A Quiet Place Part II and The Invisible Man: James King's Week in Movies

After blubbing at the Military Wives movie premiere a few days ago, where some of the real choirs sang beautifully on the red carpet, I thought I’d go in the other direction in this week’s column by looking at three fabulously dark thrillers. One’s a true story, one’s science-fiction, whilst Elisabeth Moss kicks things off with a fascinating hybrid that’s a must-see. Enjoy!

FILMS ON THE BIG SCREEN THIS WEEK

The name THE INVISIBLE MAN might be familiar but that’s the only thing about this new take on the HG Wells classic that you’ll have seen before. Instead of focusing on a male scientist tinkering away in his lab and coming with a miracle formula, this new version concentrates instead on his anxious girlfriend Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss), on the run from her tyrannical genius partner, but up against a superpower that means he really could be stalking her anywhere, anytime.

Elisebeth stars as Cecilia

It’s a switch of formula that works a treat. Suddenly an old story - once planned to be a more conventional movie starring Johnny Depp - becomes a relevant and contemporary thriller for the #metoo era. As Cecilia says at one point, when describing the mind-games played on her by boffin boyfriend, “This is what he does. He makes me feel like I’m the crazy one”. Fresh from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Moss could barely have been a better choice for the role.

As much as THE INVISIBLE MAN is about what we see - or don’t see - it’s also a masterclass in film sound. Silence hasn’t been used this terrifyingly since Emily Blunt’s A Quiet Place a couple of years back (scroll down for more information on its upcoming sequel). Yet whilst it’s definitely creepy - and comes from the producer of all those Paranormal Activity movies - THE INVISIBLE MAN is more than a horror film. It’s about a woman trying to convince a bunch of people (mainly men) that she’s being abused. So you’ll jump watching it in the cinema, yes... but its message will stick with you well after the end credits have disappeared.

THE INVISIBLE MAN [15] is at cinemas now.

WATCH: A Quiet Place Part II trailer

A QUIET PLACE PART II [Cert TBC] is released in the UK on 20th March.