A Bring Out the GIMP (Girls in Merciless Peril) Movie Review


Hollow Man

Reviewed by John Galt


Hollow Man (2000)

Finally, an invisible man movie that features an invisible man doing what you would expect an invisible man to do--take advantage of women. Kevin Bacon stars as the titular character who experiments on himself with an invisibility formula that has the unfortunate side effect of driving him mad. But not before it unleashes his twisted libido. That is the plot in a nutshell, so I am going to spend all my time on the three GIMP-ish scenes.

First of all, about 41 minutes into the movie, the scientists are taking turns monitoring the invisible Sebastian Kane (Kevin Bacon) overnight. Sarah (Kim Dickens) is on watch and falls asleep. Sebastian sneaks in, unbuttons and opens her shirt, and fondles her naked breast. She wakes up and of course does not see him, and she can see by the infrared camera trained on his bed that he is not in bed. But he slips back into bed shortly afterward, so she is left strongly suspecting he felt her up.
Sarah gets felt up
The best scene comes next, at the 58 minute mark. Sebastian leaves the lab and goes back to his apartment. He catches sight of a hot chick in the neighboring building who partially undresses, closes one of her curtains, but strides back into the other room topless before walking out again to take a shower. Oh, and did I mention the hot chick is Rhona Mitra? Yowza.
Rhona Mitra being watched
Sebastian says to himself, "Who's gonna know?" and takes off one of his plastic skin-colored gloves, revealing an invisible hand.

Rhona Mitra's character has no name, as far as I can determine, but instead of being referred to as "Rape Victim" she is referred to as "Sebastian's neighbor." So Rhona Mitra is just finishing her obligatory horror movie shower scene when her doorbell rings. She puts on a robe and answers the door, but no one is there. She walks out in the hall to make sure, leaving her door wide open. Of course.
Rhona Mitra checks the hallway
She walks back in but senses something. She looks around, but sees nothing. She sits down at her vanity and rubs moisturizing cream onto her lovely shoulders, baring her shapely breasts as she does so. The mirror tilts down. She looks alarmed and confused, and tilts it back level. It tilts up.
Rhona Mitra at the mirror
She jumps up, alarmed. She is grabbed and forced toward the bed as she screams in terror and confusion.
Rhona Mitra's rape, Part One
She is pushed back on the bed, screaming and struggling as one of her breasts pops out of the robe. We cut away to Elizabeth Shue's character arriving on the street below, in search of Sebastian.
Rhona Mitra being raped
Back to Rhona Mitra on her bed. She is screaming and her body is arching up and down as she is brutally raped.
Rhona Mitra raped some more
We cut away once more, back to Elizabeth Shue in Sebastian's apartment with, ironically, Rhona Mitra's apartment clearly visible in the background. When we return to Rhona, she is curled up on the bed, holding her robe around her body, bruised and crying.
Rhona Mitra's rape, part Two
The final GIMP scene is a dream sequence with Elizabeth Shue at the 1 hour, 7 minute mark. She is in bed, asleep. An invisible Sebastian slowly pulls off her covers.
Elizabeth Shue in bed
Sebastian unbuttons her blouse (but we don't see her breasts), then pulls her panties down and off of her shapely legs.
Elizabeth Shue's panties are removed
Invisible Sebastian suddenly and roughly pushes her knees apart (I love that part) and, apparently, violates her. We see her head thrown back in painful surprise, then she sits up in bed and it was all a dream. But what a dream.
Elizabeth Shue dreams she is raped
The movie concludes with lots of violence, blood and gore, but no more GIMP.

SUMMARY: One fondling (Kim Dickens), one brutal rape (Rhona Mitra), and one dream sequence almost-rape (Eizabeth Shue).

The stalking and brutal rape of Rhona Mitra is exceptional, and on the strength of that scene alone, I grade this a solid B.

This movie is available from Amazon, BUT THIS: The original movie did not include the best parts of Rhona Mitra's rape. It cut away as she was surprised and struggling before she was pushed onto the bed, then returned with her curled up on the bed afterwards and crying. (It's missing two and a half of the photo montages above.) The Special Edition has more, but not all, of the rape sequence in an extra "deleted scenes" DVD feature, and lists for $12.70 on Amazon. (It's missing the middle two of the actual rape photo montages above.) The Director's Cut is seven minutes longer and includes the entire rape sequence, albeit still with a couple of cut-aways to break up the action. The Director's Cut sells for only $6.99 on Amazon, so that's the way to go. Just watch which version you are getting.

My Grade: B

Amazon.com




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