With apologies to Michael Myers, Kharis the Mummy just might be the scariest monster who can’t outrun a turtle ever to lumber across a movie screen! And he’s never been more frightening than in today’s SPOOKLIGHT feature, THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1942).
THE MUMMY’S TOMB has always been my favorite Kharis MUMMY movie. The make-up here on Kharis by Jack Pierce, the man who created most of the iconic Universal monsters, including Boris Karloff’s Monster in FRANKENSTEIN (1931), is by far the best MUMMY make-up of the Kharis series.
It’s also my favorite due to nostalgic reasons, as I owned an 8mm Castle Films copy of it when I was a kid. The film also boasts the most exciting ending of any MUMMY movie, period.
Kharis the Mummy was featured in four Universal Mummy movies, and in the Hammer Films remake THE MUMMY (1959) starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as Kharis, but it was Lon Chaney Jr. who played the definitive Kharis, appearing in three Universal Mummy movies, the first being THE MUMMY’S TOMB.
THE MUMMY’S TOMB opens with a comprehensive synopsis of the previous film in the series, THE MUMMY’S HAND (1940), so if you’ve missed this first movie, no need to worry! The initial ten minutes of THE MUMMY’S TOMB brings you up to speed on previous events quite nicely. You can almost hear the voice-over narration, “Previously on THE MUMMY’S HAND.”
Stephen Banning (Dick Foran) the main character from THE MUMMY’S HAND recounts his adventures in that first movie to his son John (John Hubbard) and his future daughter-in-law Isobel (Elyse Knox), and his story is shown via flashbacks. Little does Stephen know that over in Egypt the high priest he thought he killed, Andoheb (George Zucco) still lives, albeit he’s now an old man, as thirty years have passed since the events of THE MUMMY’S HAND. Hmm. With this timeline, shouldn’t THE MUMMY’S TOMB be taking place in 1970? Where are all the hippies?
Andoheb now turns over the Mummy-caring duties to his young protégé, Mehemet Bey (TurhanBey) because Kharis the Mummy didn’t die either. Not only is Kharis still alive, but he’s put on some weight! Has he been eating too many tanna leaves? No, he’s just being played here by the husky Lon Chaney Jr. rather than Tom Tyler, who played him in THE MUMMY’S HAND.
Chaney has been criticized over the years for being too big and thick to look like an authentic Mummy, but I’ve always liked this look, as it made him scarier. I mean, Chaney isn’t flabby and overweight. He’s solid and huge, like he could crush a man with his fists.
Mehemet Bey brings Kharis to the United States, to Massachusetts to be exact, to hunt down and kill the members of the Banning family.
And that’s pretty much it in terms of plot. The screenplay by Griffin Jay and Henry Sucher is pretty standard.
The strength of THE MUMMY’S TOMB is not its plot but its visuals. The movie contains some really neat scenes, and Kharis has never looked creepier. Shots of Kharis closing in on his victims still make me shudder, and some of the murder scenes in this one are downright brutal. Director Harold Young, not known for his genre work, really deserves a lot of credit for making a very chilling monster movie.
Young also makes good use of shadows here. Many times we see Kharis only through his shadow. In fact, when Kharis creeps across the countryside at night, he is unseen except for his shadow which falls upon several unsuspecting townsfolk. The shadow is used so frequently I’ve often wondered if the shooting script was entitled THE SHADOW OF THE MUMMY.
There’s a curious moment in the movie in the scene where Kharis attacks Babe (Wallace Ford), another character from THE MUMMY’S HAND. After Babe shouts out Kharis’ name, Kharis’ lips move as if he’s saying something in response. It looks almost as if a scene of dialogue has been cut from the film. I’ve never read anything to support such a cut, and it wouldn’t make sense in terms of the story anyway, since Kharis had his tongue cut from his mouth in the previous film, and is mute. But if you watch this scene, you definitely will see Kharis’ mouth move, and a cut does appear to have taken place right at this moment. Interesting.
The ending is exceedingly memorable. The torch-wielding villagers, in a chase scene reminiscent of the ending to FRANKENSTEIN (1931)- in fact, some of the footage from FRANKENSTEIN is used here— chase Kharis, who’s carrying an unconscious Isobel, and trap him inside a large house. John Banning, the sheriff, and another man run inside the house to rescue Isobel. The climactic battle on the second story porch between John, the sheriff and Kharis, while the villagers fling burning torches from below, is pretty exciting. I can’t think of another MUMMY movie that has a better ending than this one.
The cast is standard, and other than Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis, no one really jumps out at you. However the beautiful Elyse Knox who plays Isobel is notable because she’s Mark Harmon’s mother. Ms. Knox only recently passed away, in 2012 at age 94.
Lon Chaney Jr. actually does a stand up job as Kharis the Mummy. Chaney played all four main movie monsters: The Wolf Man, the Mummy, Dracula, and the Frankenstein Monster. While he’s most famous for his portrayal of Larry Talbot aka the Wolf Man, and rightly so, his three performances as Kharis the Mummy are more effective than his work as either Dracula or the Frankenstein monster.
He makes Kharis damned scary. His look is such that when he enters a room, he almost paralyzes his victims with fear, which is a good thing for him, because with his limp, he’s not going to catch anybody. You can outrun Kharis running backwards. But Kharis always seems to corner his victims, and once he’s blocked the exit, his prey is as good as dead.
Very few of the old Universal monster movies are frightening. I would argue that THEMUMMY’S TOMB featuring Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis the Mummy is one of the scariest.
I dare you to watch it alone this summer without having nightmares of Kharis the Mummy breaking into your bedroom in the middle of the night.
Over there, by the wall! Is that the Mummy’s shadow I see?
Recently in this column, we looked at THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE (1944), which was the last of the serious Universal INVISIBLE MAN movies, before the invisible one went on to meet Abbott and Costello, in a film obviously played for laughs. I mentioned that the lead in that movie was Jon Hall, and that it was his second time playing an invisible man.
Hall first played the invisible fellow in INVISIBLE AGENT (1942), the subject of today’s IN THE SPOOKLIGHT column, which makes Hall the only actor to play the Invisible Man as the lead role in more than one movie. Vincent Price played the Invisible Man twice as well, but one of those performances was a cameo in the final seconds of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). Price also played the lead in the first INVISIBLE MAN sequel, THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940).
