The Invisible Man (2020) feat. Cody Wimmer

It's your killer host. My name is Parker, your resident horror fanatic. I'm this week Caroline and Anne are away on a killer vacation until they return from their murders free next week. Please enjoy this episode with a very special guest. Welcome to What's Your Favorite Scary Movie is a horror film podcast where we're on a journey to find our favorite scary movie one at a time. Whether you hate them or love them, join us and discover yours. Spoilers ahead, so plan your movie screening every weekend before the episode release. Wow, today's the day that I and a very special friend. That makes that sound weird, doesn't it? It does make it sound weird, yeah. Uh special guest for the podcast hit the town to see uh the new Invisible Man.

So everyone, round of applause for Cody Wimmer. Stop. Okay, you can stop applauding me. It's embarrassing for all of us. Uh you may remember Cody from our extra special episode last that wasn't summer, September on it chapter two. Welcome back. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me back. Oh my god. Okay, and the audience applauds wildly. It's crazy. So, um how have you been since last September? Back from the grave? Um, I did die famously. Yeah. Um, I faked my own death. Um what? Yeah, I faked my own death. It was a publicity stunt. Um and I'm back. Yeah, I'm currently speaking to nothing, just invisible. Well, visible error. I am the invisible man.

Um I'm as hot as him. You can't see me. You don't know. Ooh. Oh, are we both invisible to the listener? This movie has layers. Wow. That just blew my mind a little bit. Yeah. All right. Well, two invisible men coming at you right now um to discuss uh different invisible man. He keeps getting all the press, but I know. Um so, Cody, if you would like to, you can do a quick intro. Sure, sure, sure. Yeah, um, yeah, I'm Cody Wimmer. I am a uh comic comedian, whatever you want to call it, um, movie fan, actor. Um, I say I have half the hair, twice the heart. Um and um invisible hair. Invisible hair. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Invisible hair. And um I I grew up on a farm, and that's something I want the listeners to know. That's nice. Yeah. Um, you're also a fan of old movies. I love old movies. I yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I will regularly um spend my Friday nights when most people in New York are out party dancing, they're doing their drugs, they're, I don't know, they're twirling, I assume. Um I'm at home watching movies on the Criterion channel, um, or you know, just like um thinking about thinking like sitting in silence thinking about silent movies, not even watching them, just imagining them in my mind. Well, I was saying that to mention a movie that I think is neither silent nor on the Criterion channel, I don't believe.

Uh-huh. But uh the original The Invisible Man uh is old. It is, yeah, it is. It is pretty old. Um in the grand scheme of uh the history of cinema. Um it's yeah, it's a pretty early uh sound film, but also it's not silent. It's not silent. Um and also the effects in that movie are because you also watched it, right? Yeah, I did. Um and the effects in that movie are pretty okay. Yeah, I must say that is the oldest movie I've ever watched. It is from 1933, so here we are, uh 70, 80, 90 years later. Is that math correct? I I refuse to answer. 90 plus 30, 20. Mm-hmm. Wait, no. You know what I mean.

Um I he I'm gonna be really honest with you. My I have a degree. Um that degree is in acting. Oh. So all's in dancing. Well, I had to count, all I had to do was count to three. I had to count to eight. Oh, oof. Yeah, I know. Oof. For people who say that uh dancers are smarter than actors, they're right. They're all right. You have to count higher. The Invisible Man 1933, snooze. You know, it's in the past. Here we are. I I bicked a different about snooze, but but it is in the past. It is 90 years in the past. Maybe snooze isn't what I meant. We've decided 90 years, uh-huh. Yeah, and if it's not 90 years, then fuck you.

Yes, it is. Um so here we are, 2020, and that man is still invisible. Can't be seen. No. So 2020, the invisible man, written and directed by Lee Wanell, who everyone listening and you, Cody, probably remember and recognize as the writer and star of Saw from 2004. He returned to write Saw 2 and 3 and was also an actor in Saw 3 as well. The way I wrote that in my notes was not intuitive. Yeah, I mm-hmm. Uh he is ass also, honey. I saw a picture of him. I would not agree with that statement. But his wife, gorgeous. Gorgeous, gorgeous. Um, he's also an actor and writer for Insidious, Insidious II, Insidious Three, and Insidious IV, The Last Key.

Okay, okay. Now, he directed Insidious Chapter 3, and that was actually his debut as a feature director. He then got some further acclaim for writing and directing upgrade from 2018 and is set to direct. You might find this interesting, but I don't know actually. He is set to direct the upcoming remake of John Carpenter's Escape from New York. Ooh, I'm very excited by that. Okay. Yeah, I have not seen the original Escape from New York. I haven't in a while, I'll be honest. Um, but I have at some point. I think it was something that I watched like in high school whenever I was um just like uh doing being a carpenter completist. Right, exactly. Um, well, I just know that people really enjoy that film, and here I am in New York, so ready to escape.

So Lee Won L, I'm looking forward to it. Um, and that reminds me, just to set the record straight, speaking of John Carpenter, when you were here for it, chapter two, you claimed that your favorite scary movie is Halloween 1978. Correct. Uh so all these months later, has anything changed? Um no. Uh no. Because it's that's gonna be a tough one to overcome. Well, by the end of the episode, we'll see if uh we'll see what happens. As mentioned earlier, the Invisible Man is based on the 1933 film of the same name, uh, directed by James Whale and written by R. C. Sheriff, based on the novel by H. G. Wells. Have you read the novel?

I'm afraid I haven't. Neither have I, and I will never read another book. That's how committed I am to not reading that one. I'm not sure I followed that, but you know, I'm sure it was funny. It's not H. G. Wells famously, he so he wrote that, and he also he loved all of his like sci-fi nonsense. I mean, it's not nonsense, it's very good. He's read it, no. I am actually illiterate. Oh, oh yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to rub that in. Yeah, well, uh, yeah, because also, you know, War of the Worlds, um, the time machine. Yeah, HG Wells is doing all of it. Um The Time Machine? The Time Machine. Wow. Okay. Um I've heard of it.

I've actually read that one. Uh, but I was very young, and I think it was a young reader's edition. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I listen to sometimes there's my like uh meditation app has uh like a version that I can listen to to fall asleep. So sometimes I listen to that. I don't know, I feel like while I fall asleep. Um, this movie though, you know, all the way here in the year of 2020, uh starring Elizabeth Moss, who um, you know, has been like in movies since uh 1994, even before that, in 1992, she was the voice of the little girl in Frosty Returns. Did you know this? Uh I probably read it when I was making these notes, but just thought, oh, does that really matter?

That's my favorite Elizabeth Moss fact. Oh. So that's why I bring it up, is because uh I remember like watching that movie because it's like got John Goodman in it as Frosty, which is like okay, whatever. And then I was like, who is this little girl? And I was like, oh, it's Elizabeth Moss. Um, you know, I mean that was that's probably what catapulted her catapulted her first feature two years later. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um yeah, because that was obviously for TV, and then um, you know, obviously the mainstream Mad Men 2007. She's everywhere, yeah. She's in all of our homes. She's especially in all of our homes, you know, now with The Handmaid's Tale. Um and recently in Us.

