The Invisible Man

It alters you, changes you.

There's a snow storm blowing ferociously, a man trundles towards a signpost that reads Iping. He enters a hostelry called The Lions Head, the patrons of the bar fall silent for the man is bound in bandages. He tells, not asks, the landlady; "I want a room with a fire". This man is Dr. Jack Griffin, soon to wreak havoc and be known as The Invisible Man.

One of the leading lights of the Universal Monster collection of films that terrified and enthralled audiences back in the day. Directed by genre master James Whale, The Invisible Man is a slick fusion of dark humour, berserker science and genuine evil. Quite a feat for a film released in 1933, even more so when one samples the effects used in the piece. Effe...

We all know that necessity is the mother of invention, but there is another saying in Spanish that roughly translates to sloth/laziness is the mother of all vices (the closest English equivalent I can think of is idle hands are the devils playground). I would say that the link between invention and laziness is largely computer-generated; thats why a near-100 year-old movie such as The Invisible Man looks better than any modern CGI extravaganza, and it does so because its all there even when it isnt.

Jorge Luis Borges once wrote about all the trouble that H.G. Wellss Invisible Man has to go to (wigs, dark glasses, fake noses and beards, etc.) so that people cant see that they cant see him. Director James Whale went to similar great lengt...