The Invisible Man Returns
Rating: 4/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
The Invisible Man, made famous by the fantastic performance from Claude Raines, is considered one of the best monsters in the Universal Monsters franchise, and the film is an excellent entry into the franchise as a whole. Therefore, it was inevitable that the film would get a sequel considering the other Monsters were already receiving the sequel treatment. Instead of rehashing what the original film did, Joe May expanded on the universe concerning this character, presenting a continuation of what happened after Dr. Jack Griffin died in the first film. Not only is this movie incredibly enjoyable and as twisted as the first one, but contains great effects and performances from its cast, especially Vincent Price in one of his earlier roles.
Sir Geoffrey Radcliffe (Price) is wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his brother, and is facing the death penalty. With there seemingly no way for him to escape his unfortunate fate, he hatches a plan with his fiancé Helen (Nan Grey) and Dr. Frank Griffin (John Sutton), brother of the late Jack Griffin, to make him invisible so he can escape prison. Now on the run and seemingly able to get away from authorities, he starts to hunt down people to find the real murderer and bring him to justice. However, he starts to have the same effects as Jack due to the ingredients of the drug, causing him to go mad and prove to be a risk to everyone involved.
The first film in this series is revolutionary for the visual effects they were able to achieve, literally making a man invisible before the audience's very eyes. This film builds upon that, adding in more special effects and more horror elements to truly terrify the audience. Consider the scene where Geoffrey goes after Willie Spears (Alan Napier), a recent hire at their mining company. May does a wonderful job of really capturing the fear that Spears is feeling, and can translate that onto the screen to make the audience feel scared as well. Not knowing what is around you or not being able to see a threat is one of the scariest things that could happen to someone, and May captures that fear so well here.
The screenplay by Lester K. Cole and Curt Siodmak is crafted incredibly well, and does a great job of telling this story in such a fresh and new way. The movie never drags and it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. I really love the fact that they decided to craft this new story that exists in this world, rather than trying to retell the story they told with Rains about seven years prior. They use the source material from H.G. Wells' novel and are able capture the same unhinged essence from both the novel and original film.
Price does a very good job of stepping into this role and becoming the new Invisible Man. He would go on to become a horror icon in his own right, but he had to find his start somewhere. This movie shows off his acting chops, and how damn good he is at being not only incredibly charming, but very creepy when he needs to be. Unfortunately, he falls short of being as creepy and iconic as the performance Rains gave the first time around for this character, but still does a very good job. Compared to the other performances given by actors trying to fill the shoes of these iconic characters, Price is one of the best.
At the same time, the supporting players here do a good job of not only complimenting Price's performance, but being able to hold their own against him. One standout scene is the dinner party towards the end of the film, where Price, Grey, and Sutton all have a celebratory dinner, with Price in the iconic costume. He is so good at being creepy and unhinged, and Sutton and Grey show off genuine fear as their loved one descends into madness due to the drug he took to become invisible. This whole segment of the film is incredible, and really captures the essence of what the Invisible Man truly is.
It must have been incredibly daunting to attempt to craft a sequel to such an impressive film, but Joe May and his cast of actors and filmmakers do such a wonderful job. This is easily up there amongst the other great Universal Classic Monster films, and May is able to capture the energy and the madness of the original. Sure, it falls short compared to the predecessor due to Rains' amazing performance and the sheer absurdness of the original story, but this does a great job of holding its own.
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