Editorials
[Editorial] Why The Invisible Man is the Most Underrated Universal Monster
So… I have a confession to make. For the longest time, I thought that the Invisible Man was a wimp compared to the other Universal Monsters. Sure, I’ve always admired his iconic shades and general sense of style, but how the hell do you pair up Lovecraftian fish-people, undead abominations and tragic lycanthropes with a regular guy who just so happens to be invisible? Well, after years of avoiding this seemingly inferior “monster”, I finally got around to reading H.G. Wells‘ classic story and watching James Whale‘s 1933 adaptation of it (not to mention the subsequent sequels), and boy was I wrong!
Having seen the error of my ways, I feel that I owe The Invisible Man an apology, so here’s my attempt at explaining why I now consider him the most underrated of all the Universal Monsters!
Despite a few notable alterations (mostly attempts at making the titular character less of an irredeemable fiend), Universal’s first adaptation of The Invisible Man is surprisingly faithful to the source material. Much of this is due to Wells’ mastery of storytelling, using universal archetypes to spin an iconic yarn of mad science gone wrong, while also having fun with the sci-fi concept of invisibility. That makes this haunting tale quite easy to adapt into nearly any environment or time period without losing much of its impact, as the story deals with timeless concepts like the dangers of anonymity and man’s relationship with power.
Whale’s film actually injects a little bit more comedy into the mix, though it also makes Griffin more of a tragic figure by including a heartbroken fiancé and the fact that the main character’s apparent madness mostly stems from the invisibility formula and not necessarily from an inherent lust for power. However, it was only with the addition of Claude Rains‘ unforgettable performance that the character was truly transformed into one of fiction’s most notorious psychopaths.
Rains simply kills it through voice acting and body language.
Following in the tradition of complex horror protagonists like Victor Frankenstein, Dr. Jack Griffin’s uncontrolled ambition is the true monster here, with his reprehensible behavior making him inhuman, not the lack of a visible body. Over the course of the story, Jack distances himself so deeply from the human condition that murder no longer phases him and anything can be excused if it serves his megalomaniacal goals. In fact, The Invisible Man technically has one of, if not the, largest body count in all of the Universal Monster pictures. This is mostly due to one terrifying scene where Jack derails a speeding train, possibly murdering hundreds of innocent travelers just because he could!
However, the character is so much more than just a crazed killer. While some of his quirks may have originally been played for laughs, it doesn’t take a genius to imagine his invisible antics serving as the terrifying foundation for a modern haunted house story. Ghostly mutterings in the night, objects moving by themselves and unseen presences stalking innocent victims; it’s the stuff of nightmares! To me, an ultimate reveal that the evil entity was a crazed human the entire time seems much more horrifying than a simple spirit.
Couple these phantasmagorical shenanigans with a sadistic streak and delusions of grandeur (even featuring classic supervillain speeches about making the world grovel at his feet), and you have the recipe for one of fiction’s most compelling characters. It would actually be a while before we’d see this kind of madness again in film, especially after the Hays code, but The Invisible Man would become a franchise willing to reinvent itself with each new installment. While the original flick was a cautionary tale of sci-fi horror with a sprinkling of slapstick, the sequels would incorporate genre-bending elements to the story in order to keep the formula from getting stale.
The Invisible Man Returns is much more of a murder mystery as Vincent Price tracks down his brother’s killer using his newfound abilities, while The Invisible Woman would present itself as a screwball comedy, abandoning most of the story’s horror elements. My personal favorite of the bunch, Invisible Agent, was an insane propaganda flick chronicling the adventures of a new Invisible Man tasked with spying on the Nazis during World War II in a proto-superhero movie! Of all of these, The Invisible Man’s Revenge is arguably the most similar to the original, again featuring a psychopathic killer, though he still pales in comparison to Rains’ original Jack Griffin.
Getting a Hollow Man vibe from these effects!
Naturally, not all of these different interpretations were successful, but they can all serve as inspiration for even better adaptations in the future. The way I see it, the ideal Invisible Man film would incorporate elements from all these previous versions in a revamping of this classic monster, though I’d love it for a new creative team to dial the scare-factor up to eleven.
That’s why I can hardly wait for 2020 and Leigh Whannell‘s take on this iconic character. After seeing Upgrade, I’m pretty sure he’s one of only a few filmmakers able to tell a proper sci-fi horror story without skimping out on the brutality or clever nuances that made the original story such a classic in the first place.
At this point, I think it’s clear that The Invisible Man is one of the most versatile properties out there, able to effortlessly transition between genres while still maintaining an echo of the original story’s horrific elements. Even when the character is reimagined as a hero, there’s an inherently creepy voyeuristic element that can’t really be removed, not to mention the ever-present temptation to use these abilities for personal gain.
These days, The Invisible Man is right up there with The Wolfman as one of my all-time favorite movie monsters. It took a while for me to appreciate the value of this timeless character, but I’m glad that I did. If the age-old adage is true, and the deepest scares lie in the unknown, I feel that there’s no better story to revive through the lens of contemporary horror than the unseen terrors of the unforgettable Invisible Man.
The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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