The Invisible Man (1933)

The Invisible Man (2020) perfectly encapsulates the horrors specific to women and femmes in domestic violence situations. It also speaks more generally to the challenges all domestic abuse survivors face, including men and non-binary individuals. This musing will focus specifically on cishet women because the film focuses on a traditional cishet relationship, but this is not to exclude domestic abuse survivors of all identities whose stories are equally valid.

I adore anything that has to do with H.G. Wells’ novel, The Invisible Man. The original Universal adaptation from 1933 is one of the best films of its era, Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man is a fun time, and I’ll go to bat any day for Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow Man. These films work because they are a mixture of practical effects and digital effects, and the creativity in setting up scenes for the invisible antagonist to wreak chaos in is what makes them stand out. There is natural tension in any scene because, theoretically, the Invisible Man could be watching, waiting to make a move, and the paranoia can drive the victims and viewers batty.

That being said, I think the 2020 version of The Invisible Man masters that sense of tension better than any other adaptation that has come before it. Every scene in this movie tries to convey the sense of dread that the Invisible Man could be stalking our lead protagonist, Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss). Cecilia has escaped a controlling and abusive relationship she endured at the hands of her sociopathic ex-boyfriend, Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). After a few weeks of hiding away, Griffin apparently dies; only for Cecilia to be convinced that he’s alive and has found a way to make himself invisible with his optical technology genius.

Spoiler alert: She’s right. Don’t get mad at me -- the movie is literally titled The Invisible Man.

And therein lies one of my problems with the film. It’s far too predictable and it never kept me on my toes despite its excellent execution of tension. What do I mean by that? Let me break it down.