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Leigh Whannell’s remake of The Invisible Man hits theaters on February 28.  It should be interesting.  Whannell was one of the writers and actors in Saw.  Production company Blumhouse is behind Happy Death Day and The Purge series.  This is the first attempt at doing anything interesting with the character of the Invisible Man on screen in a long time.  However, he’s had an interesting journey.  Here’s a brief history of the Invisible Man.

The Original Novel 

H.G. Wells published The Invisible Man in 1897.  It tells the story of Griffin, a mysterious man who shows up at a remote inn with his face covered in bandages.  He is a reclusive introvert who keeps to his room.  He turns out to be a mad scientist who has turned himself invisible and is trying to find a way to change himself back.  When his secret is revealed, chaos ensues, and Griffin goes on a murderous spree.

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The 1933 Film

If you’re a Rocky Horror fan, you already know Claude Rains was The Invisible Man.  The movie, part of Universal’s classic series of monster movies, came out two years after Dracula and Frankenstein.  In the movie, Jack Griffin hopes his scientific work will make him rich and thus a more suitable husband for his fiancee.  As in the book, he seeks to complete his work in solitude.  Several factors including failed results and side effects from the chemicals cause Griffin to go insane.  Again, he goes on a killing spree, plotting world domination.  The film is more sympathetic to Griffin than the novel is.  I also remember the movie having a certain humor, sarcasm, and playfulness to it.  Especially in the early scenes.  Rains revels in the mischief of being invisible.

Sequels

Several years later, Universal made a series of sequels loosely related to the original film.

The Invisible Man Returns (1940):  I’m not sure why Universal waited seven years to make a sequel to such a popular film.  Despite the misleading title, this movie focuses on an entirely new cast of characters.  Vincent Price plays Sir Geoffrey Radcliffe, a man accused of a murder he didn’t commit.  Griffin’s brother injects him with an invisibility drug and Radcliffe disappears from his cell.  Radcliffe must find the real killer before he goes insane from the drug.

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I’ve been using RunPee for a few years now and it’s basically a requirement of going to the movies for me. The best part of course are the “pee times” that give you cues, synopses and times for when you can pee without missing the most important parts of the movie. There is also information about the credits- length, extras and if there are any extra scenes at the wayyy end. Super helpful to just know that it is or isn’t worth staying. There is a timer function that will buzz your phone when it’s a good time to pee. I also appreciate that the app is very conscientious about it being an app you use in a theater- dark background, all silent alarms etc. I will always enjoy the experience of the theater even if I could watch things at home- but I’ve even used it at home to check for things like after credit scenes or other information too.

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The Invisible Woman (1940):  A former department store model becomes the first test subject for an invisibility device.  This film marks a change in tone in the series from horror/sci-fi to comedy.

The Invisible Agent (1942):  The grandson of the original Invisible Man serves as a spy for the USA during WWII.

The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944): Another descendant of Griffin’s uses invisibility to get revenge on a couple who left him to die.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951):  Abbott and Costello play two private detectives investigating the murder of  a boxing promoter.  The prime suspect gets his hands on the invisibility serum from a former colleague of Griffin’s.

Movies About Invisibility

Two major Hollywood films tackled the theme of invisibility but aren’t directly related to the H.G. Wells character.

Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992):  John Carpenter stepped outside of his horror wheelhouse to direct this Chevy Chase sci-fi comedy.  A businessman is turned invisible through a freak accident at a major laboratory.  A government agent discovers his condition and tries to track him down.  The movie was a commercial and critical failure.  However, I remember enjoying it when it first came out.

The Hollow Man (2000): Kevin Bacon stars as a scientist who turns himself invisible in this horror film.  Despite negative reviews, the movie proved popular at the box office and received an Academy Award nomination for Special Effects.

The Dark Universe

Starting with 2017’s The Mummy, Universal Studios had planned a whole new series of connected films using their collection of famous monsters.  Unfortunately, due to The Mummy‘s box office failure, those plans were scrapped.  Johnny Depp would have played The Invisible Man, Russell Crowe would have played Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (a role hinted at in The Mummy), and Angelina Jolie would have been the Bride of Frankenstein, in separate films.

Universal has now done away with the idea of a connected cinematic universe, but is still developing new movies for its monsters. Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is the first.  It’s a darker take than the 1940 film and a more personal one.  Instead of love, it’s about obsession.  I’m personally disappointed that the Invisible Man of the title has none of the humor to him of the 1940 version, but is pure evil and menace.  A silent killer.

Director Elizabeth Banks has pitched a version of The Invisible Woman with the logline “Thelma and Louise meets American Psycho.”  Banks would star in the project.  No connection to Whannell’s Invisible Man is planned.

Other projects include Paul Feig’s Dark Army, which would incorporate classic Universal monsters and introduce some new ones, with director Dexter Fletcher and writer Robert Kirkman’s Renfield. It would present a new take on Dracula, and a rumored version of Frankenstein to be directed by James Wan.

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Comments

4 responses to “A Brief History of The Invisible Man”

  1. This is a GREAT article. You did a lot of research. Did you sit and do an Invisible Man marathon? That would be fun.

    There’s a Buffy episode called *Gone*, in the 6th season, where The Trio accidentally make Buffy invisible. Hijinks and invisible sex with Spike ensues. 😉

  2. There’s also the Invisible Man character in the Hotel Transylvania set of movies.

    Silly fluffy fun, but still, worth a mention.

  3. Michael Fields Avatar
    Michael Fields

    I REALLY liked Tome Cruise in the Mummy, it was a interesting take on a guy dressed in rags, dragging a foot and walking slow but still catching up to people who ran away. And I was very disappointed when Universal decided to not do anymore. But I did like Hollow Man and the new Invisible man movie was VERY good, I heard that Blumhouse (Who you mentioned) asked Universale if they could make this Invisible man, it was made on a $7 Million dollar budget (which Universal said they wanted to try a VERY low budget movie of thier monster) and made $137 Million so it was a great success. After this movie Universal already green lighted them to do “Dracula” so that is suppose to be the next movie of a Universal monster made by Blumhouse, and they will probably let Them do a sequel to Invisible man as the ending of course BEGS to have one. I have always been a fan of the Universal monsters and when I went on the Universal studio tour and he was on the tour and later on my friend got his autograph which I thought was pretty funny

  4.  Avatar

    @Jill, I have not seen all of these. Yet. Svengoolie is showing The Invisible Woman this month so I look forward to seeing it. I love the original Invisible Man.

    @Michael, I will have to see The Mummy and make up my mind about it. I know it got bad reviews but I’ve been curious about it. And I liked Universal’s plans for a Dark Universe. I hate that we won’t get to see Angelina Jolie as Bride of Frankenstein or Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man. (We wouldn’t have seen him anyway, I guess?) I bet the Universal tour was FUN!

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