Scientist Dr. Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) thinks of himself as a god. He and his team have been working on a top secret project contracted by the Pentagon to create a serum that make living creatures invisible. They have been successful in turning animals invisible (aka performing the bio-quantum phase-shift), but it’s restoring them that’s proven to be a challenge. Also, the longer the animals remain invisible, the more violent and unpredictable they become. When Dr. Caine finally has his aha moments and comes up with the solution for the reversion serum, he doesn’t want to let government rep Dr. Kramer (William Devane) know. Instead, he wants to move up human trials, volunteering with himself as the first test subject.

The test is initially a success, and Sebastian is enjoying the novelty of his new invisibility while his team conducts tests and research. But when it’s time to restore him three days later, the reversal process fails. As the days pass and the team desperately looks for answers, Sebastian begins to grow stir crazy and angry. He is sick of staying locked up in the underground lab, and wants to explore the outside world and take advantage of his invisibility. Sebastian has always been a bit of a voyeur, regularly watching his neighbor (Rhona Mitra) get undressed in front of her apartment window. However, Sebastian’s desires seem to become amplified, and he begins to sneak out and use his invisible nature to do illegal, depraved and deadly things. The longer he stays invisible, the worse he gets. But is it the serum that is doing this, or just his newfound power to be able to do and get away with anything? Sebastian becomes sadistic and dangerous, and the team must stop him, but how do you capture and stop someone you can’t see? Meanwhile, Sebastian wants to eliminate all of those who know about the experiment, so that he can live free and unchecked.

Hollow Man is a solid thriller that really holds up well almost 25 years later. It is an interesting take on The Invisible Man, looking at how power can corrupt someone. Kevin Bacon is deliciously evil in this role, even when you can only hear his voice. Sebastian starts off cocky and full of himself, but this turns more evil as he realizes that with his new invisibility, he feels like he can get away with anything. Bacon is surrounded by an amazing cast that includes Elisabeth Shue as Sebastian’s partner/ex, scientist Linda McKay; Josh Brolin as Matthew Kensington, who’s also heading up the project and has been secretly seeing Linda behind Sebastian’s back; and Kim Dickens (Fear the Walking Dead) as vet Sarah Kennedy, who isn’t aware that the government hasn’t been told about their progress. Rounding out the scientists working on the project are Greg Grunberg (Alias), Joey Slotnick (The Single Guy) & Mary Randle.

The effects are surprisingly good and really hold up. The film takes a creative approach to the invisibility where it affects the body one layer at a time, first making the skin disappear, and then the muscles and then the bones, which makes for some really great visuals. The filmmakers do an excellent job of building the tension as the characters feel like they are being stalked by this unseen presence, and often can’t be sure until it is too late and some fog, water or other material confirms their suspicions just as Sebastian makes his attack. The 2000 setting of the film is both ahead of its time in some ways, with the doctors making Skype-like video calls to one another, and yet also set in a simpler time where no one has cell phones to easily warn or track one another, and landlines can be cut to leave a potential victim without any way to call for help. The film builds to an exciting and action-packed (though a bit over-the-top and unrealistic) final showdown.

Mill Creek’s new Walmart-exclusive SteelBook release looks and sounds great. It features a bright, clean picture that provides an excellent level of detail, and a natural-looking level of film grain. As mentioned earlier, the special effects also really hold up well. The 5.1 audio track is well utilized to provide an immersive experience. This is especially noticeable early on in a scene where the animals in the lab start acting up, and the room is filled with the sound of the chaos. Dialogue is clear throughout, and the film’s excellent score sounds great and helps to build the tension and set the tone.

The release comes with a single Blu-ray disc placed inside a beautiful-looking SteelBook case—the interior and exterior of which can be seen below. The case has a J-card providing details about the film and contents. Sony’s previous 2007 Blu-ray release of Hollow Man included an HBO Making Of special as well as a 15-part behind-the-scenes featurette and some VFX picture-in-picture comparisons, but unfortunately none of that material has been carried over to Mill Creek’s release. Instead, we get a single new interview with Jerry Goldsmith biographer Jeff Bond, who discusses the work of the film’s composer. There is also no digital copy included.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:59:17)

• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:
Unfortunately none of the previously-available bonus material for this film has been carried over to this release, but the disc does include one new exclusive featurette.

• Full Transparency: Scoring Hollow Man (18:29)
  Biographer Jeff Bond talks about composer Jerry Goldsmith’s career that led up to this movie, his work on this film, his collaborations with director Paul Verhoeven, Goldsmith’s approach to scoring the opening title sequence, and his musical choices for some other scenes. The conversation switches between a full screen montage of production photos and footage from the film, and a side-by-side with video footage of Bond speaking on camera from his home. There are a lot of long gaps where there is no talking.

Final Thoughts:

Mill Creek has re-released the director’s cut of thriller Hollow Man on Blu-ray in a nice looking new Walmart-exclusive SteelBook case. While the film’s video presentation is excellent, the disc doesn’t carry over any of the bonus material from Sony’s previous release. Instead, it offers one new 18-minute interview with a biographer talking about the film’s composer. There is no digital copy included. This release is really for the SteelBook collectors. Others who don’t care about the packaging may be better off getting the previous Blu-ray release for all the behind-the-scenes content. I don’t think the new interview is worth a double-dip for those who aren’t package collectors, and who already own this film on Blu-ray.