Um, very good. Oh, don't get me started on us. Well, she was good. I didn't say that the movie was very good. I meant that she was very good in it. Yeah, she was. Everyone that acted in that movie was good at acting. I was about to say, are you about to highlight the white woman in us? No problematic. No, I'm not, I'm not trying to be canceled. I was about to say You're on the brink. I already can't read. Okay. Um So how would you even know? Exactly. Um so we've got her, we've also got um playing Adrian Griffin, Oliver, Jackson Cohen, who um, you know, was in Dracula, the 2013 series. Um only lost one season, but like pretty good.

Um you've seen it? Um no. Wow, you really I keep being like, oh wow, really? Give me some context. Uh, but okay, never mind. Well, I'm just I'm just telling the listeners the things that have happened. Um, he was in that, he was also in the haunting of Hill House. Um I stand. Which we do stand. Good. Good. Also heartbreaking character. Uh both old and young versions. The young version of his character in the Haunting of Hill House, I've never wanted a child, but my ovaries were I don't know what they I don't know the logistics of an ovary, but whatever they do when they want children, they were doing it for that character. Yeah, they go and then the an egg releases.

Oh. Yeah. Oh my god. Well, it rolled right out onto the floor and cracked open. And young Oliver Jackson Cohen in the haunting of Hill House crawled out with those massive glasses. Okay. Cute. Okay. Yeah, he is very cute. Um, also very handsome as an adult, proud of him for that. Um, and then we've also got um Aldous Hajj, who uh uh plays. You didn't even look up the name? I forgot. Oh, it's really right here. It's James. James? Yeah. James Lanier. Yeah, James. He's playing his James in this feature. Um I believe that is uh policeman James to you. Policeman James to me. Yeah. Um don't you forget it, honey. He actually looked like maybe he was a detective because he was in that investigation room.

And because he didn't wear like beat clothes. You know what I mean? He always wore like a button-up shirt. Like he was like Yeah, he's the one who comes in, he's like, he's like, hey, police, and they're like, really prove it, and he flips out that little thing. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, he you wouldn't know that he was a policeman except that he's got a gun. Well, yeah, because he was going to work when she was cooking that omelet and he was wearing like a button-up and slats. Right. I know this isn't the time to talk about this quite yet, but also like how inappropriate was it that whenever she spoiler alert for the movie, um, that whenever she is like being questioned about the murder of her sister, he was there.

I thought the exact same thing. I was like, I was like, this is inappropriate. He would not be there, and then he asked the other detective to leave it and starts crying. Right. Oh my god. I was like, I had the same thought. I was like, this is the American justice system is broken. I thought, in what world would this happen? Right. Um, but uh very good uh at acting, and also very good at acting in uh Straight Out of Compton, Hidden Figures, Die Hard with a Vengeance. Um yeah, yeah, yeah. And then also uh recently in uh What Men Want, now streaming on Amazon Prime. Oh which I did not watch, but he's in it.

Is that a recent film? Yeah, it's uh it's like it's like what women want, but the opposite. That's what I was thinking of. Because that's an older film. Yeah, that's older. That's like I think Mel Gibson, problematic. Um Mel Gibson. Don't bring him up on this podcast. I know, but this one's got Taraji P. Henson and uh Tracy Morgan, and it's very good. Yeah, well, this podcast is ready to be cancelled because on a recent episode, uh I there was just no way around it, but an R. Kelly song did make an appearance. Yeah, so if you were offended by that, I did write in the show notes that he still cancelled and that I hoped some that everyone could forgive us for it.

Right. So, like what if you had to summarize if you had to summarize like one of the movie is about the plot. Well, I might say that according to IMDB, the internet movie database, go on. Yeah, they claim that the summary of this film is when Cecilia's abusive ex takes his own life and leaves her his fortune. I have a feeling it was only a piece of that fortune. She suspects his death was a hoax. As a series of coincidences turn lethal, Cecilia works to prove that she is being haunted, but not haunted, but hunted. But kind of both. Both, yeah, by someone nobody can see. Would you say a synonym for that is uh invisible?

Invisible? I would say uh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Invisible means can't be seen. It means it means visible, but but the opposite. Invisible. Invisible, yeah. I might agree with that. Now, if you were to check rotten tomatoes.com as of March 1st, 2020. So when you're listening to this, it might have changed, it might have gone up, it might have gone down, who knows? Who can say? But as of March 1st, the critic's score is 90%. The audience score close behind at 89%. And their consensus is that quote Smart, well active, and above all scary, the invisible man proves that sometimes the classic source material for a fresh reboot can be hiding in plain sight. I don't know if I completely understand what they're trying to say there.

What do you it's just like it's like a I know it's like a joke, yeah. But the classic source material for a fresh reboot can be hiding in plain sight. I mean, I'm just saying, like, how does that diff like because yeah, the material for any reboot is, you know, what's the what's the meaning behind the joke? What makes this one fresh that's hiding in plain sight? Well, what makes it well, there's a lot of things that make it fresh, but I think that also it's like in comparison to like when they remade the mummy. Mm-hmm. Um famous, like it's mm. I I did not see, but I also heard it was bad. But the source material for that, also classic, also hiding in plain sight.

Sure. Yeah, I mean I'm not sure. That's what I'm saying. What are you trying to say, Rotten Tomatoes? I'm not saying that they this is the best their best work. Their best work obviously was for um the rot the critical consensus for cats 2019. What did it say? It said um something about putting you out of your musery. Oh my god. Yeah. You know, they're always on with these little puns, and sometimes I'm here for business. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So sometimes you just want to know. Well, anyway, I need to shake that off. It's off. Okay. Wow, Taylor. Taylor, you really shook it, shook it off. Yeah, I actually prefer Shake It Out by Florence and the Machine.

Okay, well, that's not what you said. Yeah. Well, I mean, now I'm shaking it out. Okay. Um, and you know what I want to shake out? Uh-huh. My first reaction to this movie having just left the movie theater. What was your first reaction? Well, let me tell you. On Twitter, because we are on Twitter at Scarymovie Pod, if you like want to follow me, whatever. Um, I follow a lot of other horror accounts. Uh, I follow a lot of horror journalists, a lot of people kind of abuzz with horror uh news and reviews and things. And this film, you know, uh loved, beloved, as we've heard from the critic score, a lot of people really like it.

90% of the critics who reviewed this film were favorable. So your your expectations going in were high. They were, they were. But that's not exactly what I'm it's a lot of hyperbole going on, like, oh, best move, like, but this is for every movie that came out. I mean, ugh, like I'm trying to remember what else has come out recently that was also the best movie ever made, but that seems to be what people are saying about everything that's like has any semblance of being good. Right. Um what I'm a little miffed about is how scary everyone was saying this movie was. And I think that it wasn't. Okay. I think it pulls off a lot of smart jumps that I did I did jump at and I enjoy.

I'm thinking specifically, I don't remember who it was, but somebody said something like, This movie features the most terrifying sequence I've ever seen in a movie. You'll know it when you see it. So the whole movie I was like, oh, when's the most terrifying sequence I've ever seen? And I don't think I could pinpoint a single sequence in this movie and be like, that was terrifying. Yeah, I I did not know it when I saw it, maybe because it was invisible. But also, um, no, I would agree. I would say that it was a um a tense experience. Like I found it to be um maybe not scary, but um suspenseful. Like I feel like they did that really well, and I feel like um a thing that I was worried about going into it was like the fact that you have a character who's invisible means that like you have to still somehow telephone their presence, you know what I mean?

