10 Great Horror Movies With Terrible Concepts
7. The Invisible Man
Be honest, because it’s very easy to claim credit after an unexpected sleeper hits exceeds expectations. But before Saw helmer Leigh Whannell pulled it off earlier this year, did anyone even consider the Invisible Man a villain?
A Chevy Chase anti-hero, sure. A tragic figure, maybe. Even a “comedic” creep who uses his powers to spy on girl’s dormitories. But an actually scary antagonist?
After the unfortunately laughable spectacle of Hollow Man, which managed to make even Kevin Bacon un-scary, and later the Dark Universe’s embarrassing 2017 debut The Mummy, no one could have guessed that 2020’s The Invisible Man would go so well.
What Whannell saw, however, was the potential inherent in using the monster’s invisibility as a metaphor for the way in which victims of abuse are isolated and gaslit not only by their abusers, but by the many well-meaning people who quite literally can’t see their tormentors as dangerous or evil presences.
It’s an ingenious and timely approach which salvaged a potentially disastrous premise, and produced an instant classic from a none-too-promising conceit.