The Invisible Man Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

Elisabeth Moss powers this surprisingly strong reboot.

By Jack Pooley /

Universal

Re-running our original review now The Invisible Man is available on demand...

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2020 hasn't exactly been off to a promising start for horror fans, with several high-profile genre duds such as The Grudge, The Turning, and Brahms: The Boy II stinking up cinemas worldwide.

Then along comes Saw writer Leigh Whannell to save us with his shockingly sturdy retooling of The Invisible Man, a property which not so long ago was intended for the big-budget treatment as part of Universal's aborted Dark Universe.

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Instead, writer-director Whannell's take couldn't feel much more different: a refreshingly stripped down and scaled back genre film that's more concerned with tone, atmosphere, and performance than it is over-the-top set-pieces, though there's plenty of them to savour also.

While it occasionally requires audiences to jump over one logical hoop too many, it's an extremely well conceived film for the most part, and better yet, it actually has something worthwhile to say.

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Above all else, Whannell has finally made the transition from an intriguing director to a truly great filmmaker...