The Invisible Man remake finally landed Universal a critical and commercial success with one of the studio's classic monster properties. Part of what makes the film so memorable and affective is that it speaks directly to a modern audience through the language of current-day social issues. This helps to emphasize the work's intimate psychological horror that contrasts with the studio's previous attempts at rebooting the Universal monsters with a bombastic blockbuster approach.

Despite their iconic status, the Universal classic monsters have had a troubled history in the new millennium. Even before the failed investment that was the Dark UniverseThe Wolfman proved to be a box office bomb in 2010, while the reviews and returns of Dracula Untold in 2014 were much too tepid to start a franchise. Hoping to capture the success of Brendan Fraser's desert-adventuring series, Universal launched its shared cinematic Dark Universe with the action-oriented reboot of The Mummy in 2017. The result was an embarrassing flop that cost the studio almost $100 million.

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Luckily, Jason Blum and his production company took the reigns from Universal, eager to apply Blumhouse's signature frugal business model to an ailing property. The film cost an inexpensive $7 million to shoot, but the product feels anything but cheap. The Invisible Man takes a quieter, more psychological approach to the material, embracing its status as a true horror movie. Perhaps most importantly, director Leigh Whannell managed to update the decades-old story for an audience who is more familiar with the #MeToo movement than the Universal classic monsters.

The Invisible Man Updates A Universal Monster For The Current Social Climate

In this way, The Invisible Man is more in line with Blumhouse's "social thrillers" like Get Out than it is with Universal's blockbuster endeavors. Rather than bloating the film with references to the past, Whannell grounds the narrative in the present day, speaking directly to moviegoers about relevant issues through the lens of horror. It's not the pedigree of the Universal monsters that improves the story but a concentration on abusive relationships, imbalanced gender standards, and the toxic masculinity of the tech industry. Whannell knows how to make his movie actually scary, manipulating negative space and sound to heighten the suspense.

Great horror movies usually pinpoint particular social anxieties that resonate with their contemporary audiences and manifest them in killers, creatures, and other sorts of antagonists. A socially conscious approach to horror may not always work since the message can obnoxiously overshadow the scares, but an effectively terrifying commentary can capture a psychological mood that reflects the distress felt about injustices, inequalities, and the overall dismal state of current affairs. It's not the present-day setting of The Invisible Man that makes the film modern — it's the way the narrative so accurately portrays timely fears.

Universal previously tried to update the classic monsters with flashy special effects and quippier dialogue, but these reboots weren't addressing anxieties. The studio should use The Invisible Man as a blueprint and focus on creating more modestly budgeted horror movies that emphasize narrative over action. Imagine The Mummy if it was a cautionary tale about the effects of imperialism, or Frankenstein if it tackled parental relationships. Karyn Kusama (The Invitation) has already signed on to direct a Dracula movie for Blumhouse, claiming that the film will be faithful to Bram Stoker's novel. Considering that the vampire was always a metaphor for the bloodsucking elite class, there's already an opportunity here for updated social commentary and for the legacy of The Invisible Man to live on.

Next: Adrian's Death In The Invisible Man Has A Double Meaning