What’s it like to be actually invisible? That’s the question explored in Memoirs of an Invisible Man, an acclaimed book written by H.F. Saint (who subsequently disappeared in a less literal way, apparently retiring after the book’s success). With 450 pages, the book details the actual dilemmas and obstacles one average man encounters after accidentally being turned invisible. He can’t see himself, so hand-eye coordination becomes difficult; he sees food get chewed and digested, disgusting him so much that he begins only ‘eating’ broth. That’s the least of his issues, though, as he’s being hunted by government men who want to study him and use him as a military weapon.
The book had a unique combination of thriller, drama, sci-fi, and comedy elements that attracted Chevy Chase in the late ’80s, who was trying to rebrand as a serious actor. As history shows, it did not work out. The film tanked with critics and was a box office bomb, barely making half of its budget. The common complaint was that the film didn’t know whether it was a thriller or a comedy. More than 30 years later, it’s okay to think that the film doesn’t have to be either. It’s its own weird thing, and actually kind of fun, even if it nearly led filmmaker John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) to a breakdown.
While Chase may be poorly cast in the role, and may have been a pain in the ass throughout its production, it’s a testament to his passion and patience that the film was ever made. He fought with Warner Bros. to get the book adapted in a faithful way, instead of as a goofy comedy tailored to his slapstick talents, as they wanted. He pushed back against the first director (comedic mastermind Ivan Reitman of Ghostbusters) and writer (the great William Goldman of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride) after they developed a comedy film. And he pushed for John Carpenter as a replacement.
Chevy Chase Was Passionate; John Carpenter Wasn’t
Perhaps it was that passion which led to Chase being so damn nitpicky throughout the production, which finally began after years of rewrites, firings, and hirings. Carpenter said this to the L.A. Times in 1992:
“That’s all we talked about. He was very consumed being an actor and not winking at the audience. Not being forced to do comedy to cover up problems in the screenplay, the directing or whatever. Basically he felt he had done a lot of films that he wouldn’t ordinarily (have) wanted to do just because he’s a comedian. A lot of the lines (in the script) he’d want to change and make them a little more serious. And he wanted to play everything with an edge.”
Ironically, the best parts of Memoirs of an Invisible Man don’t concern Chase (or his romantic counterpart here, played by Daryl Hannah). It’s Carpenter’s direction and the effects work from Industrial Light & Magic that create a fascinating portrait of actual invisibility. Even all these years later, some of the sequences are still visually stunning, and Carpenter nails the suspense when it actually does arise. Sam Neill, as well, is phenomenal as a villainous agent leading the hunt for Chase’s character; Neill and Carpenter would join up just after this for the much better horror thriller, In the Mouth of Madness.
It’s Chase and his insistence on creating a lonely, darker antihero that disrupts the tone and makes the humor incongruous. A lengthy middle section by the beach kills the suspense that Carpenter had created. And Chase wasn’t just working against the film on-screen; he was apparently doing that behind the scenes as well, as Carpenter told Variety:
“It gave me a chance to make a quasi-serious movie. But Chevy Chase, Sam Neill — who I love and had a longtime friendship with — and Warner Bros. … I worked for them, and it was pleasant. No, it wasn’t pleasant at all. I’m lying to you. It was a horror show. I really wanted to quit the business after that movie. God, I don’t want to talk about why, but let’s just say there were personalities on that film … he shall not be named who needs to be killed. No, no, no, that’s terrible. He needs to be set on fire. No, no, no. Anyway, it’s all fine. I survived it.”
And according to Carpenter’s edition of Masterclass at the Fantasia Film Festival (via Slash Film), Carpenter says Memoirs of an Invisible Man is the one project he “hates thinking about the most,” adding:
That was a rough movie. I almost wanted to quit the business after that film. Anyway, let’s don’t talk about that. Let’s talk about happy things.
It’s a shame, because more than 30 years later, Memoirs of an Invisible Man — well, we won’t say “holds up” — is a fun curio that deconstructs one of the most popular ‘monsters’ in the horror genre and presents it in a grounded, literal way. It’s unbalanced and hardly one of Carpenter’s (or even Chevy Chase’s) best films, but it’s an interesting look at an oddball title squished into mainstream trappings. It’s also streaming for free on YouTube here, on Plex and Fandango at Home, and on Tubi through the link below:
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