From the legendary indie sleeper-hit horror film (Saw) writer Leigh Whannel opens a door to a new perspective of The Invisible Man. Inspired by the 1897 book of the same name by H.G Wells, Whannel strays away from adapting the book as it is written as many have done before dating back to 1933. In this retelling of the classic, director-writer Leigh Whannel turns this story in the perspective of Invisible Man’s victims, making for a mind bending, psychological thriller. If you haven’t seen it already the movie is available on HBO Max and is a perfect way to get in the Halloween spirit.
The film starring no other than Elizabeth Moss (Handmaid’s Tale) as Cecilia, a deeply disturbed woman trying to escape an abusive relationship. The film opens with an unsettling angst as Cecilia makes her way out of a secluded futuristic house as quietly as possible, without waking up her boyfriend Adrian(Oliver Jackson-Cohen), better known as the Invisible Man. The safest time to leave your abuser is depicted in the night, she accidentally sets off the car alarm leaving, having all our hearts pumping and even worse yet she is left in darkness waiting for the help of her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer). Her sister is confused by Cecilia’s urgency to escape alluding to her lack of communication of the abuse within the household. Adrian breaks open her car door window in an attempt to drag Cecilia back to him. In an attempt to get out of his clutches she drops a bottle of prescribed medication that the camera closes up on. Two weeks pass and Cecilia is living with a childhood friend James (Aldis Hodger) and teenage daughter Sydney (Storm Reid), she is scared and is scared to go outside, paranoid that Adrian may find her. Cecilia opens a bit about her relationship with Adrian saying, “He was in complete control of everything. Including me. He controlled how I looked, what I wore, what I ate. Then he was controlling when I left the house. What I said. Eventually what I thought.” Highlighting Adrian’s abusive mannerisms, it is a relief to Cecilia when Emily announces that he is dead from an apparent suicide. Known for his scientific innovativations Adrian was wealthy, granting Cecilia a total of $100,000 monthly dollar allowance for the next two years. Finally feeling safe after his death, Cecilia for once is actually happy but it leaves swiftly as it appears as danger ensues in the darkness and stillness of night.
The story is set in motion as Cecilia starts to experience strange incidents such emails that she never wrote being sent to her sister, leaving her portfolio and fainting during a job interview. Cecilia quickly picks up that Adrian is not dead, the issue lies on the people around you believing you. As women who have endured domestic abuse the true horror of this Whannels rendition is having to prove who the bad guy is. Being blamed for the murder of her sister and losing the trust of James after Sydeny is hurt. No one believes her even after her sense of it becomes clear in her eyes Adrian is attacking her. Cecilia is put in an asylum, isolated land vulnerable to the invisible man’s guise. Whannel pays good attention to the victim’s experience of the pain an abuser inflicts that changes the victims perspective of themselves and the world around them. The horrifying aspect of the film is best said by the director himself, in an interview with TheWrap he said “…It’s the absence of him. He’s unknown. That led to me to a woman escaping a relationship, and one thing led to another.” With that being said, It does look like everything may be in her head but she is forced to have faith in herself, as much as Adrian understands Cecilia she also knows him just the same.
Cecilia is able to pick up on his movements as she strives to expose him as the biggest threat in her life and for her loved ones. Trying desperately to prove she is being stalked and watched by Adrain in plain sight, she begins to pick up on where Adrain’s next moves as he tries to harm Sydney and James. Whannel’s interpretation of The Invisible Man made for an interesting statement about the fears women face in a modern take of how terrifying it is to be a woman. The constant fear women face keeps them from walking alone at night as they are haunted by the dozens of stories of the invisible men lurking in the shadows.