INVISIBLE AGENT never made the rounds on the Saturday afternoon horror movie docket when I was a kid, and so I never caught up with this one until as an adult I purchased it on DVD. It probably didn’t show up back in the day because it’s really not a horror movie. That’s right, INVISIBLE AGENT is a war movie, as the main character, Frank Griffin, who changes his name to Frank Raymond, is a descendant of the original Claude Rains’ character Jack Griffin in THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933). The film takes place in 1942, the year it was made, and Frank agrees to use the invisibility formula to turn himself into an invisible agent to help thwart the Nazis!
And since this isn’t a horror movie, even though the dangers of the invisibility formula are mentioned briefly in the film, main character Frank Raymond really doesn’t have to worry all that much about going insane like his infamous ancestor. That horrific plot point isn’t really on the menu here.
In INVISIBLE AGENT, Frank Raymond (Jon Hall) agrees to work with the United States government to turn himself invisible and take on the Nazis. His contact in Germany is the beautiful Maria Sorenson (Illona Massey). Together, they work to thwart the plans of Nazi Conrad Stauffer (Sir Cedrick Hardwicke) and Japanese villain Baron Ikito (Peter Lorre). They succeed rather easily, because most of the bad guys in this one are portrayed as hapless buffoons.
Most of INVISIBLE AGENT is played for laughs, which actually works against this movie. It would have been a much more intriguing flick had the plot been taken a bit more seriously. It’s not a horror movie, and it’s not much of a wartime thriller, and that’s two strikes against it. It is, however, an amusing light “let’s beat up on the Nazis” movie which since it was released in the middle of World War II, most likely was a crowd pleaser.
The screenplay by Curt Siodmak, one of classic horror’s best writers, with screenplay credits that include THE WOLF MAN (1941), FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943), and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943), to name just a few, isn’t one of his best, but it does make for a lighthearted World War II adventure with decent characters and interesting dialogue.
Jon Hall fares better as an invisible man here in INVISIBLE AGENT than he would later in THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE, as his character here is likable and heroic, and he possesses a spunky sense of humor. Illona Massey makes for a strong female heroine as Maria Sorenson. She would play another effective heroine the following year in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, playing Frankenstein’s daughter, Baroness Elsa Frankenstein.
The two best performances in the movie however belong to Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Peter Lorre as the two villains. A huge part of this is that in this easygoing movie, both Hardwicke and Lorre play things straight and are really quite nefarious. Lorre delivers the better performance of the two, although it’s jarring and by today’s standards disturbing to watch him play a Japanese character. It wasn’t an issue back in 1942, as Lorre even made an entire film series as the Japanese detective Mr. Moto back in the 1930s.
On the other hand, J. Edward Bromberg’s Nazi Karl Heiser is entirely played for laughs. Bromberg would go on to appear in two other Universal horror movies, as vampire expert Professor Lazlo in SON OF DRACULA (1943), and as one of the Paris Opera owners in the Claude Rains remake of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943).
Edwin L. Marin directed INVISIBLE AGENT, and there are plenty of entertaining scenes, from the silly dinner sequence where an invisible Frank sabotages Nazi Karl Heiser’s plans for a romantic evening with Maria, to Frank’s inspired escape from Conrad Stauffer and his Nazi henchman. But the film never takes itself all that seriously, and at the end of the day, its lighthearted humor didn’t really work all that well for me.
The invisible special effects by John Fulton are still pretty impressive. In fact, Fulton was nominated for an Oscar for Best Special Effects but lost out to the effects team on REAP THE WILD WIND (1942), which was directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Sadly, none of the impressive Invisible Man effects in any of the Universal Invisible Man movies ever won an Oscar. Ironically, Fulton would go on to win two Academy Awards for special effects, for the Daniel Kaye musical comedy WONDER MAN (1945) and for DeMille’s THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956).
INVISIBLE AGENT is an amusing movie if you are in the mood for a playful tale about an invisible man making fools out of Nazis. You could do a lot worse, to be sure.
But it’s not a horror movie, nor is it an overly exciting adventure, and so at the end of the day, INVISIBLE AGENT only worked for me as a minor diversion. The best part by far are the two villainous performances by Sir Cedrick Hardwicke and Peter Lorre.
THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE (1944) was the last of the serious Universal INVISIBLE MAN series. There would be one more, but that one would include Abbott and Costello in the cast, in the appropriately named ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (1951).
Previous films in the series include THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933), THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940), THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (1940), which was also played for laughs, and INVISIBLE AGENT (1942). The best film in the series remains, by far, the first one, THE INVISIBLE MAN, which was directed by James Whale and starred Claude Rains as the invisible one.
THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE is considered to be the weakest of the series, and while I can’t disagree, I do still enjoy this one. It has its moments. Its biggest flaw is its story just isn’t very good.
It also has no connection to the previous films. And while the main character’s name is Robert Griffin— Griffin being the surname of the original Invisible Man and his various relatives in later movies— in this film, the character in spite of his name is no relation to the Invisible Man Clan.
In THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE, shady character Robert Griffin (Jon Hall) recently recovers from amnesia and remembers that his “friends” owe him half their fortune. When he returns to their mansion, both Lady Herrick (Gale Sondergaard) and Sir Jasper Herrick (Lester Matthews) are shocked to see their former friend, who they believed was dead. They are even more shocked when he not only demands half their fortune but also their daughter Julie (Evelyn Ankers), even though she’s engaged to a reporter Mark Foster (Alan Curtis). Rather than call their attorneys, they drug Griffin and toss him out of their home.
Infuriated, Griffin happens to stumble upon a house in which a scientist Doctor Peter Drury (John Carradine) lives, who just happened to discover the secret to invisibility! How convenient! So, Griffin becomes invisible, and with the help of a comical local sidekick Herbert Higgins (Leon Errol) attempts to coerce the Herricks to give him their fortune and win back Julie. Standing in his way is heroic reporter and fiance Mark Foster, and when he can’t get the job done, it’s up to Dr. Drury’s loyal pet dog (Grey Shadow) to save the day!
