Series: Universal Invisible Man

Universal horror's "second wind," first set in motion by Son of Frankenstein, was just beginning to muster force when the studio decided to release a sequel to James Whale's 1933 hit The Invisible Man. The result, The Invisible Man Returns, although possessed of a certain gusto and some fine acting, often plays like a flatter imitation, substituting Whale's anarchy for a more standard tragic romance.(read more...)

Opening with an original music piece that perfectly mixes the moods of horror and fantasy, The Invisible Man quickly asserts the difference between it and all previous Universal horror films (a great deal of which utilized Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake"). This is not another monster melodrama, but a wacky knockabout black comedy (with the requisite moments of blood and thunder), the type that only director James Whale could produce.(read more...)

At the end of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, voiced by none other than Vincent Price, introduces himself to the bumbling duo. Vincent Price would not meet Abbott and Costello in their next monster film, but the Invisible Man would. Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man is one of the comedy duo’s greatest films, surpassed only by Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.(read more...)