My Review of The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

 

Written by Lester K. Cole And Joe May And Curt Siodmak And Cedric Belfrage

Directed by Joe May

Willie: "What kinda ghosts sneeze?"

Geoffrey: "It's cold in the other world, so cold!"

Sequel time. Turns out that being a part of the Universal Monsters World meant getting a sequel and after the success of the first movie, our often unseen antagonist warranted a return.

Of course there was the problem of Jack Griffin being dead and in this movie, he's still dead. His successor for the serum would be the falsely accused Sir Geoffrey Radcliffe (Vincent Price). He was working with Griffin's brother, Frank (John Sutton) and his fiancé Helen Manson (Nan Grey) in case he was found guilty of his brother's death.

The first movie made it clear that the serum used to make a man invisible can also drive them to madness. Geoffrey fell victim to this as well. This was in spite of the fact that Geoffrey made it clear to both Frank and Helen to stop him if he succumbed to madness.

Geoffrey's actions for the most part are more sympathetic than Jack's in the first movie. Geoffrey simply wanted to clear his name and avoid Detective Sampson (Cecil Kellaway) from arresting him. He's actually closer to an antihero than villain in this movie.

Of course when Frank and Helen tried to stop Geoffrey from being corrupted by the serum, it inevitably backfired. Geoffrey terrorised the bejesus out of Willie Spears (Alan Napier) and found out that his cousin, Richard Cobb (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) was the killer instead.

The differences between how the locals were between Jack and Geoffrey also made for an interesting last act. With Jack, they were only too happy to burn him alive but with Geoffrey, they're actually willing to donate blood to keep him alive, and it worked too.

- Vincent Price and Alan Napier would both appear in the 1960s Batman TV show together.

- There's a rather striking scene where Geoffrey borrows the clothing from a scarecrow before getting his blood transfusion.

- Much to my surprise, this movie was the first time that Vincent Price entered the world of horror. It certainly wouldn't be his last time.

- Chronology: A while since the events of The Invisible Man (1933).

The Invisible Man Returns to me was a far better sequel than I had anticipated. It didn't repeat the same format as the first movie but managed something different enough to stand out. I genuinely enjoyed this one.

Rating: 8 out of 10