The Invisible Man [M]

For many theorists and practitioners the advancement of science is something marvellous and for the greater good of mankind, but for Jack Griffin it is a means to inspire fear into the heart of humanity, acquire incredible power, and make the world grovel at his feet. After discovering the means to become invisible, Jack begins working on an antidote to turn back. But the months of chemical practical and drug injection to become invisible have caused him to go insane and soon his invisibility and potential rise to power as ruler of the world starts to amass an alarming body count. The townspeople are in panic and the authorities are baffled, after all how can you stop what you can’t see? 

Based on the novel by H. G. Wells, this Universal horror classic works as yet another frightening and tragic monster story, the monster this time being a man of science drunk on his own power and brilliance. Director James Whale delivers an engaging depiction of a story that is both horrific and tragic, and a joy to watch. 

We have seen the mad scientist story so many times within the horror genre that it has transcended into the realms of cliché, but what sets Jack Griffin aside from other mad scientists is the fact that he’s already the monster when we meet him at the film’s beginning. There is no slow descent into madness through the journey of a science experiment; Griffin is already at the end stages with a mind already unhinged. 

What makes this movie special is its depiction of a mad man vainly attempting to hold on to some strand of sanity, most notably conveyed through his interactions with his lover Flora. Throughout the majority of the film, Griffin is either short, frank, and growlingly brutal with his words or laughing insanely like your clichéd lunatic: singing nursery rhymes and making patronising comments to the police. But when he speaks to Flora he’s calm, unthreatening, and even charming. The tragedy of the character really becomes poignant during these scenes because you know that there can be no happy ending for him whatever the outcome of his reversal experiments. 

Another thing that is very striking about this movie is the body count itself and how the death and horror of the story is actually treated. By the film’s end, I think the body counts sits at just over 140 people, which is horrifying to say the least. But what gives the film its sinister edge is the fact that the murders and death reports are all delivered in such a nonchalant way, almost a normality: ‘morning Mrs. Jones, yes over a hundred people killed last night, how’s your husband’s gout?’ The horror is so understated and subdued that you have to keep reminding yourself at the end of the film that this guy killed over a hundred people. It’s eerie. 

The special effects of the invisibility itself are pretty cool and stand up even though the movie is over eighty years old! And then the slow reveal at the end is something that is quite mesmerising to watch as well as very sad. 

Starring Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers, Una O’Connor, Forrester Harvey, Holmes Herbert, E. E. Clive, Dudley Digges, Harry Stubbs, Donald Stuart, and Merle Tottenham, The Invisible Man is an eerie film that tells a very tragic story. Filled with violence, eerie bandages and goggles, drama, romance, and suspense, I found it very enjoyable and was impressed by how strongly it stands for an 83 year-old!