It’s never a good sign in a movie plot that the film’s hero turns out to be a dog. Don’t get me wrong. I love dogs. A lot. But when this happens, and it’s not a movie about a dog, that’s just not saying much about the film’s human characters.
And overall, the entire story in THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE is not a very good one. The screenplay by Bertram Millhauser doesn’t give us much of a conflict or characters that are all that interesting.
Robert Griffin isn’t the most sympathetic character, and for most of the movie is a demented villain, which is par for the course for an invisible man in these stories, but there’s just something unlikable about him throughout the movie. Not that a character has to be likable. But some characters you enjoy watching them be evil or dark, but that isn’t quite the case here.
This was Jon Hall’s second time playing an invisible man. He played an entirely different character, also invisible, in INVISIBLE AGENT.
Leon Errol chews up the scenery as the comedic Herbert Higgins who decides to assist Griffin enact his revenge, as long as there is some money in it for him. The dart throwing contest is one of the highlights of the movie, where Higgins challenges the local dart champion and receives help from his invisible friend.
But the best performance in the movie… no surprise… is from John Carradine as Dr. Drury. It’s a small role, but Carradine is on point throughout, and he makes for a really interesting scientist, not your cliche movie mad scientist. It’s a shame he’s not in this movie more.
Evelyn Ankers, who appeared in THE WOLF MAN (1941) and THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942), among others, has very very little to do here as daughter Julie Herrick. She’s hardly in this one. Another Universal monster movie veteran, Lester Matthews, who starred in WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935) and THE RAVEN (1935) is very good here as Sir Jasper Herrick.
THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE was directed by Ford Beebe, and like most of the Universal classic monster movies, looks terrific. The black and white photography, the huge mansion, the raging thunderstorm outside Dr. Drury’s laboratory, keep this one steeped in creepy atmosphere.
The special effects, while not as impressive as the effects in the original INVISIBLE MAN, are still pretty good, and make for a lot of fun.
Again, the biggest knock against THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE is its story just isn’t all that exciting or interesting, and the same can be said for its characters, with the possible exception of Dr. Drury and his pet dog, and Drury just isn’t in the movie all that much.
Yup, when all is said and done, when summing up THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE, it’s pretty clear that regarding this movie, there simply isn’t a lot… to see.
HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945) is the second of the Universal Monster series to feature all three of the major Universal monsters, Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Frankenstein Monster. It’s also the last of the serious movies in the series, as the next one also starred Bud Abbott and Lou Costello— but that’s no knock, as ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) is a better movie than both HOUSE OF DRACULA and its monster-fest predecessor, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944).
HOUSE OF DRACULA is also the fifth Universal DRACULA movie, the seventh Universal FRANKENSTEIN movie, and the fourth Universal WOLF MAN movie. There’ll be a math quiz right after the column!
The jury is still out as to which of the two Universal monster party movies, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN or HOUSE OF DRACULA, is the better film. In my conversations with horror writers, film critics, and fans, it’s pretty much even-steven. I slightly prefer HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, for a number of reasons, chief of which is it stars Boris Karloff as the menacing Dr. Niemann, and his evil presence is missed in HOUSE OF DRACULA.
One way that HOUSE OF DRACULA is superior to HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN is its Dracula scenes. John Carradine enjoys his best on-screen moments as Dracula in this movie. While I’m not a big fan of Carradine’s noble and well-mannered Dracula, I do like him here. In fact, he gets most of the movie’s best moments. His conversation with his intended victim Miliza Morelle (Martha O’Driscoll) at the piano is mesmerizing, and later, when Dracula attempts to abduct her from the home of Dr. Edlemann (Onslow Stevens), director Erle C. Kenton pulls out all stops and imbues the sequence with plenty of suspense, complete with on-target music beats for the Dracula/bat transformations for maximum effect.
Unfortunately, like HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN before it, HOUSE OF DRACULA kills off Dracula way too early in the movie. While the undead Count survives a bit longer here in HOUSE OF DRACULA, he’s gone for the entire second half of the movie, which is too bad, since he was clearly the best part of the first half. Edward T. Lowe Jr. , who wrote the screenplays for both HOUSE movies, for some reason keeps the monsters separate for the most part, with minimal interaction. That’s one of the best parts and reasons why ABBOT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN is clearly the superior movie of the three, as the three monsters interact more and have ample screen time.
In HOUSE OF DRACULA…or as it could also be known as, DR. EDLEMANN’S GENERAL HOSPITAL FOR MONSTERS, Count Dracula (John Carradine) shows up at the home of Dr. Edlemann (Onslow Stevens) seeking a cure from vampirism… or so he says! He’s really there because he’s got his fangs…er, sights, set on the lovely nurse Miliza (Martha O’Driscoll) who he had met some time earlier and hence followed her back to the home of Dr. Edlemann, where she works. And evidently lives. Stalker! Night stalker, that is!
Anyway, Dr. Edlemann, being the kind-hearted doctor that he is, agrees. A short time later, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) arrives at the castle seeking a cure from lycanthropy. The doctor tells him no, that he is too busy trying so save Dracula, and he can only handle one monster at a time. Besides he’s not part of the network of doctors on Talbot’s health plan… no, I’m joking, of course! Edleman agrees to help Talbot as well.
Frustrated and impatient, Talbot attempts to kill himself by leaping from a cliff into the ocean below. Edlemann believes Talbot may have survived the plunge (of course he survived! He’s the Wolf Man! He can’t die! Which of course begs the question, what the heck was Talbot thinking by jumping in the first place? I guess he just wanted to go for a swim). Anyway, Edlemann makes his way down to the caves by the ocean, and there discovers the Wolf Man, who nearly rips out his throat, but strangely and without explanation, the Wolf Man changes back into Larry Talbot and all is well.
As they make their way through the caves, they discover the ailing body of the Frankenstein Monster (Glenn Strange) along with the skeletal remains of Dr. Niemann. So… Dr. Edlemann brings the Monster into his castle as well, and now he is taking care of three monsters at the same time!
