'The Invisible Man' gets a lot of mileage out of Moss, simple premise

From the very opening shot of the new horror film The Invisible Man you're riveted by what you're seeing. It opens with what could be described as a mini silent movie that tells you all you need to know about the horrific situation the lead character (played by Elizabeth Moss) finds herself in.

She is clearly in an abusive, controlling relationship with a man who has a lot of resources, dabbles in high tech and whose home feels like a very stylish prison.

If you've seen the trailers you know that Moss escapes, the husband appears to have killed himself and she is now stalked by an invisible entity that certainly behaves like her brutally toxic ex.

The fact that none of this plays campy is an amazing testament to writer-director Leigh Whannell and especially its star Elizabeth Moss, whose been fantastic for years on both the big and small screen, but finally here gets the role that should make her a major movie star.

She has one of the most remarkably expressive faces in movies -- and this movie requires her to work every muscle of it as she is gaslit, terrified and eventually driven to righteous fury. In a just world, a performance like this would be in the awards conversation at the end of this year, but alas genre bias will probably doom it.

It should be a huge commercial hit though -- this is the perfect kind of audience pleasing entertainment. It's premise is pretty irresistible. It has a great, sympathetic performance at its center. And there are enough genuine surprises to keep you guessing even if you start to predict where the invisible man may surface next.

Whannell's camera does wonders -- creating dread in the corners of ever frame. The movie is also incredibly well designed sonically. Everything is working here to maximum effect here and it's a blast.

I'm sure this is one of those movies where if you start thinking about it too much it starts to fall apart from a logic perspective. And Moss' character probably does too much exploring when her life is danger. But these are minor quibbles.

The effects here are fantastic but it's really the film's willingness to grapple seriously with domestic abuse and the commitment that Moss brings to her lead role that make this movie special.

This is supposed to be a reboot/relaunch of sorts of Universal's legacy monsters brand (Tom Cruise's critically reviled The Mummy was the ill-fated first foray). I certainly hope that continue on this path -- making relatively grounded, adult-skewing horror thrillers that are both frightening and make you feel something.