Horrorfest 2018: The Invisible Man Returns

Vincent Price returns to Horrorfest 2018 in the first sequel to THE INVISIBLE MAN, THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. This 1940 film, directed by Joe May, is not as great as the original (covered in the very first Horrorfest!) but is a pretty solid sequel, giving a healthy dose of new approaches to the material, while reprising most of the stuff people want from an Invisible Man flick.

The title is sort of a misnomer, because the Invisible Man doesn't really return -- Claude Rains is nowhere to be found, but Vincent Price steps in as a man falsely accused of murder who is aided in his escape from death row by the original Invisible Man's brother (John Sutton).

Rendered invisible by the same drug from the first picture, Price is able to escape and goes on the lam with his girlfriend (Nan Grey, now a leading lady after playing second fiddle in a few other Universal chillers).

With his new powers of invisibility, Price sets out to find the real killer and get his revenge. Unfortunately with invisibility comes insanity and things don't go smoothly.

The special effects are just as great here as they were in the original, using fairly simple camera tricks to create memorable visuals of disembodies clothes walking around. I'd say they stand up today, even, which is rare for effects in movies like these.

The only drawback (aside from the movie being a bit of a retread) is that Price is invisible for the entire movie and only appears in the end for a moment, but he has such a great voice it's almost as if he was born to play a disembodied character.