The Invisible Man Appears

Director(s) - Shinsei Adachi and Shigehiro Fukushima 

Starring - Chizuru Kitagawa (Foul Play, Hell's Windmill), Takiko Mizunoe (Men vs. Women, Turning Point), and Daijiro Natsukawa (Praying at Dawn, Poppy)

Release Date - 1949

Genre - Horror/Sci-Fi

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     When most people think of the classic Universal Monster movies they typically think of the iconic Wolfman, Dracula, or Frankenstein and for good reason.  These films are absolutely amazing and have inspired genre fans for decades.  However, I often find myself drawn to The Invisible Man.  Don't get me wrong, I love the other classic monster movies but The Invisible Man has always been my favorite.  Maybe it's from teenage daydreaming of being invisible from my peers.  Regardless, The Invisible Man has always been one of my favorite Universal properties.  However, Universal was not the only company to take a stab are the unseen.  In the late 1940's Japan got in on the action with The Invisible Man Appears.  This is one I had never seen before or was even aware that it existed until MVD sent over a review copy of Arrow Video's new blu release.  I want to thank MVD and Arrow for hooking me up!

     The film follows a scientist who has created a serum that can turn the living invisible.  He has successfully tested it on animals but has not moved to humans yet.  However, a jewel thief discovers the serum and uses it on himself in order to help steal some expensive jewels.  What he doesn't know is that the scientist that created the serum has not created a cure yet.  Being invisible begins to wear on him mentally and he becomes unstable.

     The Invisible Man Appears is one I was not familiar with.  However, once the film started I quickly realized that it was going to be a fun one.  The movie has that old Universal feel mixed with the Japanese cinema charm.  It was a fun and very unique experience that I greatly enjoyed.  The acting in this one is very enjoyable.  The cast brings to life some unconventional characters for the time along with some extremely bland characters.  The cast does a great job for the most part but some do deliver better performances than others.  The story for this one is the original Invisible Man with some aspects added to it.  The film follows a man who becomes seriously unstable once he becomes invisible, much like the original film, but this version spins a crime angle with it when they toss in the jewel thieves.  It works and has that Japanese crime drama feel that would become popular in the coming decade.  It was fun and worked very well.  With that being said, a lot of the scenes feel repetitive.  The film could have trimmed some of the fat down so to speak and still tell the same story.  Finally, this is not a bloody or gory flick for those of you looking for one. We do get some classic camera tricks and gags to pull off the invisible aspect.  Most of which are very impressive.  I had to pause the film a few times just to see how they pulled off some of the gags.  Overall, The Invisible Man Appears was a fun experience.  I liked it and how it was able to build on the original story.  It is a bit too long and repetitive at times but it's still fun.  The blu from Arrow looks absolutely stunning especially if you consider the film's age.  I highly recommend checking this one out.