We only just learned how all too grimly real Leigh Whannell’s take on The Invisible Man was going to be. Now we’ve seen it in action, and it’s exactly as bleak as we were expecting.
https://gizmodo.com/the-new-invisible-mans-updated-premise-is-horrifyingly-1839669894
Universal has dropped the first trailer for the Blumhouse-produced The Invisible Man, which is…well, kinda sorta still part of whatever remains of the ashes of the Universal Monsters’ Dark Universe? Anyway, none of that really matters anymore. What matters is that Elisabeth Moss is here to be slowly driven insane by her abusive ex-husband turning invisible and being a nightmarishly creepy asshole in this trailer, and it is really uncomfortably unnerving.
The Invisible Man follows Cecilia Kass (Moss), as she attempts to leave her violent and controlling abusive husband, Adrian (The Haunting of Hill House’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen). After learning he’s seemingly died by suicide and left her millions of dollars earned from his scientific career—but only if she remains mentally sound—Cecilia begins to suspect more foul play, even before she discovers that Adrian is not quite as dead as everyone keeps telling her he is.
https://gizmodo.com/invisible-man-writer-exits-reconfirms-the-dark-univers-1822370654
It’s hard to deny that this re-interpretation isn’t immediately effective in the trailer—the moments Moss’ invisible predator stalks her with a chilled breath here or a handprint on a shower window there are genuinely gutwrenching. But it’ll be interesting how the film handles these themes of domestic abuse as it progresses from the opening phases of Moss’ character thinking she’s going insane to, well, the more “typical” horror movie moments of being pursued by her titular former husband. As typical as abusive invisible creeps can be, that is.
We’ll have to wait and see—The Invisible Man hits theatres February 28, 2020.
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