THE INVISIBLE MAN
****
Director: Leigh Whannell
Screenwriter: Leigh Whannell, based on the novel of the same name by H.G. Wells.
Principal cast:
Elisabeth Moss
Aldis Hodge
Storm Reid
Harriet Dyer
Michael Dorman
Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Country: Australia/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 124 mins
Australian release date: 27 February 2020.
Aussie director Leigh Whannell sticks with his predilection for twisting old movie horror/thriller themes (as seen in his last film Upgrade) in his latest work The Invisible Man, which he also scripted. In this case, he has taken the premise of H. G. Wells’ 1897 novel of the same name and given it a very modern, and very topical, update. Wells was influenced by Plato's Republic and the legend of the Ring of Gyges, which gave its owner the power to "go about among men with the powers of a god." James Whale made a well-regarded version of the story in 1933 with Claude Rains in the lead role but stuck reasonably close to the source material; Whannell, on the other hand, has really only left the original idea that a scientist has invented a means of becoming invisible and the name of the inventor, Griffin. Other than that, his film is a very different creature, an examination of the ramifications of domestic violence and particularly the prevalence of ‘coercive control’ in abusive relationships, but he’s done so while keeping these issues very much within the boundaries of the classic horror movie genre. It’s truly scary.
From the opening frames The Invisible Man is incredibly tense as we observe a young woman making her tip-toe escape from the bed of her sleeping boyfriend in his remote fortress-like home on a cliff along the coast from San Francisco (actually, it’s the ultra-modern Headland House in Gerroa, because the movie was filmed in a variety of NSW locations and at Fox Studios in Sydney). Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) is fleeing because scientist/inventor Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, in a ‘barely there’ role), her partner, has become increasingly controlling of her behaviour and has been trying to isolate her from her friends and family. As her sister, Emily (Harriet Dyer), picks her up, Griffin bursts from the trees and tries to violently drag her from the car. Two weeks later, Cecilia is staying in the house of childhood friend James (Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter Sydney (Storm Reid). She is looking for work and still trying to recover from Griffin’s mentally abusive treatment of her when she receives the news that Griffin has killed himself and left her an inheritance. She immediately suspects the veracity of his death, however, because she knows that he was a master of optics and that he was working on a process to make people invisible. When unexplained things start to happen to Cecilia, and they become increasingly threatening, she tries to convince Emily, James and Sydney that Griffin is still alive but, of course, they think that she is having a breakdown and losing her mind. Cecilia realises that, as no one believes her, she will have to take matters into her own hands if she is to prove her sanity.
Elisabeth Moss is superb as the damsel in distress. Her broad face is like a tabula rasa on which any number of emotions can be etched before being wiped clean and an entirely new set of emotions appear. She can go from anger to terror in the flick of a mental switch; it’s a joy to behold. Whannell has once again chosen cinematographer Stefan Duscio to film The Invisible Man (he also shot Upgrade) and his lens is constantly peering through doors or looking down long corridors, emphasising the idea of being secretly observed. The script has some minor flaws but then movies of this genre often do and they’re usually not enough to put you off completely. You know the sort of thing - why was that door unlocked? how came she didn’t see that? and so on. Like when the group of kids in a slasher flick always decides to split up to search the house, you almost come to expect certain imperfections. Those aside, The Invisible Man has put an entirely new twist on H. G. Wells’ 123-year-old novel and made a thoroughly modern story of it. It couldn’t be more contemporary, particularly in Australia, where domestic violence is a hot-button issue right now.
Screenwriter: Leigh Whannell, based on the novel of the same name by H.G. Wells.
Principal cast:
Elisabeth Moss
Aldis Hodge
Storm Reid
Harriet Dyer
Michael Dorman
Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Country: Australia/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 124 mins
Australian release date: 27 February 2020.
Aussie director Leigh Whannell sticks with his predilection for twisting old movie horror/thriller themes (as seen in his last film Upgrade) in his latest work The Invisible Man, which he also scripted. In this case, he has taken the premise of H. G. Wells’ 1897 novel of the same name and given it a very modern, and very topical, update. Wells was influenced by Plato's Republic and the legend of the Ring of Gyges, which gave its owner the power to "go about among men with the powers of a god." James Whale made a well-regarded version of the story in 1933 with Claude Rains in the lead role but stuck reasonably close to the source material; Whannell, on the other hand, has really only left the original idea that a scientist has invented a means of becoming invisible and the name of the inventor, Griffin. Other than that, his film is a very different creature, an examination of the ramifications of domestic violence and particularly the prevalence of ‘coercive control’ in abusive relationships, but he’s done so while keeping these issues very much within the boundaries of the classic horror movie genre. It’s truly scary.
From the opening frames The Invisible Man is incredibly tense as we observe a young woman making her tip-toe escape from the bed of her sleeping boyfriend in his remote fortress-like home on a cliff along the coast from San Francisco (actually, it’s the ultra-modern Headland House in Gerroa, because the movie was filmed in a variety of NSW locations and at Fox Studios in Sydney). Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) is fleeing because scientist/inventor Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, in a ‘barely there’ role), her partner, has become increasingly controlling of her behaviour and has been trying to isolate her from her friends and family. As her sister, Emily (Harriet Dyer), picks her up, Griffin bursts from the trees and tries to violently drag her from the car. Two weeks later, Cecilia is staying in the house of childhood friend James (Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter Sydney (Storm Reid). She is looking for work and still trying to recover from Griffin’s mentally abusive treatment of her when she receives the news that Griffin has killed himself and left her an inheritance. She immediately suspects the veracity of his death, however, because she knows that he was a master of optics and that he was working on a process to make people invisible. When unexplained things start to happen to Cecilia, and they become increasingly threatening, she tries to convince Emily, James and Sydney that Griffin is still alive but, of course, they think that she is having a breakdown and losing her mind. Cecilia realises that, as no one believes her, she will have to take matters into her own hands if she is to prove her sanity.
Elisabeth Moss is superb as the damsel in distress. Her broad face is like a tabula rasa on which any number of emotions can be etched before being wiped clean and an entirely new set of emotions appear. She can go from anger to terror in the flick of a mental switch; it’s a joy to behold. Whannell has once again chosen cinematographer Stefan Duscio to film The Invisible Man (he also shot Upgrade) and his lens is constantly peering through doors or looking down long corridors, emphasising the idea of being secretly observed. The script has some minor flaws but then movies of this genre often do and they’re usually not enough to put you off completely. You know the sort of thing - why was that door unlocked? how came she didn’t see that? and so on. Like when the group of kids in a slasher flick always decides to split up to search the house, you almost come to expect certain imperfections. Those aside, The Invisible Man has put an entirely new twist on H. G. Wells’ 123-year-old novel and made a thoroughly modern story of it. It couldn’t be more contemporary, particularly in Australia, where domestic violence is a hot-button issue right now.