Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Writer/director: Leigh Whannell, Foxtel.
Equal parts mystery, thriller and horror can only mean a terrifying rollercoaster ride on the edge of your seat. Clever, sharp, skillfully acted and above all scary, The Invisible Man blends the best in special effects and cinematography to fill you with trepidation.
Yet, you are compelled to keep watching this gasp-filled contemporary examination of abuse, insidiousness and gaslighting. Elizabeth Moss (Girl, Interrupted, The One I Love) is exceptional as Cecilia Kass. She carries the film, following her as she believes her abusive and wealthy ex-boyfriend is stalking her.
Even after his apparent suicide — she ultimately deduces that he has acquired the ability to become invisible.
Cecilia is a Bay Area architect who has just escaped from a toxic relationship, and finds herself stalked and terrorised by her ex Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor), a scientist specialising in optics. He has figured out a way, through advanced digital imaging, to make himself invisible. Unheard and unseen, he can drug you, steal your work portfolio, send of fake emails, infiltrate corporate boardrooms, invade a bedroom, asylum cells and communal office spaces.
He’s the undetectable gaslighter, who becomes a silent unseen force of deadly vengeance. When the police refuse to believe her story, Cecilia decides to take matters into her own hands and fight back.
H.G. Wells’ novel is updated to be a harrowing story of domestic abuse in Whannells’ film. It’s an arresting, critically acclaimed reimagining of The Invisible Man.