And I was worried about that, um because again, it's a um visual medium. Um and but I felt like that uh that that was accomplished and that I was like um maybe not on the edge of my seat, but I was certainly scooting up there. Yeah, and I would actually agree with you that there were quite a few scenes where I felt, you know, my heart beating and I, you know, maybe a fist clenching or something. But once I actually thought about it, I realized that I wasn't actually scared of him. Right. I was more of just scared of, you know, the thrill of when we would, you know, something would happen. Right. So Well, yeah, and part of that is because I would say that uh he made it pretty clear that his that he like Elizabeth Moss was going to survive because he needed her alive so that he could manipulate her.

You know what I mean? I actually never thought about that until the end. Yeah. Um no, I was thinking about it kind of the whole time. I was like, okay, she's like in some danger, but also once he like like once we knew that she was pregnant, I was like, okay, well, you need to you need to cool it if you want the baby. Yeah, well that's what I think. The first thing she said is, Did they tell you you were pregnant? Right. And so I thought she was going to say that she lost it. Right. Um but because you know she did go through quite a scuffle. She went through yeah, a lot. But I guess no, she was still with child by the end.

Yeah, which was kind of left um unaddressed. We'll see, but I will say that I felt the stakes go up whenever. Um it was like clear that he was gonna go after um the family, that he was gonna go after um our uh the girl and James, and like going to that, that's when the stakes like picked up for me. Yeah, um was again, was it scary? I I don't know. Yeah. So that that's what I would say my first reaction was watching it was that like I'm not really scared right now, but I did enjoy it. I thought it was a good movie. I can't imagine being that excited to watch it a second time.

Um but now that I'm thinking about it actually with us chatting, I think the one piece that I was missing is the only reason that we are scared of Adrian is because Elizabeth Moss is telling us that he's bad. And now that I'm thinking about it, I was not scared of him the whole movie. It was more of just like, you know, the the anticipating the jump or whatever. Right. Um, and then we do see um, you know, hit what he's capable of eventually. But now that I'm thinking about it, I wish maybe there had been a bit more of like an inciting incident that we had seen. Um I mean, we did see, to be fair, we did see him punch through a car window.

Punch through a car window. Yeah. And the other thing that the other like counterpoint that I would make to that, because I I I had a similar thought, and like I feel you um in that like Well, because I think also because he's invisible, we're not seeing him do any of these horrible things. Right. So at the end, when she does uh see him again, I don't want to say that I was sympathetic to him, but since we hadn't seen him the whole movie, I was a little bit like, you know, maybe he's telling the truth. Well, that's that's the idea. Well, and that's yeah, because we're supposed to but it wasn't so much uncertain, it was just that I was like, oh, well, he looks sad, and he looks just because we have no reason so far besides him punching through the window to be like, oh, he was, you know, bad for her.

Well, but I think that that plays into a major theme of the movie, which is um believe women, yeah. Yeah, she's telling us he's bad, and like just because we can't always see that doesn't mean that it's not true. Yeah, no, and I definitely agree with you that that is a big point of the movie, and I was not trying to insert my misogyny. Right. Uh, I just wish that, you know, yeah, you know, and you've proven me wrong. I take it all back. No, I understand it's it's like a tricky um bit of filmmaking. Um again to have a character that is your antagonist that you literally cannot see, um, that still has to be a presence that um you are rooting against, but you have to like yeah, it's it's a weird thing to do whenever you can't like put a face to it.

Yeah, and actually I will say that I felt I felt the dislike uh and distrust and etc. for his brother, and we don't even see him that much, but I felt that he was a malevolent figure from the beginning. So now I am wondering like it is possible because you know we don't see him doing anything bad to her, but I yeah, hmm, I don't know what the solution is, and I don't think that the writing for this movie was bad, that's not what I'm saying at all. I just I don't know, I needed a little more so I think to get it to that place that I wanted where I was scared of the invisible man, right?

Uh, that I think would have done it. Yeah, I mean, I would say, I don't know, for me, like finding movies scary in general is like it's tough for me to be genuinely scared and affected. Like, usually in order to be scared, there has to be like a looming threat whenever I leave the theater, you know, like um it follows, like yeah, like it's like it could be anyone walking down the street following me, like you know, that sort of thing. Or like I do what's more scary than what you can't see though, right? Well, exactly, and that's like the the idea here, but we do have a we like wrapped it up. Although she took the suit, she's she it was actually the invisible woman at the door.

Yeah, she came in to slash you down for being such a misogynist. Well, it's true, yeah. I'm clearly call a woman, we need uh, you know, professional opinion, right? Um but no, I I agree, it's it's a it's a tough thing to have a character that you can't see, and that was a thing that I was worried about going in. But I feel like for me, um they largely succeeded in um making it clear that uh he's a threat, and like when that threat is present. Because there were some times where it was like you he could have easily not been in the room, but she like believed he was, and therefore he was, which is like I actually really loved that about this movie is that there were so many times where the camera would just like be on like nothing, nothing, and I would be like my eyes going around the screen, like what's gonna move, what's gonna move nothing would and I kind of liked that a lot, right?

Um, because there was one time at the very beginning where she is escaping the house and it pans from her over to an empty hallway, and I was kind of like, um, okay, why did that happen? And then it was kind of like something that happened throughout the movie where the movie would just show us stagnant settings, right, uh, or static settings, maybe is a better word. Um be and it's just us, you know, we're experiencing the same thing that Elizabeth Moss is in that moment where we're trying to find something that maybe isn't there, but maybe it's right. Well, yeah, and it like I I found that that was a really effective tool to like communicate to us that like yeah, that something might be there.

That like in like right now, I'm like looking down your hallway and like someone's standing there. I know, and my cat he sometimes just sits and stares at nothing, and we know that cats can see things we can't, so exactly. Even whatever the hell that suit was. I thought you were gonna make a cat's joke, so yeah, a little disappointed. You're referring to the suit that um Rebel Wilson was wearing that she unzipped and shed to reveal a second layer of skin. A second layer of skin, which is what I expected in this movie. I was like, okay, he's going to What if she had taken the suit off of the invisible man in hand and it was invisible underneath?

And the invisible man was wearing a suit to trick them. That would have been crazy. But but why? But that's the thing. It would have been it would have been crazy. I mean, that's the thing. We'll talk about it a little bit more later, but I uh as I'm remembering and understanding it in like the original movie, and I think in the book, uh, they like do some weird science things that like mess up their molecules or whatever so that they're invisible and evil. Um and here you've got a guy who's just bad. Yeah, evil without it. Evil without it, and then he's um doing a science suit on his body. Yeah. Well, and I think that's something that definitely is much more, you know, 21st century of this movie is that, you know, um a bad man doesn't need to be horribly mind-altered by science to do terrible things.

Like there just are bad men there. Bad, bad men, and some of them have beautiful houses. Yeah. And so I like that they kind of took that excuse away from him because there is in the original movie kind of a sympathetic love story going on with the invisible man. And I noticed while I was watching it, I was like, I do like this love story. I wish there was more tragic love story here. Right. Um, but at the same time, it's strange because the invisible man says some very not okay things in that original movie. Yeah. But we have to give him a little bit of an excuse to be like, no, it's the science that has made him say that, and it's not actually him.

