The Dark Universe came out with an extremely ambitious marketing scheme and immediately folded upon release of its first and only film.Ģ017's The Mummy is a monster movie, in the broadest possible sense. The studio even had the intention of creating a more classic version of The Invisible Man, but this wasn't meant to be. This Dark Universe was set to revive all of cinema's favorite Universal Monsters in the form of a blatant rip-off of Marvel's all-consuming empire. Three short years earlier, the very same studio embarked on an ill-advised attempt to spark their very own cinematic universe. The fun thing about the success of The Invisible Man is that the perfect possible example exists to demonstrate how filmmakers could screw this up. When updating old stories or creating new ones, filmmakers must strive to keep their horror relevant and impactful to the world it is released into. The modern horror of gaslighting, abuse, and psychological manipulation is the fuel that really powers The Invisible Man. The Invisible Man makes the story's protagonist question the very world around her, as her abuser seems to hold infinite power, and she can never be sure of her own sanity.
From vampires and the aristocracy to the suburban horror of the Screamfranchise, the best scares evoke the terrors of the real world. Horror is always tied into the real world, any good monster works because a very real fear is behind them. Taking this classic monster and updating it to serve a modern theme demonstrates a level of awareness of the modern cinema landscape that is invaluable to future monster movies. The Invisible Man was a prime candidate for another misunderstood narrative that winds up making its protagonist a hero despite the text making their failings abundantly clear. The trouble is, many of these narratives accrue fanbases who misunderstand the tone and wind up idolizing these problematic main characters. From Breaking Bad to Rick and Morty, there are countless narratives in which the main character is an awful person. Turns out, media about men doing terrible things with power beyond the average person is both very common and extremely popular. This simple change fixes so many of the problems with the original story, while grounding it in an issue that is more relevant to today's zeitgeist. The theme is no longer man's tendency towards evil when culpability is abated, but the dark psychological manipulation of an abusive relationship. The main character is not the man wielding invisibility to do harm, but rather, one of his victims dealing with the consequences. Leigh Whannell's Invisible Man keeps aspects of the original narrative and makes the odd reference in subtle details, but it's ultimately a very different story.
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Many films and series later, last years' version brought a new focus and a new perspective that really changed the franchise.
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The story has been adapted to film many times, first in 1933 with a Universal Monster movie that spawned a series. His actions are wanton and often random, in many ways the story is a monster story about a man able to act without limits. This scientist happens to be a dangerously maladjusted and cruel man who uses his newfound gift to do terrible deeds with impunity. Wells' 1897 sci-fi novel The Invisible Man is the tale of a scientist who invents a chemical method of becoming invisible, which he finds himself unable to reverse. RELATED: Iconic Horror Movies That Elevated Genre Tropes The film brought in over twenty times its production budget, despite its difficult release window, proving itself an enormous success for several intriguing reasons. Last year's The Invisible Man was written and directed by Leigh Whannell, the horror icon behind the Sawand Insidious franchises. Horror remakes are a fairly common concern, so much so that the odd standout really sticks with fans, leading generations to new film horizons. Horror cinema is one of the most unpredictable film landscapes, a single story can unfold a thousand different ways with wildly varying quality throughout.