The Invisible Man vs. The Human Fly

Somewhere deep beneath all the implausible nonsense & preposterous ideas, there's a solid and intriguing plot hidden in "The Invisible Man Vs. The Human Fly". The story revolves around a vicious night club owner/war veteran who takes revenge on his former associates via shrinking his henchman with a serum until he has the size of an ordinary housefly. The fly then kills his enemies without leaving a trace - apart from an audible buzzing sound - and the media assumes there's a murderous invisible man at large. Now, the clever part of the plot is that the henchman is a psychopath addicted to the fly-serum, and he also starts killing random people that he has issues with, and this severely complicates the police investigation. Oh, and there's also an actual invisible wandering around, otherwise the title doesn't make sense.

Watchable (and even slightly better) sequel to "The Invisible Man Appears" (1949) but still a long way from qualifying as classic Sci-Fi or horror. Around the same time in the US, Vincent Price was starring in "The Fly" and "Return of the Fly", and those movies are a lot better and more entertaining. Certain special effects, like the floating head or the reduction process, are very good but others - notably the little guy flying and buzzing - are ridiculous. Besides, why does he buzz when he's still shaped like a man?

The film also has too many supportive characters and confusing sub plots, and there are loads of irrelevant and pointless pieces of dialogue. For instance, at three different times, there are a bunch of people discussing whether it wouldn't be more accurate if they refer to the invisible man as "the imperceptible man". What? Whatever...

There are a series of mysterious stabbing deaths in post war Tokyo. Yet no attacker was seen or could have gained entry. Police investigate. They find that the deaths are preceded by buzzing sounds. A group of Japanese scientists were working on cosmic ray research during war and one (Kuroki) feels he was sold out by the others. He spend 6 years in prison and wants to get even. He has a gas that shrinks humans to fly size so they can do his dirty work. Another Scientist has developed a ray that makes objects invisible. A cop uses it on himself and while invisible discovers what Kuroki is up to. But Kuroki finds out about the invisible ray and wants it. This is a film with good acting, audio and video quality. Even the fake cosmic ray lab is realistic. But it is all lost when we see the tiny shrunken man flying around in his business suit, without wings making buzzing sounds. It is so completely unbelievable that it's hilarious. In Japanese with English subtitles. Black and White.

While not a direct sequel to Invisible Man Appears, Invisible Man Vs the Human Fly and the latter are usually thought of as companion pieces. Human Fly is more preposterous and more imaginative, and therefore more entertaining, then Invisible Man Appears. Both films are interesting in their serious approach to the police procedural genre element, and because Fly is more effective with this aspect of its story, on that level it is also better than the first film. It is not a great movie, but both films are odd curiosities within Japanese post-war cinema culture, and are worth viewing for fans of the period and certainly for fans of 1950s world sci-fi cinema.