As stories go, the one told in HOUSE OF DRACULA is pretty weak. It’s just an excuse to get the three monsters in one movie. The screenplay by Edward T. Lowe Jr. is not a strength.
While the appearance of the Frankenstein Monster is explained when he is discovered still alive with the skeletal remains of Dr. Niemann, no mention is made at all of how either Dracula or the Wolf Man overcame their deaths in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. They just show up, as right as rain.
As I said, Dracula fares best here, and John Carradine as Dracula delivers the best performance in the movie. Again the decision to kill him off midway through the movie is a puzzling one. As such, the first half of HOUSE OF DRACULA is really good, while the second half loses quite a bit of steam. Before he is destroyed, Dracula mixes his blood with Dr. Edlemann’s, and the result is the doctor turns into an evil Mr. Hyde-like creation, going into the village and wreaking havoc. A good deal of screen time is spent on this character, which works against the movie. It would have been far more interesting had Dracula continued to be the main menace in this one.
And while the big news in HOUSE OF DRACULA is that Dr. Edlemann proves to be the best doctor ever!!!…as his attempt to cure Larry Talbot of lycanthropy is… wait for it, wait for it!… is successful! Yes, in HOUSE OF DRACULA, Talbot is cured and walks away free from his curse of being the Wolf Man! The truth of the matter is however that Lon Chaney Jr. enjoys some of his worst moments as the Wolf Man right here in HOUSE OF DRACULA.
The Wolf Man scenes are few and ineffective. The best sequence, in the cave, where he attacks Dr. Edlemann, is marred by the ridiculous and inexplicable moment when he suddenly turns back into a human! Also, Larry Talbot’s scenes are among the worst in the entire series, as he’s stuck saying only his stock cliche lines of “living the life of the damned,” woe is me, blah, blah, blah. His scenes in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN were far better, and his brief love story with the gypsy woman was exceptional. Nothing like that here in HOUSE OF DRACULA. And in terms of acting, it’s one of Chaney’s weakest performances as the character. In fact, after this movie, his contract with Universal was not renewed.
Anyway, he was cured!
The Frankenstein Monster scenes are also negligible, as once again the Monster spends most of the movie lying on his back on a table unable to move until he’s zapped with electricity, to rise for a few seconds, before being killed off again in the film’s finale. Glenn Strange played the Monster three times, and it’s not until ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN that he actually gets to enjoy some decent moments in the role.
In the climax to HOUSE OF DRACULA, there is a little bit of suspense as the cured Larry Talbot emerges as the hero and confronts the newly revived Frankenstein Monster, and since fans had followed this sympathetic character through several movies, there’s some suspense wondering if Talbot would survive or succumb to the Monster. And since the fiery climax in the castle is actually footage from the end of THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942), in which Chaney played the Monster, in this film, as Talbot and the Monster, he’s basically fighting against himself!
Erle C. Kenton directed HOUSE OF DRACULA, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN. HOUSE OF DRACULA is the weakest of the three. It’s also incredibly quick, clocking in at just 67 minutes. This one could have been fleshed out way more.
Lionel Atwill appears here once again as yet another police inspector, Police Inspector Holtz. Sadly, Atwill was suffering from lung cancer during production, and it shows. He would die a few months later.
HOUSE OF DRACULA also lacks any memorable female roles. Both Martha O’Driscoll as nurse Miliza, and Jane Adams as the hunchbacked nurse Nina fail to make much of an impact. In fact, they generally share the worst scenes in the film, unfortunately.
And a quick shout out goes to character actor Skelton Knaggs who nearly steals the movie as grumbling villager Steinmuhl. “Dr. Edelmann killed my brother.” When Knaggs says that, he’s scarier than any of the monsters in this one!
Taken as a whole, HOUSE OF DRACULA is a tepid entry in the Universal monster series. But its Dracula scenes are very, very good, and John Carradine gets to shine as the character, until sadly, the sun shines on him, turning him into dust once again, strangely right in the middle of the movie he was dominating so easily!
So, when visiting the HOUSE OF DRACULA, it’s highly recommended you spend time in the Dracula wing.
That is, before he develops a pair of wings and flies away as a bat!
And on that note, it’s time to say so long, before things get really… batty!
Today’s PICTURE OF THE DAY comes from James Whale’s classic THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933), and it’s the initial appearance of the Invisible Man, which remains for my money, one of the best first entrance scenes of any of the classic Universal Monsters.
The locals are all huddled together at the neighborhood pub, drinking and having a grand old time while a snowstorm rages outside, when the door opens, letting in both the howling blizzard winds and a strange man wrapped in bandages. The atmosphere in this scene is off the charts creepy.
This entrance is up there with the first time we see the Monster (Boris Karloff) in FRANKENSTEIN (1931), also directed by James Whale, and when Dracula (Bela Lugosi) appears for the first time at the top of the castle stairs in Tod Browning’s DRACULA (1931).
Claude Rains is superb as the titular character, playing a menacing monster mostly by just using his voice, since the character is invisible! THE INVISIBLE MAN also features spectacular visual effects for its time.
I often consider THE INVISIBLE MAN to be Universal’s most overlooked classic, as you don’t usually hear it mentioned in the same conversation with DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN, or THE WOLF MAN (1941), or even THE MUMMY (1932) for that matter. But it’s an exceptional film, filled with both humor and some truly frightening scenes. The murder of Dr. Kemp always gets me.
And the Invisible Man’s initial appearance, shown above, is one of classic horror cinema’s most effective and chilling scenes. Not bad for a sequence which occurs in the opening moments of the movie!
It’s always cozy to be indoors during a snowstorm, unless the door opens letting in first a chilling wind followed by a mysterious stranger wrapped in bandages!
But long before I called them horror movies, I referred to them as Monster Movies. As a kid, it was rare that I would say “I’m going to watch a horror movie.” Instead, it was “time to watch a monster movie!”
Part of this may have been the influence of reading the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, and enjoying all of Forry Ackerman’s affectionate coverage of movie monsters. But the other part certainly was most of the time I was watching movies that had monsters in them!
