Gary K’s review published on Letterboxd:
Film 14/31 - Film with an Invisible character
Picked this up last year as part of the Alex Ross classic monster steelbook series but had never seen it until last night.
James whale was certainly an original auteur, and his style is all over this, from the black humor to the large sumptuous sets to Una O’Connor. This is really a marvel of inventive and economic filmmaking. The special effects were groundbreaking - astonishing for their time - and still work effectively. Claude Raines pulls off a incredible trick with his voice performance. Ably demonstrating his pain, fear and insanity with every charismatically and authoritatively delivered line reading.
Amazingly, the film doesn’t shy away from the fact that the invisible man is an absolute beast. Murdering hundreds in cold blood in the 71 minute run time. The film also offers no redemptive arc for him or a happy ending for really any character. I wish more modern movies had this fearlessness to commit to the bleakness of their stories.
