While the pacing could be better towards the end, The Invisible Man is a solid Horror Thriller with its engaging characters, great horror and creatively modern interpretation of its classic premise.

Optics scientist Adrian Griffin has staged his own suicide and, using an advanced suit that can render him invisible, stalks his ex-girlfriend Cecilia Kass. With everyone dismissing her claims as symptoms of mental illness, Cecilia takes a stand and faces her predator alone.

The Characters and Plot

“Character is plot.” When actor Jeffrey Combs tweeted that, I understood a principle that I’d been struggling to grasp from countless scriptwriting books. The plot is a series of events caused by actions taken by characters based on their desire and weakness. When I saw The Invisible Man demonstrating this principle, I knew I was in for something a little more sophisticated than an average Blumhouse horror.

Without a single line of exposition, we know what’s wrong with Cecilia. Her relationship with Adrian has left her traumatized. She’s living with her childhood friend James and can’t step outside of his house. Her introverted behaviour has had a strain on her relationship with her sister Emily. She wants to recover from her trauma but the anxiety she’s left with makes it extraordinarily difficult. To make things worse, when Adrian begins stalking her and she reaches out to James and Emily for help, both look down on her for falling victim to her anxiety.

Not much can be said about Emily. She’s less of a character and more of a goal for Cecilia to achieve, specifically to make amends with her. Despite Emily’s grumpy attitude towards her paranoid sister, we know that Cecilia wants things to be better between them hence we feel for Emily as she represents an opportunity for Cecilia’s recovery.

James and his daughter Sydney are likable characters as they’re very supportive of Cecilia, even when she appears ill or dangerous. In addition, the banter the trio have, while not really funny, does bring some contrast to the film’s mostly serious tone.

The plot escalates as Adrian continues to harass Cecilia, her calls for help alienating her more and more. You’re on her side the whole time and feel for her as she’s punished continuously for trying to expose Adrian. Towards the end of the film certain twists emerge and, without getting into spoilers, they don’t get much time. This is unfortunate as the twists are quite unexpected and are clearly inspired by recent events in the #MeToo campaign but they occur so quickly and with little development that they lack the shock and surprise they could’ve brought.

The Horror

While there are of course jumpscares (some good, some cheap and unnecessary) a lot of the film’s horror comes from quiet, subtle suspense. There’re moments of silence that linger on certain scenes where we know that Adrian could be present. These scenes reminded me of the first Paranormal Activity as both films introduce an invisible threat into an environment, which leaves you incredibly tense as you’re just waiting for when it’ll make a move.

I’ve chosen to talk about Adrian when referring to the film’s horror instead of its characters on purpose. He is the monster of the film, similar to how Hannibal Lecter is in The Silence of the Lambs. For the majority of the film, when he’s visible, we don’t really get a good look of him. Even when someone shows a photo of him, it’s not fully shown. I greatly appreciated this approach as it clearly executed the film’s modern take of the H.G. Wells premise.

The fact that Adrian can become invisible isn’t necessarily the scariest thing about him. When people talk about him, he’s described as sociopathic and manipulative. It’s not his scientific ability that makes him dangerous but the selfish, controlling mind behind it.

If this is to be the first film in Universal’s cinematic monster universe then I think it’s a great start. This is how you bring these classic monsters back. Look at their characteristics and apply a modern lens to them.

The ending could’ve been more fleshed out but with its well written characters, engaging plot and solid horror, The Invisible Man is a great watch and I highly recommend it.

I give The Invisible Man a solid 7 out of 10.