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(For Day 19 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about what haunts us, or rather what hunts us.)

The eyes that hide in broad daylight,
Assured that none will spot them….
The lips that curl just out of sight,
At ease since no one’s caught them…
The mind that’s sick and quick to spite
A people that forgot them…

The hands that crave a heedless neck
And wait for chances hidden…
The fiends of windowsill and deck
Who disappear unbidden…
That one fool time I fail to check,
To watch my back but didn’t…

The hate that hunts and takes in trade
Our frail serenity…
Disquiet’s grip that doesn’t fade
When I’m alone and free…
The things that make me most afraid
Are things I cannot see.
________________________

MPA rating:  R (mainly for violence)

Before 2020’s The Invisible Man reminded audiences what a nightmare an invisible menace would be, Hollow Man gave us a more conventional thriller version of such a story. Kevin Bacon plays Dr. Sebastian Caine, an egotistical scientist working on a secret military project for invisibility, and, after dozens of animal tests, he takes the unauthorized risk to try it on himself. When the attempt to make him visible again fails, he finds a disturbing freedom from morality in being able to do whatever he wants unseen, worrying his ex-girlfriend (Elizabeth Shue) and her colleague/lover (Josh Brolin).

Owing much of its science-run-amok plot to The Fly, Hollow Man fell in that turn-of-the-millennium period when CGI was still a wonder even when it would be considered unpolished by today’s standards. The scenes of Bacon and a gorilla gradually shifting their transparency one organ at a time is still rather impressive and feels like a leap in visual effects around which the rest of the film was built. The acting is merely serviceable, but director Paul Verhoeven, aiming to make a more palatable mainstream movie, pulls off some effective chills and thrills once Sebastian goes into predictable slasher mode. It’s entertaining, but it can’t quite escape its innate cheesiness, especially when compared to the 2020 Invisible Man.

Best line: (Sebastian) “It’s amazing what you can do… when you don’t have to look at yourself in the mirror anymore.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2024 S.G. Liput
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