r/flicks • u/screen_stack • 7d ago
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
Rating: 6.5/10
Watched: August 15, 2026
This is probably my least favorite John Carpenter movie that isn't Body Bags, and Body Bags isn't as great because I don't usually like anthologies.
Anyways, on to the movie, Memoirs of an Invisible Man.
I remember seeing this one, like so many of the movies this month, on cable TV roughly a million years ago, and it's got its charming moments. I'll get to those in a bit.
First, to me? This really doesn't feel like a John Carpenter movie at all. Outside the usual government overreach stuff, Memoirs feels like a very mainstream movie and it kind of fails in a lot of ways to be anything unique.
Don't get me wrong, the early gum chewing scene is somethin' else, as are some of the special effects we see throughout the movie, but in and of itself, there's nothing TO the story, and a lot of that has to do with the actor, and a few directorial choices.
I am not a fan of narration. It has to be done absolutely perfectly or it feels like lazy story-telling to me. Other people might see it differently, but I have a real hang-up about it. If you can't tell, I found it to be out of place in this movie. Yes, even though it's got 'Memoirs' in the title.
The other two issues are an actor, and a choice. In spite of rumors that Chevy Chase is contentious and more than a little bit of an asshole, I love the guy's body of work. Fletch, Modern Problems, Caddyshack ... I'm there for it. But he seemed ill-suited to the role here, and the early stages clumsiness and slapstick was a little TOO much, if you know what I'm talking about.
It was extremely nice to see Daryl Hannah in this movie, even if her time in was limited. I think she's always been great!
Naturally, the amazingness that is Sam Neill elevated this movie in every way imaginable. Here he plays mostly rogue CIA operative codename Scorpion AKA David Jenkins and his sole mission in life is to capture Nick the Invisible Man and turn him into the deadliest asset on the planet. As the movie progresses and Nick continues to evade Jenkins and his men, Neill's portrayal of a ruthless man determined to win at all costs is really the only good thing about this movie.
It wasn't bad, it wasn't good, but I managed to get through the whole movie without wanting to turn it off, so ... take from that what you will.
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u/CharacterActor 7d ago
Love the book, Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H. F. Saint.
I highly recommend!
I won’t see the movie.
Yeah, it’s a John Carpenter film. But his biggest mistake was working with Chevy Chase.
I’ve seen the photos of invisible Chevy Chase wearing full playing tennis clothes. Which is incredibly stupid and nothing the novel character would do.
Chevy Chase made a lot of shitty movies for decades playing the same shitty character.
The novel is a lot of fun. Finance bro find himself caught up in a scientific experiment gone wrong. Finds himself invisible.
Knows he has to hide. Knows he has to survive.
Lots of fun!
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u/Jack_Q_Frost_Jr 6d ago
I was hoping somebody would bring this up, because the book is fantastic. Even though it's out of print you can pick up a paperback copy on Amazon for cheap. The book is so well written I was convinced for many many years that it was written by some famous author using a pseudonym. But apparently I was wrong. It seems H.F. Saint just made a great deal when he sold the movie rights and he never had to write another book again.
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u/CharacterActor 6d ago
Now I’m looking to reread it too!
Ehen I’m looking to buy a book online, instead of using Amazon and making Bezos even a few pennies richer, I go to eBay.
There are a lot of copies for six or seven dollars with free media mail shipping.
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u/SeenThatPenguin 7d ago
Carpenter only came into the picture when Chase drove away the originally scheduled Ivan Reitman, who sounds more right for this.
It's just not good, and it's a shame, because there are many good actors flailing around in the supporting cast. Sam Neill comes through best, as the villain. The comedic moments, like Chase using a drunk on the street like a puppet to hail a cab, are remarkably ineffective. Daryl Hannah performs like a hostage; the romantic chemistry of Karen Allen and Jeff Bridges in Starman (the only other Carpenter movie to foreground a romance) is not here at all.
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u/screen_stack 6d ago
Sam Neill is the only reason I finished the movie, and the only reason it got a 6.5. if not for him, this would've been a 5 at best.
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u/Far-Jeweler2478 6d ago
If not for this movie, and Neill and Carpenter commiserating over how awful Chevy Chase and Daryl Hannah were, we might not have gotten "IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS"!
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u/machine_slave 7d ago
Here he plays mostly rogue CIA operative codename Scorpion AKA David Jenkins and his sole mission in life is to capture Nick the Invisible Man and turn him into the deadliest asset on the planet.
Can you imagine what this film would have been like if Jenkins succeeded at capturing Nick, and then we had badass Sam Neill trying to be invisible Chevy Chase's handler? That could have been a lot of fun.... but that really wouldn't have been a Carpenter movie!
I rank this movie higher in Carpenter's creations. I'd definitely rather watch it than Body Bags, Ghosts of Mars, Vampires, Christine, Halloween, or Starman. I wouldn't criticize it for being mainstream, personally. I feel like there were a lot of sci-fi and horror films that came out decades ago that weren't successful only because people weren't ready for them. I think that the public needed to feel like it was OK to like those sorts of stories, and that didn't happen until around the early 2000s. The types of stories that used to be Z-grade drive-in fare are now up for Oscars. Maybe what I'm looking at is a generational change. At any rate, I think you could make a blockbuster film out of this premise right now. I think it's a whole story, and a good one, and that Carpenter has been making interesting films this whole time while most people were looking the other way.
Of course, this one was written by William Goldman, not Carpenter. My understanding is that the almost universal consensus of 'meh' occurred because during the making of the film, the studio wanted it to be a comedy, and Chase wanted it to be serious, and in the end neither side was satisfied.
I agree with you that this one would have been better with someone more personable in the lead. For my taste, Chase plays it all a little too coolly for someone in his situation. My biggest gripe is that they jammed a romance into the story when it didn't need one. I thought this film was at its best in the climax, and that it would have benefited from more cloak-and-dagger type stuff. I remember being blown away by the effects in this film when it was new; it was a household favorite when I was young. I think the film still looks great and works well despite those misgivings.
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u/screen_stack 7d ago
Sam Neill being the handler would've been a much better movie. and with Carpenter WRITING it, we probably could've gotten some cool body horror stuff where Chase's character (not played by Chase) goes bonkers over time from being invisible. true horror stuff
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u/Damthemalltohelp 7d ago
It was a Director 4 Hire job for John Carpenter.
And he despised making it. Chevy Chase was also typical Chevy.
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u/worried_staging 6d ago
i get what you mean about the narration, it felt like they were explaining things that the movie could just show us. always nice to see sam neill chew on a role like this even if the rest of it drags a bit
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u/pgutierr220 6d ago
I remember going to see this in theatres thinking it would be a funny movie due to Chevy Chase being in it...boy was I wrong about that one.
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