And so today, I’d like to celebrate some of these monsters, specifically the Frankenstein Monster. Here’s a look at the Frankenstein Monster in the two most important Frankenstein film series, the Universal and Hammer Frankenstein movies, and I rank each Monster performance with the Monster Meter, with four brains being the best and zero brains being the worst. Okay, here we go.
The Universal series:
The Monster (Boris Karloff) in FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
FRANKENSTEIN (1931) – The Monster – ?- Sure, he was listed in the credits this way, but we all know by now that it was Boris Karloff playing the monster in this original shocker by Universal studios. It was the role that made Karloff a household name, and rightly so. It still remains my all-time favorite Frankenstein Monster performance. Karloff captures the perfect balance between an innocent being recently born with the insane violence of an unstoppable monster. There are several sequences in this movie where Karloff’s Monster is so violent and brutally powerful it still is frightening to watch.
Monster Meter: Four brains.
THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) – The Monster – Karloff. This time he was so famous that his name was listed in the credits as only Karloff, but again, it was Boris Karloff playing the role of the Monster in a movie that many critics hail as the best of the Universal Frankenstein movies. It’s certainly more ambitious than FRANKENSTEIN. And Karloff does more with the role, as the Monster even learns how to speak. I still slightly prefer FRANKENSTEIN, but I will say that Karloff’s performances in these two movies are probably the most powerful performances of the Monster ever put on film.
Monster Meter: Four brains.
SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) – The Monster – Boris Karloff. The third and last time Karloff played the Monster was the least effective. While the film is elaborate and features big budget sets and a stellar cast that also includes Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi, and Lionel Atwill, this film begins the sad trend in the Universal Frankestein movies where the Monster simply didn’t do as much as he did in the first two movies. Here, he’s a patient on a slab for most of the film, and once he becomes active, he’s a far cry from the Monster we saw in the first two movies. He doesn’t even speak anymore.
Monster Meter: Three brains.
The Monster (Lon Chaney Jr. ) in THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942)
THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942) – The Monster – Lon Chaney Jr. As much as I like Lon Chaney Jr., I don’t really like his interpretation of the Monster here. He takes over the role from Boris Karloff, and although he means well, he just doesn’t possess Karloff’s instincts. The attempt is made to make the Monster more active again, but Chaney simply lacks Karloff’s unpredictable ferocity and sympathetic understanding. I will say that this is the one time where Chaney disappoints as a monster, as he of course owned Larry Talbot/The Wolfman, made an effective Dracula in SON OF DRACULA (1943), and I thought played a very frightening Kharis the Mummy in his three MUMMY movies.
Monster Meter: Two brains.
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943) – The Monster- Bela Lugosi. Lugosi turned down the role in 1931 because the Monster had no dialogue, a decision that haunted the rest of his career, as the film instead launched the career of Boris Karloff who went on to largely overshadow Lugosi as the king of horror over the next two decades. This should have been an awesome role for Lugosi. It made perfect sense story wise, for at the end of the previous film, THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, the brain of the manipulative Ygor (Lugosi) was placed inside the Monster. In FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN, the Monster was supposed to speak with Ygor’s voice, and be blind, but all his dialogue was cut as were references to the Monster’s blindness. The story goes that because of World War II, Universal balked at having a Frankenstein Monster talking about taking over the world. The sad result was the film makes Lugosi’s performance look silly, as he goes about with his arms outstretched in front of him, walking tentatively. He was doing this of course because he was blind! But the film cut all references to this, and the audience had no idea at the time what the heck was up with Lugosi’s Monster.
Monster Meter: Two and a half brains.
HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) – The Monster – Glenn Strange – Strange takes over the Monster duties here, in Universal’s first monster fest, also featuring Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolf Man, and John Carradine as Dracula. Boris Karloff returns to the series here as the evil Dr. Niemann. Strange is an okay Monster, but he doesn’t have a whole lot to do.
Monster Meter: Two brains.
HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945) – The Monster – Glenn Strange – Strange returns as the Monster in Universal’s second Monster romp.
Monster Meter: Two brains.
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) – The Monster – Glenn Strange – The third time is the charm for Glenn Strange as he gives his best performance as the Monster in this Abbott and Costello comedy which in addition to being hilariously funny is also one of Universal’s best Monster movies! The Monster even talks again! Notable for Bela Lugosi’s return as Dracula, and also once more features Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolf Man. Look fast for Chaney as the Frankenstein Monster in the sequence where he tosses the nurse out the window, as he was filling in for an injured Glenn Strange at the time!
Monster Meter: Three brains.
The Hammer series:
The Creature (Christopher Lee) in THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)
THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) – The Creature – Christopher Lee. The Hammer Frankenstein series, unlike the Universal series, focused on Victor Frankenstein, played by Peter Cushing, rather than on the Monster. Each Hammer Frankenstein flick featured a different Monster. Poor Christopher Lee received no love back in the day, and his performance as the Creature was widely panned by critics. But you know what? Other than Karloff’s performance in the first two Universal films, Lee delivers the second best performance as a Frankenstein creation! Lee’s Creature is an insane killer, and darting in and out of the shadows, he actually has more of a Michael Meyers vibe going on in this film than a Boris Karloff feel. With horrifying make-up by Philip Leakey, it’s a shame that this Creature only appeared in this one movie. On the other hand, it kinda makes Lee’s performance all the more special. It’s one not to miss!
Monster Meter: Three and a half brains.
THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958) – The Monster/Karl – Michael Gwynn. This sequel to THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN is one of the most intelligent Frankenstein moves ever made. It has a thought-provoking script and phenomenal performances, led by Peter Cushing, reprising his role as Baron Victor Frankenstein. The only trouble is this one forgot to be scary. Plus, the Monster, played here by Michael Gwynn, pales in comparison to Lee’s Creature in the previous film.
Monster Meter: Two brains.
THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN (1964) – The Creature – Kiwi Kingston – The Hammer Frankenstein movie most influenced by the Universal series, with the make-up on Australian wrestler Kiwi Kingston reminiscent of the make-up on the Universal Monster. Not a bad entry in the series, but not a very good one either. This one has more action and chills than REVENGE, but its plot is silly and no where near as thought-provoking or as adult as the plots of the first two films in the series.
