(Photo by Universal / courtesy Everett Collection)
20 Movies To Watch If You Loved The Invisible Man
If you’re looking for more movies like The Invisible Man, surprise: We’ve got a few recommendations! To get it out of the way, yep, The Invisible Man is a new entry in the Universal Classic Monster franchise. It was the first cinematic universe, kicking off way back in the ’20s. (The 1920s and not, you know, our ’20s.) Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein’s monster, the Mummy are all part of this motley crew, including the Invisible Man, who had six previous movies. This new Invisible Man is notable for its departure from formula by framing the story from the victim’s perspective, but we’re including these original six Universal Monster movies here for historical context. And, hell, let’s throw in the other famous hard-to-see creep, Hollow Man, as a reminder that for decades, this is all we had in the invisible jerk subgenre.
2020’s The Invisible Man, besides being a cracking horror/thriller, has also captured the zeitgeist for Moss’ Cecilia character and her plight. Cecilia flees a violent relationship, only to be tormented and trapped by her abuser, and made to look crazy in the eyes of friends and family. This is a form of gaslighting, a term specifically derived from 1944’s Gaslight, a psychological thriller starring Ingrid Bergman as a wife manipulated by her husband into thinking she’s going insane. 1955’s Diabolique is probably the best of this type of story, though shout-out to Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue, and even Scream, once you arrive at its endgame revelations. Black Swan, High Tension, and Girl, Interrupted are also worth watching through the lens of female-driven stories with shifty narratives.
Invisible Man has drawn high marks for its use of negative space, which forces viewers to search through seemingly banal shots for hidden terrors, drumming up considerable dread and paranoia. It Follows — about a malevolent entity taking the shape of humans, often depicted shuffling in backgrounds — is a previous horror phenomenon that similarly uses negative space to maximum effect.
Audiences may also be impressed by Invisible Man’s stylish presentation. Writer/director Leigh Whannell had already made a name for himself in horror by co-creating the Saw series (he’s also one of the leads in the first movie). But his 2018 cyberpunk/body horror/action effort Upgrade represented a dramatic creative leap forward for him. It’s fun to see Whannell apply Upgrade’s style towards the world of The Invisible Man.
And, of course, there’s Elisabeth Moss, who first came to public attention with The West Wing, Mad Men, and then in the inescapable The Handmaid’s Tale. But Moss has been acting in film since the early ’90s (who can forget her as “little girl” in Suburban Commando?) and her most notable movie work is of the last few years: 2014’s The One I Love (witness her in a slightly happier relationship, before it turns sci-fi bizarre), psychological thriller Queen of Earth, and 2019 acting showcase Her Smell. —Alex Vo
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