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The Universal Monsters are one of the fundamental building blocks of the horror genre in Hollywood as we know it, where just about every horror film ever made can be related back to one of their many creep shows. Sometimes this connective tissue is thematic, but often it's an overt homage to the monstrous titular character.

We've spoken before at /Film about the best Invisible Man films you haven't seen, but now is the time to rank the best of the best from the entire multiverse of invisibility films. And I mean the entire multiverse. True-to-form horror, slapstick farce, raunchy sex comedy, and family-friendly romps are all fair game on this list, so allow me to be your guide into the land of invisible people as I rank the top 20 from worst to best.

Read more: The 15 Best Horror Franchises Of All Time, Ranked

20. The Erotic Misadventures Of The Invisible...

Films set in the future, like "A Boy and His Dog," offer imaginative and dark portrayals of post-apocalyptic wastelands in 2024. "The Quickening" envisions a bleak 2024 where a mega-corporation controls the world through a solar radiation-blocking shield. "Narcopolis" depicts a corrupt and dystopian 2024 UK where all drugs are legalized, showcasing advanced technology and reality-warping effects.

Science fiction movies have always had the tricky task of depicting the future, and 2024 has already had its share of representation. Any time a science fiction story envisions a drastically different future, whether it's a technologically-advanced utopia or a bleak, devolved post-apocalyptic wasteland, it's always difficult to gauge exactly how far into the future the calendar should be. While it's easy to laugh from the vantage point of the present at the overly-ambitious dreams of sci-fi writers, it's exceedingly difficult to predict the flow of technological advancement and societal change.

Now that 2024 has arrived, the genre...

Mill Creek’s latest disc collection gathers three Columbia Sci-fi faves and throws in a Blu-ray debut for a fourth. It’s a good selection: two giant Ray Harryhausen monsters, one marginal bad-taste Sam Katzman zombie epic, and a quirky Lou Costello comedy with Dorothy Provine doing a wholesome take on Allison Hayes’ biggest role. Do these encodings measure up to fancier editions? We give them a spin.

Sci-Fi from the Vault: 4 Films

Blu-ray

Creature with the Atom Brain, It Came from Beneath the Sea, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock

Mill Creek Entertainment

1955-1959 / B&w / 303 min. / Street Date February 14, 2023 / Available from Mill Creek Entertainment / 29.99

Starring: Richard Denning; Kenneth Tobey & Faith Domergue; William Hopper & Joan Taylor; Lou Costello & Dorothy Provine.

Directed by Edward L. Cahn, Robert Gordon, Nathan Juran, Sidney Miller

Disc collectors are now tempted weekly by plenty of interesting disc releases...

Kino’s triple-threat Edgar Ulmer show has great commentaries plus HD debuts of his two ‘Texas’ movies, that likely have not been seen in their original widescreen aspect ratios since the 1960s. Ulmer’s first tale of a solo space invader has the pleasing look of a silent-era expressionist film. His take on a time travel paradox uses Air Force cooperation to project pilot Robert Clarke from 1959 to the far far future date of 2024 (ulp!). And Ulmer’s cut-rate invisible man is a master thief sprung from the pokey to help with a mad scheme to conquer the world — but the crook instead rushes to rob a bank! The excellent presentations will have special appeal for connoisseurs of exotic sci-fi thrillers.

Edgar G. Ulmer Sci-Fi Collection

The Man from Planet X, Beyond the Time Barrier, The Amazing Transparent Man

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1951-1960 / B&w / 1:85 widescreen, 1:37 Academy / 204 min.

Hey, Ib Melchoir’s Opus Mars-us is back, in a not-bad new scan and color-grading job. If the nostalgia bug has bitten you deep enough to appreciate a fairly maladroit but frequently arresting space exploration melodrama, this may be the disc for you. Let’s be honest: Nobody can resist the allure of the fabulous Bat-Rat-Spider-Crab, and in glorious Cinemagic, no less.

The Angry Red Planet

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1960 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 83 min. / Street Date June 27, 2017 / 17.28

Starring: Gerald Mohr, Nora Hayden, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen.

Cinematography: Stanley Cortez

Film Editor: Ivan J. Hoffman

Original Music: Paul Dunlap

Written by Ib Melchior from a story by Sid Pink

Produced by Norman Maurer & Sid Pink

Directed by Ib Melchior

Unjust though it may be, not all Savant reviews make the national news feed, but my old 2001 coverage of the pretty miserable MGM DVD of The Angry Red Planet got quoted all over the place,...

Director Brad Bird and his co-writer Damon Lindelof take on a daring, ambitious science fiction project: chosen 'dreamers' are given glimpses of a gleaming Future City on the Horizon that exists in a parallel dimension of possibility. It's a chase film, a touchstone 'Sense of Wonder' epic and a wholly original visual extravaganza. The spacey gee-whiz thrills are linked to a worthy message, the rescue of a dying planet. Tomorrowland Blu-ray Walt Disney Home Video 2015 / Color / widescreen / 130 min. / Street Date October 13, 2015 / 39.99 Starring George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, Hugh Laurie, Tim McGraw, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key. Cinematography Claudio Miranda Film Editor Walter Murch, Craig Wood Original Music Michael Giacchino Written by Damon Lindelof, Brad Bird, Jeff Jensen Produced by Brad Bird, Jeffrey Chernov, Damon Lindelof Directed by Brad Bird

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Some newer science fiction movies are as complicated as sci-fi novels, the kind that take seven hundred pages to unwind.