He must be good at the heart. Right, right, right. Well, yeah, and also that like that original movie is trying to say something very different, just in general, and also like about science. This is and that's the thing, is like HG Wells is like pretty famous for like uh again War of the Worlds, like all that stuff is like kind of like in part like the hubris of science or whatever, you know what I mean? Um, and this they pretty quickly explain away, like he's a leader in the field of optics or something that they do not explain to us, which I'm like good, because I'm maybe. But they kind of did explain how he did it, right?

They did explain how he did it a little bit. Yeah, I liked that it was something potentially believable, right? It wasn't just like magic science, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but that wasn't like a focus of the movie, like like the technology is not what's bad. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, and actually something I had written down on the science point that I uh like is that in 1930, if you're thinking back to that time, science was kind of like an anything is possible thing, which I think really plays into why that movie is about mass hysteria, and it's just like everyone immediately immediately believes there's an invisible man, right? He's bad, and we need to stop him.

This movie in uh in 2020, now it's like we know what can be done, and we do not have the capacity to believe in, you know, quote, magic things like that. Right. And so I think that that really fuels the like we're discussing, the trusting women, and you know, this man has discovered something that we don't think he should be able to, and um, you know, nothing nothing is possible anymore outside of our realm of understanding. And so when something does, I've also been watching The Outsider on HBO, which is kind of the same thing where it's like having to ask people to believe in something that's even just slightly outside the realm of what they understand is not an option anymore.

Right. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, yeah, no one, no one is trying to believe Elizabeth Moss in this movie. No, even like even I didn't just now. Yeah. But gross misogynist man. It even at the beginning, like her sister comes and picks her up, and her sister seems to be a little bit annoyed even then. Yeah. Oh, and her sister says some not nice things. Her sister says some not nice things, but again, I think that that picks or like paints a um, unfortunately, uh like real depiction of you know, people who find themselves in these sort of cycles, um like can feel like a burden to their family, etc., if they're like trying to get out of these cycles, and their families likewise can like potentially feel um a type of way about it as well.

Yeah, and I think that that's something else that's a huge difference from where the original would be coming from, even though the original never touches on that. Obviously, there's no domestic abuse happening in the original. Um, but from that time period's, you know, thought process to now, you know, a huge thing that I feel like we've been seeing maybe in movies a little before now is just how, and in fact, by a little before we might I might be going back to like the 70s. Right. Uh, but how like you know, the immediate family or the nuclear family, if we're gonna get fancy, um is not necessarily, you know, priority number one, which kind of this movie shows both sides where the father, uh, what was his name?

James. James is like there to protect his daughter Sydney at all costs. Um, but I feel like I've been seeing a lot of like things going around Twitter and you know, Facebook being shared that's like just because they're your family doesn't mean that you are obligated to, you know, perpetuate living in a toxic situation. And her sister, while there are moments where it seems like her support is very good for Elizabeth Moss, you know, ultimately, which I guess if I had gotten an email that was like, Right, you know, I wish you were dead, never talk to me again, I'd be pretty upset too. But the things that she says that was like, I've never believed you.

Uh you what does she say? You've never been smart enough to see the right guys and you're too weak to leave the bad ones. That was just a real heartbreaker. Yeah. Um, and I think that that moment was a big statement about how you need to find the support system that's not necessarily the one you were born into. Right. And it also like I feel like paints are really um I keep using uh painting metaphor and image here, but here we are. Um I'm she's an artist. Um it like it it really says something too about um like I think a like way that people sometimes um see situations with um abuse and stuff, which is like just leave him.

Yeah, you know what I mean? And then obviously this movie like takes that on in a really big way because like yeah, he's always there. Um, but you know, that's she's giving voice to sort of that idea that was like, well, if he was so bad, then you would have just left him, which is incredibly crazy given that again she had to replace a car window because of him. Yeah, and I mean this movie also is a huge amplification of that uh situation where maybe not everybody has someone with the means to uh you know be everywhere in the world, and but you know, it's still a very real issue, just not on quite uh, you know, fantastical scale.

Right. Ugh. Also, I'm just like putting the pieces together. Obviously, she knew um this is nothing kind of to do with that, but I was just thinking about the fact that Elizabeth Moss, um, her character is like obviously a capable woman. She uh goes for an interview very capable, yeah. Very capable, um, goes f for a an interview at the um like architecture firm or whatever. And um, so like obviously that's what she's trained in or what she does. Um and I'm putting together the fact that again we like discussed a little bit before this started that they live in that very nice house. Yeah. Um, and she knows all the nooks and crannies and places to hide shit in there.

Did she design that house? I wouldn't think so because she said they met at a party. I mean, it'd be pretty quick to go from meeting at a party to design my house. That's well, they live they live together. I guess. Uh no, I I understand. I'm right. But an interesting no, I mean, interesting thought. We don't know how long they've been together. We do, because remember she puts the uh it's the code for the room with the invisible man suit. Um they met in December 2017, so they've been together for two years. Okay. Um yeah. So it's still it's still quick to design and build a house. I mean, they could have dated for a year and then designed the house, spent a year building it, and then there they are.

Right, right, right. Also, obviously, the house, if she designed it, she mm-mm. I've taken it all back because that's like a compound. Yeah, like you know, it was again we don't know the timeline. Maybe she was feeling okay about the relationship and then it spiraled down. Right, right, right. Yeah, who knows? Yeah, but yeah, it would not be super smart to be like, I'm going to design a prison to live in. Right. Um so kind of back to the beginning of the movie. I would like to start by saying that um when the opening credits were happening, waves crashing. Oh, I loved that. I hated it. Oh. I thought, oh no, this is already so stupid.

Uh, in case you have not seen it, the waves crash over a rock and then hit some invisible words that kind of drip away. I was not into that. I was like, that's silly. I mean, silly, yes. But here's the deal. I that's a thing that I mean, obviously, I love about the original that I knew that we weren't gonna get here, but that gave me like a glimmer of hope was that there might be like a little bit of like campy weirdness. Um Yeah, there I would not say there was much camp in this movie. There was not much. I think a very good uh show of how to balance horror and humor though in this movie.

Sure. I mean, by no means was this a horror comedy, but I mean, I've had issues. I never mind obviously my favorite movie is Scream. Right. Uh I never mind having both in one package. But I've seen some movies in the past, you know, couple of years looking at us, uh, not me and you, but us, the movie. Us from I just think that there is a delicate balance to not letting humor interrupt tension. Right. And I think this movie knew when to play f play it fun and when to play it not. Well, and even I would say the playing it fun, like I feel like the at least the audience that we saw it with did not always there were no uproarious laughs by any means.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah, like it was not play like the way that in us or um like a movie like that, like what you're talking about where there would have been a more guttural reaction. Joke or something. Yeah, joke. And there were certainly jokes here and like uh lighter moments and and some fun being had. Um, but yeah, it was not so nose. Some of that really went into, I thought the um cast of characters was very at least the core cast. I would say Elizabeth Moss, the police officer, and his daughter are all very like sympathetic and not just sympathetic, but um like inviting. I feel like they were definitely people I believed and know.

Yeah, they they were all very three-dimensional, yeah. And I think those moments of humor really fueled that. Right. Yeah, I would yeah, I would say again, like we kind of mentioned it, but the character that I like maybe had the most trouble with in terms of three dimensions was maybe the sister. Yeah, um because it was kind of all you know, right dictator meanness, right? Right, right. Um and it just seemed incongruous with who we saw at the very beginning saving her, you know what I mean? Um but like also understood and like points were made. You know what this movie reminded me of a lot? What a movie that's getting um a sequel treatment uh later this year, um Candyman.

