The invisible man trope seems perfectly suited for erotic cinema, full of naughty possibilities. So far, we haven't seen on VZ1 one that lives up to its potential, with
School Spirit and
Henry's Night In. Let's see if this late-night-cable entry can finally deliver the goods.
The title screen is literally in Comic Sans. A definite red flag.
Norman (Scott Coppolla) is a total loser. He's a struggling actor who has to work for a catering company to make ends meet. Waiting for an audition, Norman gets a pep talk from his affable friend Paul (Craig Peck). "At least you have a hot girlfriend, right?" Uh, oh...
We find Norman's girlfriend Rachel (Elina Madison) at the audition, kissing some douche-bag.
Later, at a swank party hosted by a top Hollywood producer, Frederick Wolf (Arthur Roberts), Norman and Paul do their catering gig.
Norman, overwhelmed with his bad luck and shitty life, takes a break in a back room at the mansion. There he meets Kelli Parkinson (Gabriella Hall) another struggling actor.
Norman learns that this room was once occupied by an old Hollywood legend who played the Invisible Man. Bungling fool that he is, Norman knocks over a jar of mysterious liquid, spilling its orange contents all over himself.
Abruptly, Norman has a fantasy about screwing Kelli. His old girlfriend, Rachel, is having sex with the douchebag, and he carries in Kelli; the couples have sex side-by-side in some kind of competition. (WTF?)
The couples are given scores by a panel of judges. Norman wins with perfect 10s when he pulls out his wild card move...
He turns invisible and screws Kelli.
Gabriella Hall has to pretend she's having sex with an invisible guy a few times in this movie. I'd say she plays it pretty well - and provides some quality nudity in the process.
While the fantasy sequence was nice - it really made no sense in the context of the film. Why couldn't they just have had this happen for real later? Why would Norman gain the power of invisibility and suddenly go into fantasy mode? Whatever. It's probably best to not analyze too much a movie that begins with Comic Sans title credits.
Back to reality: Norman starts creating havoc at the posh dinner table. When one of the guests insults Paul, Norman rips her dress off. This leads one of the dinner guests to exclaim -
"Wow. I got an idea. Let's all eat naked!"
After the party, Kelli and Paul both discover that Norman is now invisible. They take it surprisingly in stride.
Kelli takes Norman to her room and has sex with her invisible partner. The scene is really well lit, and we get some incredible looks at Gabriella Hall in the odd position of having sex with "no one".
After sex, Kelli gets the opportunity to go to England with her roommate, Nirvana (Kim Sill). Norman will tag along.
Meet Robert Bull (Doug Merrill). He's a lecherous Harvey Weinstein type Hollywood agent who hates Kelli (she turned down his advances earlier). Robert has also discovered the invisibility formula - and chances are, he'll use the power for no good.
Kelli and Norman walk the streets of London; there, they meet a mime (?). Norman starts pulling up her dress (as some kind of joke?) which causes a crowd to form. The mime gets jealous of the stolen attention and insults Kelli. Norman attacks the mime - and, of course, the crowd just thinks he's miming the assault.
This is comedy, folks. I suppose in the right hands, this actually could have been funny. Alas, it's just executed so poorly, the gags just don't land.
The reason they're in England is Nirvana has been hired to provide a seance for a wealthy couple - Margaret (Sheila Vale) and Bernard Sullivan (Daniel Anderson). Of course, with Norman around making things look like their levitating, etc. it appears that the ghost of their butler has been summoned.
Nirvana gives everyone some aphrodisiac chocolates. Kelli has sex with Bernard, while Margaret has sex with Norman and a vacuum cleaner (!)
All the while, the real ghost of the butler stands around being appalled, saying things like, "Well I never!"
Next, Kelli and the gang go to Italy. They're followed by the evil agent, Robert who's checking into their hotel room.
Naturally, he bangs the hotel receptionist (Julie Rivier).
Gabriella Hall may look better naked, but Julie Rivier delivers the most convincing "Invisible Man Sex" of the film. She is definitely all-in on this one. Is this what they call 'method acting'?
At the hotel restaurant, Kelli starts getting manhandled by an invisible man. She assumes it's Norman at first, but quickly learns it's the evil agent, Robert.
A battle between Norman and Robert ensues, with both tugging at Kelli. Of course, Norman ultimately wins.
It ends with one last invisible roll in the hay. THE END
This could have been a cult favorite, but it never quite rises above cookie-cutter late-night cable fare. Upon my initial watch, I found it pretty forgettable. However, going back a few years later and (perhaps my standards have lowered and I'm more easily entertained) I found this a damn fine example of the invisibility genre.
★★★★★★★☆☆☆7/10
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