After a day of hard work / posting I had nothing to watch so decided to jump into The Invisible Man 2020, a movie that I also have been holding for a very long time and I gotta tell you this movie blew my mind in ways I wasn't expecting, to be clear not the best horror movie I have ever seen but for what it is I really enjoy it. Who would have thought that the secret to making a good Universal Monsters movie was just making a damn horror film, during the time after all those big budget flops like Dracula Untold and that Tom Cruise Mummy disaster someone finally got it right. Leigh Whannell took this classic monster story and turned it into something very terrifying for a more modern audience and I really though simple things like smile or just stearing at you were simple but very effective horror movie strategies and I'm all for it. The movie story is based on a woman trying to escape her abusive, controlling boyfriend and after his "apparent" suicide, she starts getting tormented by someone she can't see.

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/
Platform: AppleTV+

Rottentomatoes Rating

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Source It's such a simple concept but executed so well that it keeps your imagination going wild trying to figure out if its just her going crazy or something is haunting her, Cecilia who's trying to rebuild her life after escaping her abusive tech genius boyfriend Adrian but she can't shake the feeling that he is somehow still watching her, even after he supposedly killed himself the paranoia builds slowly at first with little things going wrong, the causal thigs that happen when there is something else haunting you like a pan left on the stove, footsteps in the night, items disappearing and you start to wonder if she's losing her mind or if something more sinister is happening. What might make the movie interesting for part of the audience could be the same that throws off others and its the fact of including tech to make a horror movie, instead of some mad scientist drinking a potion we get a believable tech explanation with a suit covered in tiny cameras that bend light around it and the way they use this invisibility in the movie is creepy although the moment the cat is out of the box the script kinda takes a nose dive its like the magic is over, there are scenes where the camera just slowly pans to empty corners of rooms or hallways and lingers there, making you search the frame for any hint of movement or distortion, a kind of subtle horror that keeps you on waiting.

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Source Elisabeth Moss absolutely carries this movie on her shoulders and she deserves all the credit for it, from the way she play the role of this woman who's been through trauma and is trying to convince everyone she's not crazy while fighting an enemy no one else can see, she has to react to nothing for most of the movie and I can only imagine how hard that can be because there is nothing to react to, fighting with thin air and looking terrified at empty spaces and she sells every second of it. The supporting cast is good too, especially Aldis Hodge as her friend James who takes her in but this is Moss's show all the way. What really impressed me about the movie is how director Leigh Whannell builds tension throughout the movie, there's this amazing sequence at the beginning where Cecilia is escaping from Adrian's house that has almost no dialogue but tells you everything you need to know about their relationship and how dangerous this guy is, the way the camera moves through that fancy glass house on the cliff showing how isolated and trapped she feels what a way to generate tension and emotions without anyone saying anything and then there are these fight scenes later in the movie where she's battling someone she can't see and the entire chorograph scene is build up in such a clever way that you feel every hit even though you can only see one person, there is also the sound work for example with this subtle whirring noise whenever the invisible suit is active that becomes this terrifying backdrop audio that something bad is about to happen make you feel as uneasy as the main character.

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Source To put in perspective this kind of movie are not easy to pull off at all just like movies with tight spaces and little amount of characters, its a very similar situation, it's also a brilliant examination of abusive relationships and gaslighting. The way Adrian torments Cecilia by making her doubt her own thoughs, isolating her from friends and family, and making everyone think she is crazy is honestly trying to understand the reasons and how Adian brain works during this moments is more terrifying than any monster its almost like the monster that never dies and keeps giving, this movie takes that classic monster story and turns it into a metaphor for the kind of abuse that often goes unseen by others, and it works on both ways, as a straight up horror thriler and as something deeper, there are some shocking moments during the movie especially the one scene in a restaurant where in a desperate attempt for having someone believe her, Cecilia meet her sister and just before she could finish convince her of Adrian using the suit he takes a knife cuts Cecilia's sister throat and then frame Cecilia by putting the bloody knife on ther hands.

I also appreciated that Whannell didn't feel the need to explain everything or give us some long villain monologue, he trusts the audience to put the pieces together and that makes the whole experience more engaging. The movie isn't perfect as I mention above, there are a few logic issues here and there that made me question how quickly the invisible man could move around or how he always seemed to know where Cecilia would be, the movie is very effective at building tension and creating scares that these minor issues didn't really matter to me at the moment, what matters is that this movie had me very entertained from the start, I think if I had the chance I would watch it on a theater.

