The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man is the most fantastically inconsistent thrill ride of the decade. With a budget of only $7 million, this film throws caution into the wind and boldly makes an honestly gripping story with hilarious mistakes.

I had the best theater experience in my life with this film. About halfway through, there is a scene where Elizabeth Moss’ character is going through the house, but suddenly in my theater the sound of a rooster crowing broke the silence and was on a continual loop for 25 minutes. At first I thought it was part of the scene, but then she left the house and was outside, and the crowing was the same volume. It got so obnoxious that the theater paused the film, turned on the lights, and had one of the staff try to find it. Apparently it was a phone in one of the seats, but right before they paused the film its battery died, which when it happened everyone watching gave a huge sigh of relief, only to have the film be paused and be blinded by the lights turning on. The best part was, after that fiasco, when they started the film back up it became a comedy for me. I was no longer scared, I was laughing and having a blast till the very end. So, this review will not be the most accurate for your theater going experience, but I have to say this film surprised me and I will never forget seeing it.

Now let’s talk about the first half of the film. The opening scene is impressively tense. The sound design as a whole is fantastic. Each step Elisabeth Moss’ character, Cecilia, takes makes your heart skip a beat. The long takes stretch your nerves to the breaking point, and it is paced perfectly. The film loses a lot of its atmosphere as the story progresses (because she has so much proof her crazy ex-boyfriend is still alive and she just leaves it) but it keeps the atmosphere strong enough for the best scares.

The choices this film made with its budget are insane. With $7 million, how are the studios shown with the opening credits? Blank text over b-roll? Nope. CGI waves crashing on a rocky beach splashing into the logos for a full minute. CGI waves under a $7 million budget. Why? But then when there are shots of an empty room where you expect a trick in the light or a pillow shifting to show that he is there, it ends up being just a blank room. It could be a .png and no one would tell the difference. Then there is the score played by a large symphony with rising string instruments, matched with a tiny set with fake windows over a CGI San Francisco. It is so bizarre looking into the meat of this film, because half of it builds on itself and weaves everything together while the other half does not even connect to the bones of the story. I will give the team credit with how professional the production is, especially with the sound design, but the inconsistency of the budget’s allocation pops out of the screen.

As the story progresses, it slowly digs itself into a hole and never gets out of it. The whole premise is that the crazy ex-boyfriend finds a way to be invisible, and he drives Cecilia insane because she has no proof that he is still alive after she realizes he is watching her. The problem is that she has SO MUCH PROOF that she picks up and ignores without thinking about using it. There is a moment where she finds his phone with pictures of her sleeping, but she just forgets about it! Also, the ex-boyfriend is invisible, not imaginary. The sound design is so well done with Cecilia, where the slightest movement is heightened through sound, yet this guy can walk through the house without a single footstep. And, when he starts attacking people, they blame Cecilia even when she is on the ground across the room unable to even swing a punch. It is the funniest part of the film, but there is a hallway scene in particular where a row of prison guards just stand around as they get killed instead of figuring out that their shirt is being grabbed by a hand they can shoot. That aspect brought me out of the film, but it also made it the comedy I enjoyed so much.

Overall, the thrills hit at just the right moments and Elisabeth Moss brings this low budget film to a high level of professionalism. The crazy ex-boyfriend’s characterization is economically hidden to make it all the more creepy, and the cop-and-daughter dynamic from the family was well done. The writing made surprisingly bold choices, some of them lead to awesome twists while others sadly fizzled out. The first half is tense with its horror, and the second half goes more towards the thrills to boost your adrenaline. Both of them even out for the better moments, offering a surprisingly solid horror flick coming out in February. It is guaranteed to make a massive profit, which hopefully will get Universal to continue this trend for the rest of its “Dark Universe.” Will this be a lucky one hit wonder? Maybe, but this film is an absolute blast to watch for that reason.

Story Rating: 7/10

Character Rating: 6/10

Entertainment Rating: 7/10

(But for me personally: 9/10)