The Unseen (2016)
Written and directed by Geoff Redknap
Starring Aden Young, Camille Sullivan, Julia Sarah Stone, Ben Cotton

Here is yet another example of stumbling across a title that you’ve never heard of, and then are so blown away by it that you’re amazed this is the first time you’re hearing about it. Or at least that you remember! Especially with the big Invisible Man remake from last year, you’d think that the spotlight would have been put on any similar type films. But this one really seemed to be left… unseen!

One of the things that I love about this film is the ambiguity. A little information is given about what is going on, but honestly the obvious has little to do with the story itself. Aden Young plays Bob Langmore, once a contender for a promising career in professional hockey, but has seemed to drop off the radar. He’s left his wife and young daughter, heading to the outskirts of nowhere to work in a mill. We’re not really sure what is wrong with him, but he seems to be in pain, and is seriously contemplating throwing himself into one of the giant grinders at work. Our first clue that something strange is going on is when he is at home and unwraps the bandages on his hand and we see parts of two of his fingers are gone. But then we realize they are not gone, we just can’t see them. He’s partially invisible. But unlike the traditional stories of this type, he’s not slowly fading in and out, just parts of him are transparent, and not completely transparent, but what seems like layers of him. And it seems to be spreading. For some reason, the process seems to be painful. Could the physical injuries he’s receiving, like in a fight, aggravating his condition? Right before he jumps into one of the machines, he decides he needs to see his daughter one last time. Shortly after he gets back home to visit, she doesn’t come home from a night with her friends. As he and his ex-wife start to investigate where she might have gone, more and more truths about what is going on becomes a little bit clearer.

One element that I thought was really smart was making the location up in the cold parts of Canada. Instead of going with the traditional bandaged up look for this type of character, because it is so cold, it makes perfect sense to be bundled up with gloves, knit hat, and face coverings, so one is not even given a second glance. Smart move. Granted, that makes it even harder to walk around naked, but a minor detail.

Geoff Redknap, who wrote and directed the film, is better known for working in the special makeup effects field, working everything from TV series like Poltergeist: The Legacy, to Millennium, to feature films like Final Destination (2000), Bones (2001), Fido (2006), to even Deadpool (2016). This is his first feature film and he shows he has the talent for it, not just in directing but the writing as well. Because this isn’t your traditional story about a man becoming invisible, you really have to pay attention for any details that may or may not be in there. Much like our protagonist, the how’s and why’s are not clearly seen or defined all the time. We’re not even sure why he is turning invisible or how it started. We’re giving little bits of information but that’s it. The real gem here is that is not even the main point of the story, but a man’s love for his daughter and doing whatever he can to make sure she is safe.

Aden Young, who plays our disappearing character, does an incredible job not only showing the pain and anguish he is going through, but is one tough guy. If he was supposed to be a tough hockey player, you believe it. His daughter is played by Julia Sarah Stone, who also does a great job trying to understand her relationship with her father, even though she doesn’t know the whole story. Ben Cotton plays the local slimeball Crisby, who may or may not be a drug dealer, who gets Young to help him with a delivery. Last time I saw Cotton, he was getting split in half by Michael Rooker in Slither (2006). It doesn’t take long for anybody to realize that even though we’re not really sure what he is doing, he’s a real douche.

However you can find seeing this, either on DVD or streaming, I would highly recommend taking the time. Unlike the title, this one definitely needs to be seen.