Under-rated

I agree... there are a bunch of problems with the film from a marketing standpoint, but the film itself is actually pretty good.

One thing is that people saw Chevy Chase and were expecting a comedy along the vein of Fletch or the more recent Fletch Lives. While the movie is funny (as is Fletch) it's not quite a comedy... nor is it a drama. I hate to use a cliche, but it works on many levels and in many genres... SF, comedy, drama, romance... but never really gets nailed down to one. Unfortunately this confuses people, particularly marketing monkeys.

The next part is John Carpenter... Carpenter was at that time known almost exclusively for his work in the SF/horror genre. I can kinda see why they chose him for the SF elements, but if they were trying to snag him for marquis appeal, they grabbed the wrong director. Carpenter fans didn't warm up to the movie partially because it wasn't quite a horror film and partially because they'd gotten more and more used to his working on a very limited budget and delivering a uniquely stylish, but cheap looking movie. This movie was just too glossy.

Unfortunately the average movie watcher didn't much care for it either... not enough big stars (Sam Neill wasn't a star until Jurassic Park came out a year later), too smart and too weird of a concept, and not enough schmaltz. Oh well... such is life.

Personally I think it's a great film. Some really good effects, one of Chevy Chase's last really decent performances (he peaked with the first Fletch in my opinion), and an interesting sight to see Carpenter do some work as a director for hire.

If you get a chance to do so, read the book. I picked it up on a trip to New Orleans in a used bookstore and haven't seen a copy since, but it's well worth the read. Once of the most interesting novels I'd read in a long time.

I know. I can't believe some people think this is a bad film. Carpenter even took his name out from above the movie because the studio took it from him. I think this is one of his better films. Certainly better than EFLA and Ghosts of Mars.
J

"You know what they say about slugs...They always leave slime in their tracks"-Angel Heart

Agreed, this movie is BADLY under-rated. I must've watched this film 20 times. This movie definitely has enough humour (I don't know what the critics are talking about!). The Sci-Fi elements are right up there with Carpenter's best work I believe. I really liked Chevy Chase in this one too, in fact all of the actors. Sam Niell is always outstanding.

Yep it is a very good film, possibly my favourite with invisable in the title. Carpenter's Direction, Chase's Whit and Sam Neil as a great villain all just worked brilliantly.

Also it didn't go nuts with the invisable SFX, which we have seen done to death since the 1930's asking us to actually use our imaginations lol.

this movie becomes even funnier if you've seen the 1933 "Invisible Man", and imagen if some comedy bits here would happend there.
i like the look they've done on the dvd, alote of black, even some b&w on the extras. like, things resembles the classic picture, unlike the bright blue artwork cover.
i first saw this movie when i was a kid, then i saw the original "invisible man" from the 1930's in 2002, then i saw this one again the other night.
funny lines:
- "they will be shovling tubes up his ass for weeks"
- "what!?" (invisible man jumps up from stretcher.)
-"what's your name?"
- "...Harvey" (name of an invisible friend James Stewart had in a classic 1950's movie.)


snowflakes are falling,
all white in sight, a strong wind is calling,
outside my window, it's snow all around,
and it seems like the sky, is as white as the tree tops, and chilly ground,
i'm just gonna stay in my living room, and turn the tv on,
have something to drink, becouse i'm not spending my day, in a snowstorm,
there's snow infront of my door, and the storm has cutt off my telephone,
i bet the snow is so high, it's covered every town lamp post,
red house shelter me from the cold,
i'm just watching tv, behind closed doors,
there is nothing but white, as far as the eye can go,
and doc, this red house can't soon be found under the snow.



"he was invisible before he was invisible"

I think the movie itself isn't really great.. but is has and will always be one of my favourites because I love the concept and story, and I absolutely love Sam Neill as Jenkins, great performance!

I did not like Chevy Chase though and for my taste they made the movie too much of a comedy. Just my opinion, I'm not much of a comedy fan - what attracted me were the darker parts of the film.

The book however fulfilled every aspect of what I would have liked this movie to be, so I suggest people who feel the same about the movie as I do might want to read the novel ;)

I agree. There are just not enough voters because no one knows about this movie. Bad marketing but worth atleast a 6.5

It was good and funny enough until the ending.

Boycott movies that involve real animal violence! (and their directors too)