Movie Review: ‘Invisible Man’: a plea to believe women

By Catherine Hadley-Engstrom
Staff Writer

Grade: A+

See it if: You love classic horror and suspense

Skip it if: Abusive relationships are triggering, you have trypophobia

“Invisible Man” opens to protagonist Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) finally leaving her abusive boyfriend, Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). She slips out of bed and checks to make sure her tormenter stays asleep. She sneaks down the halls of a giant glass box of a house. An alarm goes off and she flees, barely escaping a furious Adrian. Ten minutes in and we get a sigh of relief—but it’s only temporary.

Cecilia begins to recover from her trauma while staying with her friend James (Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter Sydney (Storm Reid), But she is blindsided by the sudden news that her abuser has committed suicide.

Cecilia meets with Adrian’s lawyer (Michel Dorman) who tells her that she has inherited $5 million. But things take a turn when Cecilia starts to feel uncomfortable in her own home, as if someone is watching her. Is it the boogey man, or the man who tortured her for so long?

In an amazing take on the classic H.G. Well tale, “Invisible Man” is a crash course in gaslighting. The invisible man is our victim’s post-traumatic stress come-to-life, always around the corner, always waiting for her.

This film never lets the audience doubt their heroine, even when everyone around her is questioning her sanity. Moss gives Cecilia’s character life. She powerfully portrays a woman stripped of her humanity, but still holding on and fighting for herself.

Directed and written by Leigh Whannell (“Upgrade”), “Invisible Man” is reminiscent of classics like Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” and “Vertigo” in its suspense and rising tension. Whannell’s story is a simple one. It’s the story of a domestic abuse survivor fighting for her life and advocating for people to listen to her experience and believe her story.

It seems like an instance of kismet that “Invisible Man” would come out the week that former film producer Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape—a rich, powerful man finally held accountable in a world that is just starting to believe women when they speak out.

“Invisible Man” isn’t a horror movie about evil demons, aliens or ghosts, it is a movie about abuse, the torment of gaslighting and what it means for a woman to be believed.