There’s a hilarious moment early in The Invisible Raptor that captures the promise of the movie’s overly silly premise. (The title is the premise.) It’s involves a quick bit of physical comedy from Sean Astin that is well-worn ground yet extremely funny. There’s also a scene at the very end involving a chicken costume when the movie reaches its full potential by getting truly outrageous. Unfortunately, the scenes between those two bits aren’t nearly as effective. Despite being an incredibly well-made indie film that looks far more expensive than its modest budget, this story of a killer invisible dinosaur on the run is not as absurd or funny as it could be.
The Invisible Raptor is a sci-fi comedy full of countless references and Easter eggs to other movies. At its core, though, it’s a combination parody of Jurassic Park, Jaws, and Predator. It focuses on Dr. Grant Walker, played by co-writer Mike Capes. He’s a paleontologist stuck entertaining disinterested kids at a dino-themed amusement park. His expertise is suddenly needed when he realizes an invisible velociraptor is on the loose in his town. The way he realizes that ridiculous fact is very funny: he just does. That easy acceptance of something so dumb is one of the best recurring bits in the film. Things just “are” because they are. The movie doesn’t waste time worrying about explaining anything because why would it? There’s an invisible dinosaur to catch.
The problem is that joke, like most in the movie, is funnier on paper than it is on screen. Far too often the film’s best comedic ideas, bits, and gags don’t fully land despite their inherent strength. Most humorous concepts are good ones, but the execution and energy they require to be genuinely hilarious just isn’t there. It’s like using a single blown out speaker to play music that sounds better the louder you turn it up.
The biggest reason for The Invisible Raptor‘s muted comedy is that the film, somehow, just isn’t stupid enough. For one, it’s almost too well-made. Much to director Mike Hermosa and his VFX team’s credit, it looks like a legitimate disaster film; it aesthetically punches way above its shoestring budget. That’s an impressive filmmaking feat, but it undercuts the absurdity of the film to its detriment. It also doesn’t help that for the first half of a way-too-long 113 minute runtime the movie intentionally pulls its punches by not go as far or as wild as you’d hope it might. The Invisible Raptor isn’t as shlocky and dumb as it needs to be.
Things improve in the second half of the film when it finally starts getting more gory and over-the-top, but the slow build to get to that point prevents it from having enough momentum to make those later super silly scenes land the way you’d hope. It’s like the movie is always playing catchup with itself.
The result is a film that is frustratingly flat. The only joke it consistently pulls off is its invisible monster sight gag. (That includes an especially an inspired Jaws bit from the delightful David Shackelford who plays local loser-turned-raptor hunter Denny.) Otherwise, outside of a few brief moments, it’s simply clever rather than wonderfully dumb, even though it does try to be very dumb. This movie doesn’t fail to reach its comedic potential because the filmmakers forgot what they were making. It falls short because clever doesn’t produce laughs, and I rarely laughed during The Invisible Raptor even when I thought an idea was a funny one.
How much you personally find those clever moments legitimately funny will determine how much you like this movie. And some people surely will. It will have fans simply because of what it accomplishes visually for so little money. That’s the best thing it has going for it and its commendable. Others, though, will like it if they experience it in a very different environment and mind frame than I did. (I was sober and alone.) This is a film probably best enjoyed late at night and in a theater or with friends, especially after an evening of carousing. (Read: Watch it when you’re in a silly decision-making frame of mind.) Then your brain can supply the extra ridiculousness that The Invisible Raptor needs to really work.
The Invisible Raptor is set to play at Fantaspoa in Brazil next month with more 2024 festivals to come. Future streaming and availability is TBD as of March 2024.