Director: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen
When I first heard Universal Pictures and Blumhouse were partnering up on a The Invisible Man reboot, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit suspicious.
We’ve seen so many of these horror movie reboots over the years, and I just thought that we didn’t need any more.
I then found out that it was starring Elisabeth Moss and was going to be written and directed by Leigh Whannell.
Whannell is the man behind one of my favourite movies from 2018, Upgrade.
So, then I thought that maybe this was a film worth keeping on my radar.
That said, I didn’t want to watch any promotional material about the movie.
I wanted to go in completely fresh and just let the experience wash over me like a good hot shower.
Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is the perfect horror reboot
Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man – Credit: Universal Studios
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Well, I’m delighted to report that Whannell’s The Invisible Man is one of the best horror reboots I’ve seen in years.
In recent years we’ve had the likes of Dracula Untold, The Mummy (starring Tom Cruise), The Evil Dead and The Thing.
We’ve had loads more – I’m sure about it – yet these were the movies that stood out to me as being very bad horror ‘reboots’.
They had nothing original or interesting about them, and they weren’t scary.
If anything, they were really tame and pretty darn lame.
You can’t say that about The Invisible Man. It’s original, spooky, incredibly well shot and I love the way Whannell updated the story for modern audiences.
The Invisible Man features a brilliant take on the original idea by setting it firmly in the science-fiction horror genre, which is where it’s supposed to be.
It’s based on a book by H.G. Wells about a scientist, Griffin, who invents a way to make himself become invisible.
He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but cannot reverse it.
He then starts to go on a murderous rampage and has become an icon on horror fiction and cinema.
Whannell has kept the character of Griffin in his reboot, yet updated it slightly.
Leigh Whannell knows how to direct mind-boggling action
The Invisible Man is the best horror remake made in a while – Credit: Universal
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In this movie, he has a suit, and the film starts off with his wife, Cecilia (played by Elisabeth Moss) escaping their Bond-villain-like home at the dead of night.
She manages to escape, yet Griffin almost catches her and smashed the widow of Cecilia’s sister’s car before they drive away.
Cut to two weeks later, Cecilia is suffering from PTSD and is hiding at her friend’s house.
However, things change drastically when her sister informs her that her husband killed himself after she left.
Cecilia then becomes convinced that her husband is still alive and stalking her somehow.
I can’t stress enough how much I loved and enjoyed this film.
It’s got practically everything. Great performances, especially from Moss as Cecilia. It’s got a great central premise.
It’s got an interesting plot, full of twists and turns. Finally, it’s directed incredibly well and has some breathtaking action.
Much like Whannell’s previous film, Upgrade, the action set pieces in The Invisible Man are incredibly captivating.
Whannell’s perfected a new way of shooting action scenes which make you feel like you’re moving with the characters.
It’s really interesting to watch and makes you feel part of the action.
The Invisible Man isn’t the scariest film ever, but that doesn’t matter
Elisabeth Moss as Cecilia Kass in “The Invisible Man – Credit: Universal
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Sitting there, I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face, even though I was watching a horror movie.
I would say it’s not overly scary, but I found myself completely immersed in what was happening to Cecilia and there are some truly shocking moments.
That said, there are some CGI issues, which is to be expected from a film which was made of a relatively small budget.
However, the way they managed to shoot some of the scenes in which characters were being attacked by an invisible assailant were genuinely mind-boggling.
There are also some plot issues that I couldn’t quite work out.
Those slightly plot-related gripes might be cleared up upon second viewing, which is the other thing about this movie that surprised me – I want to see it again.
The minute I left the cinema I wanted to go straight back in to watch it again.
That doesn’t happen to me too often and it’s a testament to how good the film is.
What will Blumhouse and Universal do next?
We loved The Invisible Man – Credit: Universal
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It’ll be interesting to see what Blumhouse and Universal decide to do moving forward.
Will they opt to make an Invisible Woman movie, or will Universal try and have another crack at doing the Dark Universe movies with Blumhouse?
That could be something to consider. However, I liked the fact that The Invisible Man was a smaller budget movie set in only a few locations.
It made the film feel somewhat more grounded and the whole thing just felt tighter because of it.
The Invisible Man is in cinemas February 28. Will you be going to see it?
Let us know in the comments below.
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