Monster Meter: Two brains.
FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967) – Christina – Susan Denberg – The Creature in this one is as the title says, a woman, played here by Playboy model Susan Denberg. A good looking— no pun intended— Hammer production that is largely done-in by a weak script that doesn’t make much sense when you really think about it. The best part of this one is the dynamic between Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein and Thorley Walter’s Doctor Hertz, who capture a sort of Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson vibe in this one.
Monster Meter: Two brains.
His brain is in someone else’s body. Dr. Brandt/Professor Richter (Freddie Jones) seeks revenge against Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) in FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969).
FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969) – Professor Richter- Freddie Jones – By far, the darkest and most violent of the Hammer Frankenstein movies, and certainly Peter Cushing’s most villainous turn as Baron Frankenstein. For a lot of fans, this is the best of the Hammer Frankenstein series. It also features a neat script involving brain transplants, and Freddie Jones delivers an exceptional performance as a man whose brain has been transplanted into another man’s body. The scene where he returns home to try to convince his wife, who believes her husband is dead after seeing his mangled body, that he is in fact her husband, that his brain is inside another man’s body, is one of the more emotional scenes ever put in a Frankenstein movie. This one didn’t perform well at the box office and is said to have been director Terence Fisher’s biggest disappointment, as he believed this was a superior film and would be a big hit. The years have proven him right, but at the time, it was not considered a successful Hammer Film. Christopher Lee once said in an interview that he believed this film flopped because it didn’t really have a monster in it, and that’s what fans really wanted. I believe Lee’s observation to be correct.
Monster Meter: Three brains.
THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (1970) – The Monster – David Prowse – Hammer decided to remake THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN with Ralph Bates playing Victor Frankenstein and David Prowse playing the Monster. Unfortunately, this is the worst of the Hammer Frankensteins by a wide margin. David Prowse would go on of course to play Darth Vader in the STAR WARS movies.
Monster Meter: One brain.
FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (1974) – The Monster – David Prowse. Peter Cushing returns as Baron Frankenstein for the last time in what is essentially a poor man’s remake of THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Prowse plays a different Monster than the one he played in THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN, and by doing so, he becomes the only actor to play a monster more than once in a Hammer Frankenstein Film. This one is all rather mediocre, and since it’s the final film in the series, it’s somewhat of a disappointment as it’s a weak way to finish a superior horror franchise.
Monster Meter: Two brains.
And there you have it. A look at the Frankenstein Monster in the Universal and Hammer series.
Thanks for reading!
—Michael
Books by Michael Arruda:
DARK CORNERS, Michael Arruda’s second short story collection, contains ten tales of horror, six reprints and four stories original to this collection.
Waiting for you in Dark Corners are tales of vampires, monsters, werewolves, demonic circus animals, and eternal darkness. Be prepared to be both frightened and entertained. You never know what you will find lurking in dark corners.
TIME FRAME, science fiction novel by Michael Arruda.
How far would you go to save your family? Would you change the course of time? That’s the decision facing Adam Cabral in this mind-bending science fiction adventure by Michael Arruda.
IN THE SPOOKLIGHT, movie review collection by Michael Arruda.
Michael Arruda reviews horror movies throughout history, from the silent classics of the 1920s, Universal horror from the 1930s-40s, Hammer Films of the 1950s-70s, all the way through the instant classics of today. If you like to read about horror movies, this is the book for you!
FOR THE LOVE OF HORROR, first short story collection by Michael Arruda.
Print coverEbook cover
Michael Arruda’s first short story collection, featuring a wraparound story which links all the tales together, asks the question: can you have a relationship when your partner is surrounded by the supernatural? If you thought normal relationships were difficult, wait to you read about what the folks in these stories have to deal with. For the love of horror!
Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis in THE MUMMY’S GHOST (1944).
I have a soft spot for the Universal movies featuring Kharis the Mummy.
They’re not widely considered Universal’s best, but I’ve always enjoyed them, and even though Kharis might lose a foot race to Michael Myers, I’ve always found him creepy and frightening, especially when played by Lon Chaney Jr., which he was in three of the four films to feature the character.
All this being said, THE MUMMY’S GHOST (1944), the third film in the Kharis series and the second to star Chaney, is probably my least favorite of the series, which is funny, because for a lot of folks it’s their pick for the best of the bunch. But not for me, and the main reason for my lack of love for this one— don’t get me wrong, I still like this movie—is it’s just not as memorable as the other films in the series. It just sort of goes through the motions. THE MUMMY’S TOMB (1942) contained one of the best endings in the entire series, and THE MUMMY’S CURSE (1944) took place in the Louisiana swamps which added a unique flavor and made Kharis even creepier as he lurked in and out of the bayou.
But THE MUMMY’S GHOST does have Lon Chaney Jr., and that’s a plus.
THE MUMMY’S GHOST opens with the so-old-he’s-going-to-keel-over-any-second Egyptian high priest Andoheb (George Zucco) giving instructions to yet another high priest Yousef Bey (John Carradine). Bey’s mission is to travel to the U.S., specifically to Massachusetts, and there retrieve the bodies of Kharis the mummy and the mummified princess, whose remains are inside a museum there. Even though we saw Kharis supposedly perish in a fire at the end of THE MUMMY’S TOMB, it’s hinted at in this film that he can’t really die, which is convenient, because the first time we see Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.) in this movie, he just sort of emerges from the woods, with no explanation as to how he escaped the fire in the previous movie.
In Massachusetts, the story revolves around two college students, Tom (Robert Lowery) and his girlfriend Amina (Ramsay Ames), who we learn is part Egyptian. Cue dramatic music! Yousef Bey arrives, finds Kharis, brews the all important tana leaves, nine to be exact, to keep his favorite Mummy fit and strong, and together they plan to steal the mummified body of the princess Ananka, which makes Kharis happy since he’s finally going to see his long lost girlfriend again. But alas, when they attempt to remove the body, it crumples to dust, which infuriates Kharis, and he reacts by nearly tearing down the museum!
