Search - Invisible Stranger on DVD

ESP And Modern Dance Don't Mix

Robert I. Hedges | 05/03/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is a turgid little piece of melodramatic nonsense featuring some extremely bad acting (from people who should really know better), a dreadful script, and some of the worst special effects since "Plan 9."

The basic premise is that Roger Sands, an ultra-brainy lunatic with maternal abandonment issues, studies ESP and learns to become invisible at which point he starts stalking women who remind him of his mother. He has numerous flashbacks of his mom, and even visits her in the cemetery, where they have a dialogue that explains the background for the film in what is one of the most trite of all plot devices. I should really mention that the special effects in this film will, in all likelihood, make you laugh out loud, with the best of the bunch being the ESP-induced invisibility attainment via an effect that is straight out of the transporter room from "Star Trek," only not as well done.

The detective "heroes" in the film are universally unlikable, but at least one of them (Robert Foxworth) dates Stephanie Powers, who engages in numerous diversionary scenes that pad the plot immensely (please especially note the cake-baking in a mink scene.) I suppose the biggest star power in the movie has to be Elke Sommer, who plays a rich alcoholic nag in some of the most ridiculous costumes I have seen in a while. (One makes her look like the inmate.)

I should note in an effort to add nuance (or at least running time) to the film, there is a subplot about a dancer in a modern dance production that is shown for far too long. I am not a fan of musicals, and I am definitely not a fan of modern dance, so you might suspect that I would really dislike faux-modern dance stage musicals presented at length within a bad supernatural thriller from the 1970s. You would be right. This production is painful to endure, and you will be relieved when Foxworth mercifully jumps onstage and stops it.

Truly this is a poorly made film that is about as campy as you can get. Nonetheless I give it two stars for having some unintentionally entertaining moments as well as laugh-out-loud campy special effects, particularly in the finale where the disembodied voice yells "I never wanted to hurt you, Mama," which is clearly a lie, providing an even weaker resolution to an already weak film.
"

I Paid 50c For This and I Still Feel I Was Ripped Off!

James N Simpson | Gold Coast, QLD Australia | 09/04/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This is easily the worst invisible man movie ever made. In fact it would be up there competing for the worst movie of any topic ever made. I'm a hug fan of the invisible man genre (I've got two Listmania lists going on these stories) and there also seems to be a lot of other people out there who are as well. This movie is a disgrace to the invisibility genre though, don't waste your money. You can get this movie with nine other low budget movies (released through Payless, which you can buy in many a $2 dollar store in Australia and maybe elsewhere) for $4.95. That makes this movie 49 and a half cents but seriously it is not worth that money, I very much have buyers remorse after purchasing this.

Pathetic special effects and acting mean we don't really see anything you normally do in an invisible man movie. The directors just took the lazy approach and had the actor victims pretending they were being choked in performances where a five year old could act better. There's no items in the vicinity getting knocked over by no one that the eye can see or anything like this during the murders. A few vases get thrown at the cops but you only see their bases before their thrown. These actors obviously had none of the clearing a building scene with weapons drawn training that police have given the actors in every other police movie. It's amazing these police weren't killed by visible bad guys before they got this case. Not that the invisible man makes much of an appearance in this more about a cop whose girl wants him to get a job with better hours storyline.

How annoying is the background score and sound effects? I think they put the whole budget into making the movie's poster and had nothing left to spend on the film.

If you are wondering what the plot to this movie is all about it is basically; a guy is mentally abused by his mother who never wanted him and definitely never wanted her friends to see him. He snaps and strangles her one day and spends his days reading self help books in prison. A prison guard rips up his books and gives him a good backhand when he tries to hit him for doing so which seems to push him over the edge. Now we are left to assume he got the knowledge to become invisible from these books because there's no other reason given but the next minute he's invisible and escaped from prison. Women who testified against him are being strangled and the police put out all efforts to stop his rampage.

There's plenty of great invisible man movies out there, give this a miss and get one of those instead!"

I'm glad it's availble.

Øbsolete | Chicago | 02/07/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A pretty decent looking copy of a rare movie. The negative is probably ignored and degraded, so this may be the best print we get.
The DVD-R played fine."