It had very oh uh yes, because she goes to the hospital, she goes to the hospital and Helen is like, he's in the room. Yeah. I thought the exact same thing when I was watching this, and then I forgot, so I'm glad you brought it up. In as soon as like the thing in the restaurant happened with her sister where it was like clear that she was gonna be framed for it, I was like, Candyman. Yeah. Um although the difference obviously between I mean there aren't many differences between this and Candyman, but uh in Candyman, it's like pr still pretty left up to interpretation whether or not Helen was just Yeah, if Candyman is real. If is real at all.

Um this one. This is like he's real. I thought that um I thought that it a few times towards the beginning where I thought I think this would be really interesting if we never had concrete proof that he's real, but at the same time as a fan of horror movies, uh I'm kind of glad that didn't happen. Just because I would not have felt very fulfilled watching two hours of the kind of first half of this movie. No, I completely agree with you. And it would have been really unfulfilling, like in terms of just like rooting for Elizabeth Moss's character. Um, because like the whole in that whole like first half of the movie, um people are like telling her not to let him win, yeah, which is like some real gaslighty bullshit too.

Yeah. Um, am I allowed to say bullshit on this show? Yeah, you can say whatever you want. Okay, it's some real gaslighty bullshit. Um yeah, it's the world against her. Yeah. And as so I'm like, I'm like, I want to prove it to people. Yeah, especially because a lot of that bullshit is coming in the form of people who seem to be on her side. Right. But um, yeah, it would have been very um bleak if the movie kind of because I think if we'd never had concrete proof by the end of the movie, it would have really been difficult as a viewer to not be like, is she actually crazy? Because I mean a lot of the stuff she's Is crazy.

Right. But we know that it's not. Right. So I agree with you completely. Right. But yeah, I had that Candyman thought in my brain when she went to the hospital as well. And actually, before the trailer came out for the new Candyman coming up, I'd forgotten completely kind of that first movie. And that a lot of the times he is just invisible doing things. Yeah. And uh so when I saw the trailer for the new one, I was like, what is going on here? And then I remembered and I was like, oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, uh, yeah, Candyman is doing obviously uh very different things, but but the invisible Candyman. The invisible Candyman.

Um but it would there be a crossover, do you think? Um I hope to god not. Maybe, maybe. Um yeah, I but similar um plot structures and stuff going on, and yeah, makes uh really serves this story um because I feel like that was still a prevalent like um sort of theme and thought in Candyman too, is like do we believe Helen? Do we believe Helen? Um but um obviously the circumstances are very different and everything, and here it really hits home. Um the you know, the themes of um you know, women and the people at large like going through abuse and being gaslighted. Um because yeah. Yeah, and I would probably say that my favorite uh thing about this movie is I think it's really difficult to capture that um that balance of like Elizabeth Moss was in I keep forgetting here, Cecilia.

Cecilia Cecilia was in a traumatic situation. Right. Similar to Halloween 2018, yeah, that was I that was you know, nobody's ready to believe her. Right. Um, however, I think this movie plays the dicey line of although it was a traumatic relationship, it was also an intimate one. And what's kind of the line there? I thought it played that very well and delicately. Yeah, for sure. Uh, and I mean there was never a moment in the movie where it's like, oh, well, she still loves like obviously no, right? She didn't, but they were still people who, you know, were together for two years and lived together. So there is an intimacy between the characters. Right. Um that perhaps makes it even more traumatic.

Uh so I really enjoyed that. And also, I mean, before things really take off, you know, it could be a very, like we were talking earlier, if we'd never gotten proof, a very interesting metaphor for the, you know, the fight with the like PTSD of that type of situation. Well, I guess even if you looked at it as a metaphor, the whole thing, even after he's physicalized. Yeah, I would say I would say that it still like serves as um like it it serves as sort of metaphorical purpose for sure. Um, and taking back the power. Right. Oh, I mean, then I think it gets in a little bit of dicey territory of being like we were just criticizing the policeman for of like, you know, you can do it, just stand up.

Like I don't think uh that would be the the message to no. Oh no, and I think that the movie makes it clear that that's not the take. I mean, I guess at the end she does yeah. But at the same time, she does it not her own, but with the support of her um policeman policeman friend, Captain Muscles. Um muscles, yeah. Uh there were a few times where I was like, could that shirt be a little tighter? Because no, it actually could not be. It could not possibly be. I know the moment again. I think I like in the movie, uh leaned over to you whenever I thought that he was dead, and then he suddenly wasn't.

I was like, good, too hot to die. Exactly. Because he really was. Um even hot with all those swollen eyeballs. With those, mm-hmm. Uh but not the only swollen thing in there. Not the only swollen thing in that thing or huh? No, no, no, no. Um, but I mean, I I agree, but at the same time, there's really no other way to like from a narrative standpoint. I mean, maybe there is, but um to like have her have a fulfilling conclusion other than uh to like well yeah, and I think that there is it's important when looking at you know thematic things like that to be able to understand the difference between when the metaphor has to stop for just the sake of having a movie.

Right. Uh so I agree. Um so yeah, like first half of the movie, we have all these little tiny, like, you know, a little something moving here, a little knife being stolen there. Uh I think that for me, the moment that really popped, which is an obvious one, I'm not doing a deep cut here, but the sheet scene where he pulls the sheets off the bed and when she tries to get him back, you see the invisible feet standing on them. Yeah. That was pretty great. That was really great. And like one of the few um examples of sort of invisibleness, where I mean, there I guess were others where there were like things being picked up and held, like the guns, knives, etc.

Um, but um not too much. Another thing I loved about that scene was that uh she there's the like little um terrifying uh mannequin thing in the back that's like dressed up. Um and it's dressed up like the invisible man from the old movie a little bit. Oh yeah, I didn't even make that connection. Yeah. Wearing a good hat. Yeah, it's wearing wearing a very good hat. So I liked that. I like that little callback, and I also like that whenever I saw that, I was like afraid of that in a way that like I would be if I like woke up in my room in the middle of the night and I Oh yeah but like saw something at the end of my you know what I mean.

I have a robe that hangs on the back of my door and it scares me all the time. Right. Something that I really liked about that scene was that like we discussed earlier, the 1930 film actually has some really fun effects where they manage to have things being flung around by invisible forces. Right. Um and that scene in particular, there are a couple of scenes that I thought were very like fun effects, and then there were a lot of scenes that were scenes that were a little too right, you know, 2020 um computer things. Because like anytime there was like a floating gun or a flip, it was a little like okay, well, that's a computer holding that gun.

Right. But I thought that that scene with the sheets felt very tangible. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I it was very clear that it was like some sort of practical effect, and that was really um effective. Yeah. I I agree. Effective. Um, I liked that uh scene a lot, also because like clearly we were gonna get some payoff from those photos. Also, the like voyeurism of that, like like him taking the photos made it cl like painted again, painted a picture of um of just how voyeuristic it was that he was constantly being there and yeah, watching. Yeah, because in the trailer, actually, there's the scene where she's in the shower and a handprint pops up on the glass door that was not in the movie.

