The Invisible Man may seem like a horror movie with a far-out premise, but star Elisabeth Moss told BuzzFeed News it's actually rooted in some very scary real-world issues.



"It's a pretty gigantic, obvious analogy for gaslighting, toxic relationships, abusive relationships," Moss told AM to DM on Friday. "We've wrapped it all up in a really fun, kind of scary, entertaining package."

The movie, which was made on a $7 million budget and raked in $1.7 million on its opening night Thursday, follows the character of Celia (Moss), who believes she is being terrorized by her abusive husband (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who has faked his death and made himself invisible.

Director Leigh Whannell told BuzzFeed News he didn't set out to make a movie about gaslighting, but that's how it turned out.

“It was during the writing of that first draft that I felt the movie drifting in this direction of gaslighting, domestic abuse, and women not being believed or feeling like there's an unseen threat," he said. "It felt like it really fit his character naturally.”