’s going to be quite difficult to surpass The Invisible Man. It’s pretty much perfect in every way. Any movie that leaves me gasping for air has got to be great.