Right. And I think that if that photo thing hadn't been there, it wouldn't have felt quite as violating. Right. Um because yeah, she there's a lot of stuff that we do in our private homes that we do not want people in the world seeing. Right. Yeah, and I mean also it kind of, you know, there could be a fun comedy about somebody who becomes invisible, and that scene kind of gave us a taste of, you know, girls' locker room. Right, you know, right well. That's the thing is that the invisible man, like, as a concept is not inherently scary scary. Yeah. Um, and that was a thing that like I again like I had a lot of uh like hesitations, I don't know what to call them, reservations going in.

Because yeah, again, the like idea of a person that's invisible is not inherently scary because like uh in the incredibles we have we have Violet who is invisible, becomes invisible. Like we we have seen invisibility like in superheroes and other things where it's like not um malevolent, so it's just like okay, and yeah, it's like could easily be the invisible man could be um a story about uh could be the like an allegory for someone who like feels invisible, and so they Buffy the Vampire Slayer has that very thing in an episode, yeah. Um so yeah, this uh does does a very good job of that. I think that something that allows this iteration of the invisible man to be scary that's different from the original, is that the original one is about the invisible man.

Right. And it's not very scary. Uh I mean I could never place myself in the shoes of 1930. Maybe it was scary, I don't know. But um, I think this movie being about not the invisible man, being about Elizabeth Moss's character is what allows it to be scary. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It takes it kind of takes the emphasis of the title from um, you know, the original one is about the man and the fact that he's invisible as his condition. Yeah. Um, and this movie is definitely about um the like invisibility, you know what I mean? And the man is uh not who we're focused on at all. Yeah, I I had the same thought, which is uh good because we have enough stories about men.

Yeah. Let let a few more be invisible, but not like this. Yeah, I would prefer not invisible men coming and killing me. Right. Um or the the people I love. Right. Uh so things really come to a head when um what would you say? I mean, there's a certain night where Invisible Man punches Sydney, which is the police officer's daughter. I didn't care for that very much because it was like, I don't know, I feel like any sane teenager would understand how far away she was when she got punched in the face. And what I didn't like about that was just how quickly they were ready to turn on her in that moment. Same. Yeah. I had the similar thought.

Well, because it was like a weird one-two punch of first we had the scene with the sister, um, like right before that, um, where the sister was like, I got this email, blah, blah, blah. And then like Elizabeth Moss goes home, sees that um like the email was sent and like reads it and like cries about it, which like heard, um, and then like literally right after that, the like punch is thrown, and they also instead of kicking her out, they leave. Yeah, it was weird. Very contrived um and strange. Yeah, so I did not care for that turn in the story, but it does lead to probably what my favorite part of the movie was, where she goes up to the attic to find his phone and uh, like I said, a couple of incredible jumps, which one is she is in the attic, she hears something on the ladder that's up to the door.

She I just it's incredible how she is parse partially responsible for the jump. Right. So I just was impressed by the quick choreography that had to happen here of her throwing a paint bucket on the stairs, and he is right there. Right. And uh that gave me a good scare. I really enjoyed that moment. And then they have a big fight where, you know, I don't know if a baby in the womb would have survived, but it did. Yeah. Um, and that leads to her meeting her sister uh at the cafe after she goes and gets her own suit from Adrian's house. Right. Uh I didn't the Adrian House scene was a little too long. I was just like, what's going on here?

We're just waiting around. But the scene with her sister, I think, is critical. Yeah. Uh we were talking about how we do not share much sympathy for her sister. Uh I think that this scene part of what makes it sad is that we start seeing the tiniest glimpse of a three-dimensional character. She kind of makes a joke, they kind of start laughing, and then you see uh a visible knife and an invisible hand behind her. Uh, I did not care for the effect of it cutting her throat and then zipping into Elizabeth Moss's hand. Yeah, yeah, that looked strange. Uh but nonetheless, this puts her uh books her a room in an asylum. Right, right, right.

Yeah, I would agree that that scene uh the game changer for sure. Um and yeah, I yeah, I don't want to like shit so much on the sister because like also like shit on her. Well, yeah, but also like uh I don't know. Like it's really easy for us to root for Elizabeth Moss whenever we're seeing everything and like seeing things from her point of view more or less. Yeah. Um yeah, she could have handled it more sensitively, but but also like it does sound crazy. It does sound crazy, and like she also has to like look out for herself. Like I like understood, like you know toxic like she feels like her both ways. Yeah, like I like I do understand where she's coming from, even if like maybe that's not you know what should have happened, but um easy well we'll now we'll never get to tell her because she um but yeah, I agree that the um way that it like went into her hand was insane, yeah.

Um it looked like she like had done like she'd done a Harry Potter spell. She had said Asio, Akio, however the fuck you say that word, yeah, um, to get the knife in her hand. Um and yeah, that looked insane. And there I think is some interesting camera work in this movie and some very like cool and stylish camera work, but there are a few camera things that are a little bizarre and jarring, and that was one of them where the camera kind of does a weird spin at the same time that the knife does. And I was like, whoa, right, um and something else I was noticing. So this is kind of the first moment where it's like, oh, the invisible man is willing to end a life for this cause.

Right. And it truly surprised me. Yeah. I was not doing that in that moment. Like I the fact that he was there was not the surprise, but yeah, the fact that he was willing to kill her sister. He was willing to kill her sister in the middle of a restaurant. Yeah. Also, like the bougiest restaurant she could have picked. Right. Um uh the other thing I would think about also real very quick is that I did like again, we were talking about jokes and like this was funny. It well, there was a very good joke with the waiter, um, where he's like, we do things a little differently here. Yeah, like that whole thing was very funny.

Yeah, I thought it was funny. Yeah, go on. Uh thanks for furthering my point. Um I think that all of the physical fighting felt nicely visceral, but all of the like blood never did. Sure. So her throat being slashed did not do it for me because it just didn't quite look right look nice. And part of that I think has to do with just that moment being so strange. Right. Um, so anyway, that puts her in an asylum. Uh, you know, shenanigans with uh Adrian's brother being in on it. Apparently he's a great actor because he had us fooled. Right. Uh we also find out she's pregnant, so a couple of gasps in a row. Right.

Think that I also very much enjoyed this moment where she steals the pin from Adrian's brother and then starts to kill herself in the shower, but apparently that's part of her plan. That's her plan. Well, because again, he can't have her dead because if he if she dies, then he has no one to manipulate. And she knows that. If he hadn't been there, then I guess she would have just died. She would have just died. And also she slits her wrist deeply. Right. Like in a way that I'm thinking would have worked. Right. Um But he does get what's going on. She is a fucking tough woman. And she said, she said, you know what? This I'm unaffected.

Yeah, she's got the literal definition of thick skin. Right, right, right. Um, because she has the capacity after deeply slicing her own wrist to then stab him a few times, right? Which thankfully glitches out his camera suit. Right. And um then there is just this long sequence of as like how many guards is he gonna kill? Right. Because they just kept running out and he kept killing them. And I thought it was a strange moment because there are a few fun things that happened that we saw on the trailer, like the gun going down, the camera kind of following and it shooting through his leg, but there was like no music, so it was just like silence of just like people dying.

Right. It was it was a bizarre scene. Yeah, it was, and yet they did. I I don't think I really noticed it in the moment, but now that I am thinking about it, it was like a clown car of guards. I was getting a little tickled that they just kept running out, right? Um, and they kept running out, and by the end of it, they are like a good 20 feet away from Elizabeth Moss, and she's like, he's right behind it, and they're all just like, it's you. It's like, how did that person just get beat up 20 feet away and it's her? Right. Um yeah, it was that that was kind of an insane sequence now that I think about it.

