With Blumhouse’s modern retelling of The Invisible Man, folks are probably wondering how exactly the sociopath known as Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is making himself invisible to the naked eye. A new trailer seems to have shed some more light on the origin of Adrian’s so-called “powers,” as a moment with Elizabeth Moss’ protagonist Cecilia seems to confirm a theory I’ve long held on how this version of invisibility works.
Take a look for yourself, paying close attention to the moment at 02:05.
The latest look at writer/director Leigh Whannell’s version of The Invisible Man shows us some pretty strong visual cues in a scene of tension and strategy. Cecilia, having a strong hunch that she’s being followed, does a very sensible thing to prove herself right.
Taking a bucket of white paint, she dumps the contents in front of her, and is met with a rather surprising result. Not only is it confirmed that Adrian is, indeed, waiting for her on the ladder down from the attic, he appears to be wearing a suit of some sort that helps him become invisible to the naked eye! Courtesy of the following screengrab, you can see the beginnings of this theory taking shape:
As you’ll see, based on the paint coating Adrian’s hypothetical suit, there’s what looks to be a series of hexagonal divots that are coated by the paint as it hits The Invisible Man’s eponymous villain. That leads me to the first crucial point about this potential invisibility suit: it’s made up of several identical panels, all woven together for one purpose.
That purpose is, of course, to refract the light hitting his suit in a manner that helps him blend in with his background. If you want to get technical about it, Adrian isn’t invisible; he’s being actively camouflaged. Those panels change the appearance of his suit, helping him seamlessly blend in with his surroundings, and convincing everyone that Cecilia is crazy.
What’s interesting is, this isn’t the first time that The Invisible Man has tipped its hand in this direction. In fact, going back to the first trailer there’s similar evidence presented in the rundown of footage that shows Elizabeth Moss’ character being admitted to the hospital.
This next image shows our less than visible baddie bathed in water from a fire sprinkler, and just as before with the paint example, we see some shimmering taking place on those panels.
How exactly this system works in The Invisible Man is a mystery, but there’s another interesting easter egg that might suggest how Oliver Jackson-Cohen achieves phantom status. If you look at the background on his phone, just before Elizabeth Moss throws the paint on his character, you’ll see a phone background that looks kind it’s made up of variations on that hexagonal panel his suit is made up of.
If that’s not a hint towards Adrian's phone controlling the process, as well as his egotistical nature, then this new trailer for The Invisible Man hasn’t hyped me up even further for the madness that Leigh Whannell has cooked up with the Blumhouse variant of this H.G. Wells classic. Should this film take off the way it intends to, this could be a great start to the next chapter in the studio's revamping of their Universal Monsters canon. Now that's something I'd love to see.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the truth looks like, as The Invisible Man appears in theaters on February 28th. However, if you’re looking for some Blumhouse produced fun a little earlier than that, their new spin on the classic TV show Fantasy Island opens in theaters on February 14th.
