Blumhouse Productions reimagining of one of H.G. Wells’ most famous works places a survivor of abuse in a horrific situation. In the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of The Invisible Man, Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale, Us) portrays Cecilia, a woman whose abusive partner recently died by suicide. As Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, The Haunting of Hill House) was cruel to his girlfriend when alive — her final act was running away from their home in fear — Cecilia is shocked to learn he left her a fortune. The only thing that could keep her from the money is being deemed mentally unstable.
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The problem? Making Cecilia appear “crazy” may have been Adrian’s plan all along. Cecilia quickly realizes that Adrian may not be dead at all, but merely made himself “invisible.”
This version of The Invisible Man is a unique sort of ghost story, in that it’s not exactly a ghost story at all. In Wells’ 1897 novella, “Griffin” (Adrian’s last name in the film) is a scientist who turns himself invisible. Unable to reverse the process, he uses his power to wreak havoc on the world.
While the Griffin of the novel is a possible psychopath and “mad scientist” who longs for fame and wealth for his inventions, the 1933 film adaptation portrays the character as a good, but ultimately misguided man. The new Invisible Man seems to borrow more from the original iteration of the character, with Cecelia describing Adrian as a “sociopath.”
Had things gone differently, we may have gotten a more traditional version of The Invisible Man. Universal planned a “Dark World” franchise in which iconic creatures such as Frankenstein’s monster, the Wolf Man, and the Mummy received their own stories. After the box office failure of Tom Cruise's The Mummy — the first in the planned series of films — Universal scrapped the concept, which would have had Johnny Depp star as the Invisible Man.
Check out the trailer below. The Invisible Man hits theaters on February 28, 2020.
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