In H.G. Wells' classic story The Invisible Man, the protagonist, a research scientist named Griffin, slowly descends into madness when he is unable to reverse a formula that renders him invisible; in The Invisible Maniac, Professor Kevin Dornwinkle (Noel Peters) is completely off his rocker way before he successfully pulls his disappearing act.
After his initial experiments fail, and he is mocked by his peers, Dornwinkle snaps and goes on a murderous rampage, winding up in an asylum for the criminally insane. Six months later, however, he escapes, adopts a new identity, and gets a job as a teacher at a high school (with one helluva lax vetting process for new employees).
By day, Dorwinkle teaches physics to a class of obnoxious teenagers, who make life hell for their nutty professor; by night he tries to discover where he went wrong with his previous experiments. Eventually he develops a serum that allows limited periods of invisibility which he uses to spy on girls in the shower and have a little grope every now and then. However, when his class play one trick too many on him, he totally wigs out, injects himself with his formula, traps his unruly pupils in the school, and proceeds to bump them off one by one.
Trashy, misogynistic, and completely one of a kind, The Invisible Maniac is a totally bonkers and thoroughly entertaining piece of early 90s schlock that any fan of weird cinema has just got to see. Peters' wonderfully unrestrained performance as Dornwinkle is absolutely perfect, his cartoonish psycho-nerd being everything you could ever want in a mad scientist (his maniacal laugh alone makes this an unmissable film). The supporting cast also do a great job, with Stephanie Blake putting in a particularly memorable turn as the school's nymphomaniac principal, and porn-star Savannah (credited as Shannon Wilsey) as a very sexy blonde student.
Besides the endless nudity from a very fine selection of busty babes, and the brilliantly OTT Peters, The Invisible Maniac also offers some terrific scenes of twisted humour and slapstick, with the funniest moments being when an invisible Dornwinkle gets punchy with some jocks: watching the poor actors throwing themselves all over the place and reacting to unseen punches is absolutely hilarious (although, credit where credit's due, they do a pretty convincing job!).
On top of all of this craziness, there are also several genuinely disturbing moments which make the film rather chilling at times: Dornwinkle's night-time visit to one sleeping beauty hints at nastier things that might follow (and is remarkably similar to a scene in Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man, which makes me think that the Dutch director is also a fan of this movie); several women are killed in nasty ways, but only after their breasts are revealed for the viewer's enjoyment; and the surprising ending sees the invisible killer evading capture after blowing a guy's head off with a shotgun!
I have no doubt that many people will loathe this film, berating it as unfunny, sexist garbage; those with a love of the absurd and an appreciation of the demented, however, should find The Invisible Maniac to be irresistibly dumb fun from start to finish.
After his initial experiments fail, and he is mocked by his peers, Dornwinkle snaps and goes on a murderous rampage, winding up in an asylum for the criminally insane. Six months later, however, he escapes, adopts a new identity, and gets a job as a teacher at a high school (with one helluva lax vetting process for new employees).
By day, Dorwinkle teaches physics to a class of obnoxious teenagers, who make life hell for their nutty professor; by night he tries to discover where he went wrong with his previous experiments. Eventually he develops a serum that allows limited periods of invisibility which he uses to spy on girls in the shower and have a little grope every now and then. However, when his class play one trick too many on him, he totally wigs out, injects himself with his formula, traps his unruly pupils in the school, and proceeds to bump them off one by one.
Trashy, misogynistic, and completely one of a kind, The Invisible Maniac is a totally bonkers and thoroughly entertaining piece of early 90s schlock that any fan of weird cinema has just got to see. Peters' wonderfully unrestrained performance as Dornwinkle is absolutely perfect, his cartoonish psycho-nerd being everything you could ever want in a mad scientist (his maniacal laugh alone makes this an unmissable film). The supporting cast also do a great job, with Stephanie Blake putting in a particularly memorable turn as the school's nymphomaniac principal, and porn-star Savannah (credited as Shannon Wilsey) as a very sexy blonde student.
Besides the endless nudity from a very fine selection of busty babes, and the brilliantly OTT Peters, The Invisible Maniac also offers some terrific scenes of twisted humour and slapstick, with the funniest moments being when an invisible Dornwinkle gets punchy with some jocks: watching the poor actors throwing themselves all over the place and reacting to unseen punches is absolutely hilarious (although, credit where credit's due, they do a pretty convincing job!).
On top of all of this craziness, there are also several genuinely disturbing moments which make the film rather chilling at times: Dornwinkle's night-time visit to one sleeping beauty hints at nastier things that might follow (and is remarkably similar to a scene in Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man, which makes me think that the Dutch director is also a fan of this movie); several women are killed in nasty ways, but only after their breasts are revealed for the viewer's enjoyment; and the surprising ending sees the invisible killer evading capture after blowing a guy's head off with a shotgun!
I have no doubt that many people will loathe this film, berating it as unfunny, sexist garbage; those with a love of the absurd and an appreciation of the demented, however, should find The Invisible Maniac to be irresistibly dumb fun from start to finish.