But not to worry, it’s discovered that the spirit of Ananka is now living inside Amina! And so, Kharis and Yousef Bey change their plans and go after Amina, and all is going well for them too, until once again the high priest messes things up. Yes, Yousef Bey falls in love with Amina and decides he wants her for himself. I can just see Kharis rolling his eyes in disgust: every time a high priest is sent to help him, the result is the same, the priest falls in love with a woman and screws up the mission. It’s true!
THE MUMMY’S GHOST does have one of the better casts in the series, and it’s loaded with veteran character actors, including Frank Reicher, known to horror fans as Captain Englehorn in both KING KONG (1933) and SON OF KONG (1933). Reicher plays a college professor named Norman who is an Egyptian scholar, a role he reprised from the previous film, THE MUMMY’S TOMB. He has a bit more screen time here in GHOST, and gets to enjoy one of the better scenes in the film. It’s just a small bit, where he converses with his wife after a long night of researching, but it’s such a sincere loving moment, it makes his death at the hands of Kharis moments later all the more frightening and sad.
Robert Lowery play the male romantic lead Tom, and he’s decent enough. A few years later Lowery would play Batman in the serial BATMAN AND ROBIN (1949). Ramsay Ames plays Amina, and she’s okay but her performance has never really wowed me.
Likewise the great John Carradine is just meh here as Yousef Bey. It’s still fun to see him though. And George Zucco makes the most of his brief scenes early on as the aged Andoheb.
This is the second time Lon Chaney Jr. played Kharis, and I think it’s his least effective. The make-up simply isn’t as spooky looking as it was in THE MUMMY’S TOMB, and Kharis simply doesn’t have all that many memorable moments here. In fact, in this movie, Kharis seems to be slower than ever, as there are too many scenes where we just see him walking. Walking. And walking. He’s much scarier when he’s murdering. Now, that does happen here in THE MUMMY’S GHOST, but for some reason these scenes don’t resonate as well as similar scenes in the other movies.
Sadly, director Reginald Le Borg just doesn’t really craft many scary scenes here.
Also, when the hero of your movie is a dog, that’s not a good thing. Kharis steals the body of Amina, and Tom and the authorities are clueless, until Tom’s dog barks to him and leads him and the police on a chase to hunt down Kharis!
Where is he, boy? Where is Kharis? Take us to him!
Er, no.
But that’s sort of what happens in this one.
The screenplay by Griffin Jay, Henry Sucher, and Brenda Weisberg does contain the interesting element of the princess Ananka’s soul entering Amina’s body, and does set up a somewhat memorable conclusion where Kharis carries Amina into the swamps as her body undergoes a frightening transformation. In fact, this is the part of the movie that most fans cite as being their favorite. For me, it’s too little too late. Hammer Films would borrow heavily from this conclusion for their Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee remake THE MUMMY (1959) only without the frightening transformation.
Sucher and Jay also wrote the screenplay to the previous film in the series, THE MUMMY’S TOMB. and Jay wrote the screenplay to one of my favorite Bela Lugosi movies, THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943). Both those screenplays are better than the one for THE MUMMY’S GHOST.
And while it’s not explicitly said in the movie, the ghost in the film’s title probably refers to the ghost of Ananka whose spirit takes up residence inside the body of Amina.
At the end of the day, THE MUMMY’S GHOST is still an opportunity to see Kharis the Mummy strut his stuff, and for me, especially during the lazy hazy days of summer, that’s a good thing.
Continuing my summer series of writing poems inspired by the Universal classic monster series, and after having penned poems based on FRANKENSTEIN (1931), DRACULA (1931), and THE WOLF MAN (1941), today we venture into Egypt for poems inspired by THE MUMMY (1932).
THE MUMMY is often the forgotten film in the Universal monster franchise, which is too bad because except for its sloppy conclusion, it’s a superior film technically to both DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, thanks to the eerie camerawork of director Karl Freund. It also features one of Boris Karloff’s best screen performances, as the undead mummy ImHoTep. And until some of the more recent MUMMY movies, ImHoTep was unique in that he shed his bandages and became a speaking character, a memorable monster thanks to Karloff’s masterful performance.
Without further hesitation, here are some poems inspired by THE MUMMY:
The Mummy is brought to life. So much fun that poor Ralph (Bramwell Fletcher) cracks up and dies laughing.
“Poor Ralph”
He
Went
For a
Little walk.
You should have seen his
Face! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!
Imhotep (Boris Karloff) showing Helen (Zita Johann) glimpses of her past.
“Pool of Dreams”
Look!
You
will not
remember
what I show you now.
Memories of love, crime, and death!
“Immortal Love”
My
love
lasted
longer than
temples of our gods.
No man suffered as I for you.
Doctor Muller (Edward Van Sloan) and Imhotep (Boris Karloff) tussle over the scroll.
“The Scroll of Thoth Reclaimed”
The
scroll
is here,
in that room!
Now tell that weak fool
to hand it to the Nubian!
“Doctor Muller’s Warning”
Come
out
under
the stars of
Egypt. Put it back.
Bury it where you found it. Now.
“Imhotep Discovered”
Spells
chipped
away.
Imhotep
sentenced to death not
only in this world but the next!
“Helen’s Lament”
I
am
Anck-es-
en-Amon.
Somebody else, too!
Save me from the mummy! It’s dead!
Well, there you have it. Some poems penned by me inspired by THE MUMMY. Hope you enjoyed them! I know I’m having fun writing them.
No poetry slams for this guy, as the Monster (Boris Karloff) in FRANKENSTEIN (1931) didn’t speak.
FRANKENSTEIN FIBONACCIS
In addition to writing movie reviews and fiction, I also teach middle school English. April was National Poetry month, and so my students have been reading and writing poetry this past month. I love teaching poetry, and I write it for fun, but it’s not something I do a whole lot.
However, I’ve been writing more poetry of late, and I thought now would be a good time to show off a few. Just for fun.
One of the forms I’ve enjoyed this year, as have my students, is based on the Fibonacci sequence, a form that poet Linda Addison spoke of this past summer at Necon.
Here are a few of my Fibonacci poems, inspired by the Universal Frankenstein movies. Fibonacci poems follow the Fibonacci sequence: 1,1,2,3,5, 8, and so on. In poetry, each number corresponds to the number of syllables in each line.
