Leigh Whannell on How David Fincher & 90s Thrillers Inspired 'The Invisible Man' [The Fourth Wall #16]

"The Invisible Man" may only be his third directorial effort, but Leigh Whannell has been terrorizing audiences for years. From "Saw," to "Dead Silence," to the "Insidious" franchise, Whannell (and his frequent collaborator James Wan) is one of the masterminds behind some of the 21st Century's most iconic and effective scares. His latest film reinvents the classic Universal monster for a modern audience through a chilling tale of a woman (Elizabeth Moss) who believes she is being stalked by her supposedly deceased abusive partner. While the writer/director evoked fear through his timely analogy of the gaslighting ghouls of today, he also looked to the past to draw from a lost genre.

The rise of big-budget superhero blockbusters over the past two decades has minimized the frequency of mid-budget genre films. Outside of the "John Wick" franchise, you'll only really find them under the Blumhouse banner. Whannell's second feature, "Upgrade" (a Blumhouse production), showcased his reverence for the bygone era as it harkened back to the John Carpenter sci-fi action body horror films of the 80s and 90s. With "The Invisible Man," Whannell once again returns to the mid-budget well to revitalize 90s adult thrillers featuring A-List talent.

Outside of David Fincher, not many filmmakers are successfully recapturing the magic of those mid-budget genre pieces. Perhaps this is why Whannell's latest was not only inspired by Fincher's work but why Fincher himself is somewhat of an aspirational figure to Whannell.

Aside from the works and people that inspired "The Invisible Man," Whannell discussed the state of horror, weaponizing an audience's cinematic knowledge, his collaborations with Jason Blum and James Wan, his favorite LA sushi hotspot and much more.

"The Invisible Man" is now playing in theaters everywhere.