The Top 10 Best Invisible Man Movies

How Many of these Invisible Man Movies Have You Seen?

This year I’ve been working on finishing my collection of top 10 movie lists featuring versions of classic movie monsters of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. I’ve tackled the usual suspects so far such as Frankenstein, mummies, and even aquatic humanoids, but today I’m taking on an enormous challenge with the best invisible man movies of all time. Why is it a challenge? Because you don’t see invisible man movies too often (hyuck-hyuck). With what is sure to be the first of many terrible puns in this list out of the way, I can get down to the rules I’ve put in place for these movies. The films have to have an invisible human “appear” in them. That means there won’t be any ghosts, evil entities, or extraterrestrials (sorry, Predator) featured. I’m also not going to be stickily sticking to invisible man movies in the horror genre (but I will show those films preference considering the origin of the character). Now, get ready for the big reveal as I count down the best invisible man movies of all time!

10. Memoirs of an Invisible Man

I’m going to ease into the horror with this list of invisible man movies by starting off with the oddball sci-fi adventure, Memoirs of an Invisible Man. The film stars reported diva and all-around pain to work with Chevy Chase, as a stock analyst who accidentally gets caught in a lab accident that renders him invisible. It probably goes without saying that actually being invisible is a bit more inconvenient than most people assume, and his character has a tough  time adjusting to his new condition. To make matters worse, he’s being hounded by a CIA agent who is hoping to reverse engineer the invisibility process. You shouldn’t feel too bad for Chase’s character though, because he’s got a beautiful girl willing to give up her entire life for him after just one date. Memoirs of an Invisible Man probably should have been better than it turned out. Rumor has it that Chase drove away director Ivan Reitman before production began. Now that’s a movie I would have liked to have seen.

9. Now You See Him, Now You Don’t

Next up on this list of invisible man movies is a lesser-known Disney film from the 70s, Now You See Him, Now You Don’t. Kurt Russell stars as a nerdy science student named Dexter enrolled at Medfield College, who accidentally creates a serum capable of turning objects (and people) invisible. Dexter, being a naive good guy, believes that this discovery will help put Medfield back on the map and win the big science competition (because apparently, that’s a thing that exists after high school). However, a greedy criminal thinks it’s the perfect way to get rich quick and steals it to commit nefarious crimes. In typical movie fashion, the police are useless when Dexter tries to warn them. So, he takes matters into his own hands to save the day. Now You See Him, Now You Don’t is a bit uninspired, which was kind of expected of mass-produced Disney films of yesteryear, still it’s a fun family flick. 

8. Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello had run-ins with pretty much every classic movie monster. So, it’s no wonder that they’re popping up again on this list of Invisible Man movies. While the character has traditionally been a villain, this time around he’s a middleweight boxer framed for murder trying to clear his name. Luckily, he’s dating the niece of Dr. Philip Gray, the man who invented the formula that turned the original invisible man, well, invisible. Despite the doctor’s orders, the boxer injects himself and sets out to find the actual killer. Even though invisible, he’s going to need a little help. That’s where Bud and Lou come in as they find themselves roped into another monster-filled mystery. The duo also had a brief run-in with another transparent terror in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, but the character gets a lot more “screen time” in this film making it a perfect pick to round out this list of invisible man movies.

7. Hollow Man

Now we’re starting to get into the horror entries on this list of invisible man movies. Kevin Bacon stars as a narcissistic scientist leading a project to create invisible soldiers for the Pentagon. The process has been slow though, and when the Generals threaten to cut funding if they don’t see results soon, Bacon becomes a guinea pig himself (to bypass all those pesky ethical guidelines that scientists have to follow). The experiment is a success, but the thing is that they can’t quite figure out how to turn the good doctor visible again. Of course, this is all supposed to be top secret. So, they can’t exactly let him out of the lab to go wandering around. As the days go by, the guinea pig begins losing his sanity. That alongside his preexisting condition of being a psycho proves to be a dangerous combination that ends pretty badly for a lot of people. Hollow Man isn’t a “great” film, but Bacon is spine-chilling as a truly evil invisible man.

6. The Invisible Woman

I’ll admit, the title of this list might be a little misleading considering this next entry, but “invisible man movies” has a snappier ring to it than “invisible people movies.” While we’re on the subject of misleading titles, I should probably mention that The Invisible Woman has nothing to do with Sue Storm or the Fantastic Four. It does have to do with a former department store model named Kitty Carroll (it was the 40s) who is hired to test out a new invisibility machine. This is where the title of the film isn’t misleading, because the machine works and Kitty becomes the titular Invisible Woman. Her first order of business is to get back at her cruel former boss by threatening him until he agrees to improve working conditions in the store. Kitty has her work cut out for her after that because some goons show up to steal the machine and she’s the only one who can stop them. Recently, Hollywood announced plans for a new Invisible Woman movie, so Kitty might not have a spot on this list for long.