Enjoy!
In THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) the Monster (Boris Karloff) did speak, and spoke of life and death, and what that meant to him.
THE MONSTER
Friend
Good
Flames Bad
Frankenstein
Made Me Live From Dead
Love Dead, Hate Living, Belong Dead!
Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) screams two of the most famous words in horror movie history, “It’s Alive!” in FRANKENSTEIN (1931).
HENRY FRANKENSTEIN
Sit
Down
Alive
It’s Alive!
A body I made
With my own hands, with my own hands!
In SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, Bela Lugosi steals the show as Ygor, the shady shepherd who survived a hanging, punishment for stealing bodies— “they, said!”
THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020) is a clever and creative re-imagining of the Invisible Man tale, of both the classic Universal Invisible Man movies, and of H.G. Wells’ famous novel, on which all of these movies are based.
Writer/director Leigh Whannell changes the focus of the story and places it on a young woman Cecilia “Cece” Kass (Elisabeth Moss) who is trapped in an abusive relationship which only gets worse when her husband fakes his own death and makes himself invisible, giving him unlimited power to torment her relentlessly. It adds a whole new layer to the story and gives new meaning to “he said, she said,” since obviously no one believes her story.
My only question when all was said and done was why? Why go through all the trouble of faking your own death and making yourself invisible if your only goal was to torture your wife? The movie does give a reason for his motives, but it still doesn’t change the fact that this is an incredibly convoluted way of getting what he wants.
When THE INVISIBLE MAN opens, a frightened Cece escapes from her abusive husband Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and is whisked away to safety by her sister Emily (Harriet Dyer). Cece is so fearful of Adrian, that even when she is staying with Emily’s friend James (Aldis Hodge) who’s a cop, and his teenage daughter Sydney (Storm Reid) she can’t bring herself to step out of the house, terrified that her husband will find her.
But a short time later, the news breaks that Adrian committed suicide, which strikes Cece as odd since he was always in control, and taking his own life would be the last thing she’d expect him to do. Anyway, he leaves her a ton of money, and all seems well, until Cece begins to feel his presence around her, and then strange things begin to happen.
Cece becomes convinced that Adrian faked his own death and has found a way to become invisible. Of course, her story is completely unbelievable and makes her sound crazy, as if Adrian got inside her head and scarred her so badly that she’s now having delusions that he’s still alive. So, she sets out to prove she’s right, but before she can do so, there’s a vicious murder and when she is seen with the bloody knife in hand, her defense that it was an invisible man and not her, all but seals her fate.
I really liked this new version of THE INVISIBLE MAN. It’s smart and scary and provides a fresh new way of telling the story. The only thing I didn’t like, as I already said, is I thought the plot was a bit too contrived. Why a man would go to all this trouble to get what he ultimately wants is a head scratcher. There are far easier ways to get the same result.
Still, the screenplay by Leigh Whannell is a good one. Whannell, who wrote the SAW movies and the INSIDIOUS films, has written his most ambitious screenplay yet with THE INVISIBLE MAN. Making it a story about an abused wife living in horrific fear of her abuser husband adds an entirely different element to the tale and makes it that much scarier.
Speaking of which, that’s one of my favorite parts of THE INVISIBLE MAN, that the film is scary. While I’ve enjoyed Leigh Whannell’s screenplays, I did not enjoy his directorial debut with INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 3 (2015), the first film in the INSIDIOUS series that I didn’t really like. But he more than makes up for it here with THE INVISIBLE MAN.
I don’t get scared easily at the movies, but there are a couple of scenes in this one which made me jump. There’s a nice contrast between silence and noise here. When Cece senses something is wrong, it’s dead silent. She feels someone in the room with her but she can’t see him, and so she keeps perfectly still, relying on her other senses, hearing and smell, and so you have scenes that go from silence to terror, and they really work.
The underlying theme of the entire movie, the abused wife, keeps the audience unsettled throughout and enhances the traditional horror movie elements, which also work really well.
I wish the movie had played up the plot point of whether or not the invisible man is real, or is Cece just going psycho? I found this aspect of the story fascinating, but the film only flirts with this for a while before making it clear that yup, there’s an invisible guy on the loose.
I’ve been a fan of Elisabeth Moss since her days on MAD MEN (2007-15), and of course she now stars in THE HANDMAID’S TALE (2017-2020). She’s excellent here as the tormented Cece. The film is mostly about her, and Moss is convincing throughout. She does ask a question which also unfortunately remains unanswered, when she asks Adrian, “Why me?” He could have had any woman in the world. Why was he obsessed with her? The film doesn’t really provide an answer, which is one of the weaknesses of the movie.
The Invisible Man himself Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) isn’t developed at all. We know little about him. He just comes off as a jerk who happens to be a genius. In a way, this makes sense. Do we really want a back story for vicious wife abuser? Not really. But compared to Claude Rains in the original THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) who stole that movie with his crazed voice in spite of never being seen since he was invisible, Oliver Jackson-Cohen is barely a blip on the monster meter. Jackson-Cohen was much more memorable as troubled brother Luke on the Netflix series THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018-2020).
Strangely, more villainous here is Adrian’s brother Tom, played with weasel-like coldness by Michael Dorman.
It’s worth noting that Leigh Whannell kept the name Griffin for the Invisible Man, which hearkens back to H.G. Wells’ novel and the classic Universal Invisible Man movies of the 1930s and 1940s.
Aldis Hodge is excellent as police detective James Lanier, as is Harriet Dyer as Cece’s sister Emily. Storm Reid is also very good as James’ daughter Sydney.
The film also has a menacingly powerful music score by Benjamin Wallfisch, which really adds a lot to the tension in the story.
THE INVISIBLE MAN is a successful re-imagining of the Invisible Man story that adds layers and depth not present in previous tellings. That being said, it doesn’t always hold up to scrutiny, as it never convincingly makes its case for the reasons its main villain takes such a convoluted route to achieve his goal, but if you can look past this, you’ll enjoy this frightening new take on a classic science fiction horror tale.
This Is My Creation: The Blog of Michael Arruda 