Kevin Bacon’s Academy Award-Nominated Horror Gem Is Streaming Free

Kevin Bacon‘s criminally underrated horror film Hollow Man will stream free soon, giving fans of the actor the chance to revisit one of his most entertaining movies, despite what critics say. In Hollow Man, a selfish, power-hungry scientist comes upon the greatest discovery in human history: he has developed a substance that can make living beings invisible. Although Bacon’s Sebastian Caine should be proud of his groundbreaking achievement, he unfortunately uses it for something sinister.

If you were a regular moviegoer in the year 2000, then chances are you were one of the thousands of people who saw Hollow Man in theaters. The sci-fi horror thriller had everything needed for a major studio release at the time, including a leading star with charisma, great special effects, and the modern take on a classic horror story. And many felt that it delivered on all counts. The film, also starring Elisabeth Shue and Josh Brolin, is set to arrive on Tubi, the completely free ad-based platform. Per the official synopsis:

The thought of human invisibility has intrigued man for centuries. Highly gifted scientist Sebastian Caine develops a serum that induces complete invisibility. His remarkable transformation results in unimaginable power that seems to suffocate his sense of morality and leads to a furious and frightening conclusion.

‘Hollow Man’ Does Not Deserve Its Bleak Rotten Tomatoes Score

Sony Pictures Releasing

Written by Andrew W. Marlowe and directed by Paul Verhoeven, Hollow Man was quite successful upon release. It grossed over $190 million from its hefty $95 million budget, but critics were not too impressed. Today, it holds a critics’ score of 26% on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience score is also low, sitting at 28%. Despite a good reception at the box office, Verhoeven was not happy with the results, with Hollow Man being the last movie he ever made within the Hollywood studio system.

Hollow Man is still a deeply divisive horror movie. Though it has arguably aged well, many still take it as a horror film that fails in its attempt at being sophisticated, when, in reality, that’s not what it is at all. It is a pure slasher horror film with a sci-fi twist at its center, and it checks all the boxes of a film best enjoyed without too much analysis. What you should take seriously are its extraordinary special effects, which earned it an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects (it lost to Gladiator).

Today, Hollow Man feels like a misunderstood film. It’s campy, gory, and violent–a pure horror movie that was framed as trying to be more intellectual than it was. Sure, it’s about a man doing whatever it takes to become a god, and the corruptible power that comes with it, but that’s about it. When re-evaluating the movie, and putting it squarely in the slasher subgenre, it’s easy to observe that it has aged well. With a wicked villain played by the charming Kevin Bacon, and spectacular visual effects, Hollow Man is as straightforward as a good horror movie should be sometimes.

Release Date

August 2, 2000

Runtime

112 Minutes