February may be often associated as the month of passion, but not every love story ends happily ever after. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn will be going through heartbreak in a twist to the the comic book movie formula with this weekend’s Birds of Prey, and Blumhouse will explore an abusive relationship later this month in Leigh Whannell’s fresh take on The Invisible Man.
The sci-fi thriller stars The Handmaid’s Tale actress Elisabeth Moss as Cecilia Kass. After her abusive ex-boyfriend (played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen) seemingly commits suicide, he leaves her a large sum of money. But following the tragedy, Cecilia finds herself haunted by an invisible stalker she believes to be him.
Elisabeth Moss has explained the themes of The Invisible Man with these words:
You literally have a man who is invisible, you can’t see him, she’s saying he’s there, that he’s attacking her, abusing her, manipulating her, and everyone around her is saying, ‘Relax. It’s fine.’ And she keeps saying, ‘No, he is – he’s alive, he’s doing this,’ and no-one believes her. The analogy is incredibly clear.
The Invisible Man started as a classic movie monster in Universal’s library, but in 2020, it’s being retooled as a timely tale of a woman’s cry for help. As Elisabeth Moss discussed with Empire, the upcoming R-rated horror flick has a clear parallel to abuse. So often do we hear stories of women afraid of being believed by their violators by others or in court. Now, The Invisible Man will explore this in a more literal sense, as Moss’ character is running from an actually invisible villain. The actress continued:
I’ve had quite a bit of experience playing characters who are dealing with various types of abuse. Whether it’s emotional, physical, sexual, it’s something that I’ve dived into quite a bit. So I was able to bring that knowledge to the role.
Elisabeth Moss can certainly bring her three seasons of work as June Osbourne in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale to the Blumhouse movie. The role similarly touches upon a woman’s pain under the weight of the patriarchy. And she also had a role to play in Jordan Peele’s recent horror movie, Us.
The Invisible Man comes from writer/director Leigh Whannell after he impressed in 2018 with his original film, Upgrade. The H.G. Wells property was originally being developed as a piece of Universal’s interconnected universe. But then, The Mummy with Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella absolutely flopped. An original The Invisible Man movie with Johnny Depp was scrapped and this version was developed instead.
This take on The Invisible Man certainly seems to be injecting some new ideas into the property. Instead of the movie happening from the perspective of the invisible man, our protagonist is the victim of the science’s functions and pitfalls. The ability is inherently creepy and makes this Invisible Man a release to keep horror fans on their toes.
Check out The Invisible Man in theaters on February 28.