At the time, it like didn't bother me too much. Um, but yeah, in in retrospect, it was um choices were made. Yeah, uh, this though is something that I enjoy about this moment is that logistically, if she wanted to be done, she could have been, because there are security cameras. Like, this is a moment where she could have been like, all right, like there's no way for you to get away with this anymore. Uh, I can prove that I'm not crazy. But I like that the movie then kind of added the stake of that she has to go save someone else. Right. And we know that she is a caring enough character that she's going to.

Right. Um, because also something about the trailer is that I kind of thought that, I mean, besides just her being stalked, maybe a lot of it was about the money. Right. Um, because they say, you know, if you want the five million dollars, you have to be competent and you can't have committed a crime, which is too late. Uh well, I guess she didn't. She she did not. Also, yeah, does that mean well, eventually he does die? I'm just thinking, like, does she get the money afterwards? Yeah, I don't know. You know what I mean? Because eventually he does kill himself. Kind of. Um I would assume that if that was in a will, it would be the will.

The will. She's going to be exonerated of these charges. I would think for the sake of the hoax that the invisible man is pulling, that will has to be real. Right. So good for her. Yeah. Um, it's gonna come out on top. Right. I will say, I mean, you mentioned that like that is the way the trailer portrays it, and like that's fully true. This is a thing that you and I have talked about a little bit, but the like advertising for this movie did not make it seem like it was going to be nearly as good as it was. Um, which is a real shame. I hope people uh go see it. I think it's doing well, yeah.

Um, but uh yeah, and I would agree, and this is also kind of the moment when I had mentioned to you uh on the train ride back that uh the things we had seen in the trailer had run out and the movie was still going. Right. So uh I know that this is one of the trailers that had kind of an outcry of oh, you've revealed everything. Right. And so it's always I mean, they revealed the exciting parts, but it was it's always a nice surprise when there's still more to it. Right. Oh, yeah, for sure. And yeah, things kept happening. I feel like the twist that her brother or her brother, his brother, was like in on it and was the twist is that it was both of their brothers, which is an incest story.

Ooh, okay, okay. Um that but like whenever we like get to that twist, it both feels earned because like it makes sense, but also I will say that like I found it I I don't know, not shocking. Again, like I wasn't fully surprised by it, but there was still it was still effective, if that makes sense. Yeah. Uh I think I agree with you, except that I was surprised. Okay. Surprise. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And uh that was my invisible manager. Right. Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't that great. Uh that was like the gay invisible man. Right. Surprise. Um at the same time, like I can't help but wonder the logistics of like, well, what was this brother promised?

Right. Uh so yeah, it's a little strange. Uh, but apparently Adrian is a master manipulator. Right. Uh, and so yeah, climax of the movie is that then she goes to try and, you know, get the get the dirt on Adrian. She's wired, she's ready to have his confession. He's clearly not going to. She has procured her own invisible suit, she slashes his throat and makes it look like a suicide, and then orchestrates her own reaction so that all of her tracks are covered, and the movie ends on this kind of like note of like she has done something bad to right or wrong, what will happen next? Right. And I always kind of like this idea of like a you know dirty secret that you have to kind of live with.

Right. Um, I think that that's nice and spooky. Right. And I will say that the music never really did anything for me in this movie, but at the end, when it's really like abrasively loud, I liked. I thought it was fine. I will say that the move the music in this movie played the way that music in a lot of horror movies does. Oh yeah. I felt it was very like ghost movie Ash, where the whole time it's like, ugh. Right. And like it like builds until we either see something or don't, and it's like okay. Um yeah. Actually, I would compare this to um the work that he's done with uh James Wan on Insidious.

Right. Like uh it seems very of that vein. Right. And I mean in a way, I guess it is a ghost, um, an invisible presence. But yeah, I would say the music like largely didn't do anything, including in that last moment. I will say that I'm realizing now that like there is that moment where she and James like have that um like realization that they have an understanding about what's happened and like they're that they're gonna keep it under wraps and all of that. He believes her, which we love to see. Yeah, um, but there never is, I feel like a worse movie would have signaled romance between them in a way that we'd never get, and I'm very grateful for that.

Yeah, I was about to say, I really enjoyed, I had this thought earlier in the film when she gets all of her money, she sets up a bank account for his daughter to go to college and then gets him a ladder and a bottle of wine. Right. Um I and then they have like a pillow fight. And like I really enjoyed this depiction of just like platonic friendship between adult men and women. Right. Uh I thought that that was very meaningful. Yeah. A nice thing. The other thought that I had stewing is um, oh, actually a question for you. Uh-huh. Uh so I've seen this debate going, you know, really ablaze on Twitter. Uh-huh. Uh, and it seems like people I respect are coming out on both sides of the spectrum.

But since this is a very mainstream, big studio, a lot of people are going to see it horror movie. Right. This uh idea that this is a prestige horror movie or an elevated, elevated is the word everybody's upset about. This is an elevated horror movie, is what's being said. Okay. Uh so obviously people who are, you know, their livelihoods are in horror are a little upset about this because they're like, no, this is another horror movie. It's a good one, you know? Right. So I don't know. I'm wondering what your read is on this whole thing. Like, what makes something elevated? What would like I don't even know quite what I'm asking, but like, do you agree with that term?

Do you see the hubbub? I would say I think that what people may and I I don't know because I'm not a part of this, like my Twitter is full of just homosexuals. Um my personal one is too. Right. Um, so so I can't say that I've seen all of this. I think I think maybe what like people are getting at is the fact that this has a like a moral and a theme um in a way that not all horror movies that are like pumped out at us do. You know what I mean? Like I would say that um that's a big uh issue that I take with a lot of horror and like movies in general is like you don't have a point of view, you don't have anything to say to us.

Um and this movie has a point of view, and I think that for some people that means that it's prestige, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's a pretty hot take, I must say. Uh I would think that because I've seen people saying uh if using the term elevated is going to get more butts in seats, then cool. And then I've heard other people saying calling this one elevated diminishes, you know, the other entries in the genre. Uh I would kind of come out on the side of um both a little bit. But I do think that the calling something elevated, I I like to call a quiet place horror for people who don't like horror movies.

Because that movie, I think there's not a lot that it's trying to say. It is just like a fun, spooky monster thing. But people call it elevated because it's got celebrities, it's slick. And this one, I think what sets it apart is that yes, it has celebrities, but it's got all people who are like horror creators working on it, which a quiet place does not. Right. What's tricky about using, I I prefer the term prestige because I think that that can apply because this is something that's had a lot of money and resources thrown at it that something doesn't, but I do not necessarily always agree with the term elevated. Yeah, I just think that like I don't know the difference but for but for me between this and I'm like trying to think of an example of a movie, but I'm not gonna name Don't shit on anything.

I'm not gonna name names, but of like a uh a movie that like would maybe not be getting um all of this positive press is that this movie, even if there's a version of this movie that could be bad. Yeah, that could easily be bad. Not elevated again. That was what I thought we were going to get whenever I kept seeing ads for this. Yeah. Um and so I think that um yeah, it's doing something. I would say that it's not as stylish as like horror that we've seen in the past. Yeah. Year or two. Um, but uh that doesn't really necessarily work to its detriment either. Yeah, what I like I think about this is that those movies that you're talking about, maybe like a like The Witch or Midsummer, something like that, The Lighthouse is um I like that this one has some of the slick trappings of those movies, but that it's also taking it back to a more, you know, basic horror situation.