In conclusion, The Invisible Man proves that you don't need a massive budget or a shared universe to make these classic monster stories work for modern audiences, all you need is a talented director with a talent to generate tension out of thin air LITERALLY!!!, a great lead performance and ways to make something that might be totally normal become very traumatic and scary. Leigh Whannell took a 7 million dollar budget and created something more effective than movies that cost 20 times as much and but we all know big production companies never learn from their errors or try to lift up this rough gems, I have seen some other movies from him like Insidious franchise with Patric Wilson, I love this movies and very recently Wolf Man that I end up liking but not as much as I enjoy The Invisible Man. If you're a fan of smart, tense thrillers or just someone who appreciates when a classic story gets a fresh update that actually works, then this movie is totally worth watching, it's easily one of the best horror movies I have seen from the psychological stand point and proof that sometimes the scariest monsters are the ones we can't see, whether they're literally invisible or just using a high tech suit liiike Adrian.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #invisible, #horror, #moss, #abuse, #terror, #gaslighting, #whannell, #thriller, #trauma, #tension, #universal, #monsters, #remake, #technology, #paranoia, #isolation, #control, #fear, #unseen, #stalking, #elisabeth, #camera, #suspense, #fight, #twist, #flixfinder

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I've never liked the film versions of the Invisible Man, the version with Kevin Bacon disappointed me. I decided to give the new version a chance, I had low expectations and I liked it.

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Cecilia Kass is married to Adrian Griffin, apparently he is a man who mistreats her, she is tired of the situation, making the decision to leave him. In the middle of the night, she picks up some clothes in a bag, watches that the drug she gave her husband makes him sleep. In the middle of the escape, the pet sets off the car alarm, causing Cecilia to rush to escape. On the road she is picked up by her sister, managing to escape from her husband. Two weeks later, apparently Adrian kills himself and leaves her an inheritance of five million dollars. But in reality, the husband is an expert in optical engineering and designed a suit that makes him invisible. He will torment Cecilia until they think she is crazy, blame her for murder and have a child with him. The invisible man is a psychopath obsessed with his wife.

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The film moves away from showing us laboratories with scientists who are looking for ways to make people invisible. Forget about the previous versions you've seen. It is not the story of a good scientist who becomes bad, seeing the power of being invisible. On the contrary, this invisible man is an evil one from the beginning.

It is a suspenseful story, with a stalker character and a woman who is the victim of a hellish marriage. Only the villain has been included, the power of being invisible, because of that super suit he has built.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ulVErvuumQg/XtrY4QrdzBI/AAAAAAAAeVQ/MsDl_tFpjgIqj8lvqYNXYhh4jFRaVHoAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Snap%2B2020-06-05%2Bat%2B19.21.00.png[_Source](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/mediaviewer/rm3643117057)

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FMYWG8kdGVU/XtrZJR60JMI/AAAAAAAAeVg/5-mVTaA_HdgoSWO1BpFuxRF7qzCmxV5pwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Snap%2B2020-06-05%2Bat%2B19.21.28.png[_Source](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1051906/mediaviewer/rm3357061633)

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The special effects have been good in much of the film, the best scenes achieved were when the actress was attacked in the house of his police friend. Director Leigh Whannell is an expert at making us feel that tension. I like this filmmaker's films and that's why I was so excited to see this version of the invisible man.

Also, the sequence that begins in the cell and ends with the escape of the protagonist, was well executed. But in that same sequence, that's when the invisible man's suit is flawed, because Cecilia sticks a pen in it. The parts where the suit becomes visible for a few seconds, intermittently, are very noticeable using computer special effects. It is not a super production and they had to manage the budget well.

I think it's a good version of the invisible man, very much in line with our times. Where the real protagonist is the female character.

Cecilia's character is played by the great actress Elizabeth Moss, the eternal Peggy from the series Mad Men, and who also shows talent in the series The Handmaid's Tale. She needs more work on the big screen, I want to see her in more movies, not just TV productions. She's the star of this movie. Because of the good work, she kept me on top of everything else. One hundred points for her performance.

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The only thing that bothers me is the final part, when at the climax of the film, they have taken a surprise turn that leads to a pause in the rhythm of the story. When we get to the real ending, there is no more emotion because it is too predictable, besides that in that verbal duel, between the two antagonists, I can't get excited. The actor who plays Adrian, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, is in a bad way. It was better for him to stay invisible.

A very nice version of the invisible man, especially focused on female empowerment. If you haven't seen it yet, take advantage of it this weekend.

My Rankin: 3/5

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The Invisible Man

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