Review: “The Invisible Man”

Elizabeth Moss can do no wrong. She’s helped develop two of the greatest television protagonists in Peggy Olsen (Mad Men) and June Osborne/Offred (A Handmaid’s Tale). She’s stolen the spotlight in the crowded cast of The Kitchen and art-house film Her Smell. Plenty of actors have discussed the difficulty of acting against a green screen with CGI characters who aren’t really there. In The Invisible Man, she shows her true class while being mentally and physically tortured by a character we can’t explain for the majority of the film!

    There is nothing new or groundbreaking in The Invisible Man. It is a tense horror flick that gets most of its excitement through tension and avoids any unnecessary gore. Jump scenes are prevalent, you’ve been warned. Director Leigh Whannell mastered the use of music to draw out every drop of tension in scenes where no action takes place. This film lays firmly in the camp of Halloween (1978). The slasher is scary, the action will have you out of your seat, but the anxiety of waiting is the cornerstone of the experience.   

I chose to write about this movie because I found it such a lovely use of two hours. Elizabeth Moss will always get the benefit of the doubt and Leigh Whannell is certainly a director to watch out for. The characters are well developed, the setting is beautifully framed, and the action required only what was convincing. I enjoy B-quality horror or eccentric takes on the subject, but sometimes I long for the days of a well made big-budget scary movie. The Invisible Man strikes that balance for me and I hope you feel the same.