Right. Whereas some of the other ones, I feel like to earn this elevated title, have to kind of lose something to gain something else. I feel like this movie is not um not uh making concessions for to please anyone in particular. Sure. Yeah, I mean I would say that whereas like something like The Lighthouse or Mitsumar are like clearly like packaged as art. Yeah, this is like, oh, you have to be intellectual to like this. Right. This is not like putting itself in that position. Um it definitely like feels like something that's meant to be enjoyed by the masses. Not that I think that those other two shouldn't be as well. Like I like I can't believe it.

Abraham on Twitter. No, I I cancelled that's well, if this is gonna be the thing that doesn't. Um but it's been worth it. Um but yeah, no, I think that uh this does a nice job of um finding the line between like having um like an intellect and also um appealing to the general moviegoer. Yeah, people who just like fun, because it's it's a popcorn muncher too. Right. Uh all right. Well, I just wanted your hot take on that, and boy, did we get it. Uh what would you say from The Invisible Man 2020 is the most memorable murder? Trying to think. Oh, well, actually, there are quite a few. I mean, you have the big boys, you've got her sister, you've got the uh, you know, second in command, Invisible Man, Adrian's brother, you've got Adrian himself, uh-huh, and quite a few security guards.

You do, I would say I would say the two stick out and they both are mirror images of each other, and that is her sister and uh Adrian himself, both throat slashes, both invisible. Um like there's there's a lot of uh similarities between those two. And I think that uh for me, her sister like obviously like came as a surprise, as we mentioned before, and um he is just like we we just love uh little vengeance moment. Yeah, I think I'm going to go with the sister because that was a very unexpected thing to happen in the moment, and like we discussed earlier, that's kind of when it was like, oh, people aren't playing games anymore, like they're ready for stuff to happen.

Right. So uh I think she takes the prize for me. Um on a scary scale of one to five, where would you place the invisible man? Scary? Like yeah, I mean I like to think like zero is like never been kissed, like a rom-com. Okay, and then five is like, well, I can't tell you what the most scary thing I've ever heard is, but five's something really scary. Yeah, it's like subjective. Um, I would say, I don't know, like a 3.5. Hi. I was gonna give it a two. Okay, okay. Yeah, I think there are some solid jumps, well-crafted jumps. I think that the psychological horror of the invisible man ends with a glimmer of hope.

And so I don't think that there is much uh psychological scare happening. It's not to me a disturbing psychological movie. Sure. Uh, and so for me, the quote scary content is the tension and the jumps and things. So I'm gonna leave it at a two. Okay. I respect I respect that. Yeah. So the invisible man in a game of what would be Smasher Pass, but since we are on a horror podcast as a game of Smash or Slash, uh-huh. How would you rate the Invisible Man? Which one is good? They both sound good in a horror pod, in a horror world. No, slash is you you slash it away. Yeah, smash is you fuck it. Oh well, I'm gonna fuck this movie.

Oh no, I hate that. I take it back. Yeah, um, but yeah, I would smash. I would say thumbs up. Yeah, I would also smash. Um maybe not as heavily as I was hoping, but still a smash indeed. And finally, do you think that this film, The Invisible Man, will be taking the cake as your new favorite scary movie? I will say this my favorite of 2020 so far. Wow. I have not seen any others. Um uh yeah, I mean, I'm not going to change. As of right now, season two of this podcast, my favorite scary movie, is Scream 4, and it will remain. It is interesting to note that the OG Invisible Man's name is Jack Griffin, and this new one is Adrian Griffin.

So, familial ties? I don't know. Watch out for the griffins in your line. Exactly. We discussed briefly on the way here, but I've heard murmurs around town of perhaps this leading to a uh sequel called The Invisible Woman. Yeah. What are your thoughts on that? Well, it looks like it's to be starring slash slash um directed by and produced by uh Elizabeth Banks. You Googled this? I found it on the Wikipedia page. You are so good. I am Elizabeth Banks. Yeah. Huh. Yeah, so I don't starring Elizabeth Banks. Oh. Yeah, so I don't know exactly. I don't apparently she pitched the story. Someone else is like attached to write it. It's definitely happening. But unrelated to this film?

I'm not sure. It's it was like listed as follow-up to this movie. So I'm not sure how it will be or won't be related. I mean, we obviously do see Elizabeth Moss leaving with the suit. So like it does leave things a little bit open-ended. Um, although yeah, I don't know, I don't know where they would go. Well, actually, uh, I texted my friend about this right before and uh just be like fact check real fast. Like, did I dream this or are people talking about an invisible woman? She's like, Yeah, people are talking about it. Uh, and she said that she would be into it if um it was some sort of like vengeance tale, like going out and taking vengeance on the uh wronged women, or not on the women, but the their you know abusers.

Right. And I think that could be interesting, kind of like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Anya moment. Right. Um, so yeah, I don't know. I'm not particularly drawn to that idea at the moment. Right. But if it seems like it's happening, then I will be curious to see where they go. Cause thematically, that seems like a bad idea to me at the moment. But you know? Yeah, I I don't know. Um, because yeah, I also don't know what the story would be, but greater minds. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, I'm no screenwriter, so uh I'll leave it to the pros. Right. Uh so we'll just leave it at that. Um I forgot how I usually wrap this up.

So, Cody, unfortunately, uh you will not be back next week. No. I'll be sad to see you uh dead in the grave again. Yep, I'm I will not be faking my death this time. It will be real. I mm-hmm. Yeah, watch out. That was a threat. Okay. Um, next week, Caroline and Ian will be back. We will be back on our spring break shenanigans watching road trip horror film The Hills Have Eyes. Ooh, The Hills Have Eyes 1977? Absolutely. Amazing. Yeah. Um, and until then, you can head on over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a rating and a review. That would be so helpful. Um, all right. Well, while you're doing that, you can find me, Parker Heron, on Instagram, Twitter, Link, LinkedIn.

I keep saying that at the end of these episodes. Oh my god. I don't know how to find myself at LinkedIn. I don't know if I have a handle or something. But Instagram, Twitter, uh, letterboxed, and the slasher app at Parker Del Rey. Go ahead and give the people how to find you. Cute. Um, yeah, you can find me on um Twitter and Instagram at Cody underscore wimmer. That's C-O-D-Y underscore W-I-M-M-E-R. Mmm, glad you said that so slowly. I want to give people time to type it. Oh, good thought. I know. Well, you can find the podcast. I was about to say you can find both of us, but back off my podcast, Cody. Uh, you can find what's your favorite scary movie on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at ScarymoviePod.

You can find us uh on the internet, our website that is, uh, where we have reviews and our calendar and whatever else we may have coming up at scarymoviepod.com. If you have any thoughts, ideas, feedback, or you just want to chat, you can shoot us an email at scarymoviepod at gmail.com. And if you just can't get enough and you want some bonus episodes, even a newsletter, our March one just went out and it's fabulous. You can subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com slash scary moviepod for either a dollar or five dollars a month. And it's a great crew that we have cooking up ideas over there. All right, bye. I love you.