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What the critics are saying about The Invisible Man

Don't look now, but writer-director Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man is shaping up to be one of the year's biggest horror hits.

The flick has been screened for critics, and while there is still an embargo on formal reviews, they're taking to social media in droves to report that The Invisible Man is the real deal — a tense, terrifying thriller grounded in real-world issues and featuring a performance for the ages from Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale).

A bit of background: the movie is the result of a major course-correction by studio Universal, which at one point was planning a Marvel-esque series of interconnected franchises (known as the "Dark Universe") based on its classic monster properties. The first of these, the 2017 Tom Cruise starrer The Mummy, also ended up becoming the last when it underperformed severely at the box office.

Plans for big-budget tentpole features starring A-list actors based on properties like Bride of Frankenstein (which was to have starred Javier Bardem) and yes, The Invisible Man (which had Johnny Depp on board at one point) were subsequently scrapped, and Universal wisely decided to scale back its plans. Its new approach: more modestly-budgeted, updated takes on its properties crafted by experienced horror filmmakers. To help implement this plan, the studio partnered with reliable horrormeisters Blumhouse; this new Invisible Man is the first fruit of that partnership.

So far, so good. The flick may only be Whannell's third feature as a director, but his previous flick — 2018's Upgrade — showed a great deal of promise, upon which he has apparently now delivered. Critics are going absolutely bonkers over The Invisible Man, in no small part due to Moss' committed turn as a woman whose abusive, recently deceased boyfriend may not be quite so deceased as she thought.

