On streaming services Okko, Wink, and Ivi, 'The Invisible Raptor' has been released—a comedic horror film about an invisible velociraptor of unclear origin that terrorizes the residents of a small American town and their pets. On the strange joys of...

In a secret laboratory housing a dinosaur of unclear origin and uncertain properties, two scientists spend a lot of time thinking about the weekend. For one, it's another weekend alone; for the other, it's a meeting with his son, whom he would gladly trade for a glimpse of the dinosaur. But there's no escaping the son, and the dinosaur is nowhere to be seen. In the lab, an invisible velociraptor sits in a cage—smart, cunning, bloodthirsty. Such a creature could have spawned a spin-off of 'Jurassic World' if the director had been given a budget. But the budget, as you've probably guessed, was not.

Nadezhda Vasilyeva

A Guide to the 'Jurassic World' Universe, or Previously in Dinosaur Movies

Dinosaurs are still in fashion, as are Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and a bit of Sam Neill. The final installment of the adventure action film with a sci-fi flavor, 'Jurassic World Dominion,' is hitting theaters worldwide.

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The very idea of making a movie about a dinosaur where the dinosaur is never seen is, in an important sense, brilliant (as is the idea of the company 'Volga' to translate 'The Invisible Raptor' as 'Nevidimozavr,' let's be honest). First, what a savings: the dinosaur exists, but there's no need to draw it—actors can just act against thin air for thrilling action scenes. Second, this approach is based on roughly the same intuition that made 'Jaws' a great film for Steven Spielberg. The longer the titular monster remains unseen, the scarier or at least more intriguing it becomes. While building suspense, 'The Invisible Raptor' certainly didn't become a great film, but director Mike Hermosa isn't trying to be Spielberg.

'The Invisible Raptor' is a fairly fun movie about people who can't find not only the dinosaur but also themselves. Naturally, the invisible velociraptor escapes from the lab—it's too smart, and the scientist played by Sean Astin (Sam from 'The Lord of the Rings,' featured on all the posters) is, shall we say, too clumsy. Once free, this relic of a bygone era flees to what it thinks is the best place for its kind: a dinosaur-themed amusement park.

This establishment is, to put it mildly, no Jurassic Park, so there are no actual dinosaurs there (which disappoints the raptor), only children, security guards, and a sad paleontologist with a PhD who once showed promise. His name is Grant Walker (Mike Capes), he participated in excavations and even dug up something, but now he dances in a duo with a guard in a T. rex costume to his own rap. Science is cruel, and so is life. But not as cruel as the titular dinosaur, which eats everything in its path—not only life prospects but also chickens, dogs, and people. Grant notices the traces of its meals—or rather, the byproducts—and realizes the townspeople's lives are threatened by a prehistoric monster.

Convincing the residents that they will soon be devoured by a creature from thematic encyclopedias is, of course, impossible. The paleontologist's only evidence is a peculiarly ridged droppings (which the invisible dinosaur displays for all to see), which, he assures, can only belong to a velociraptor. As knowledgeable viewers, we understand the heroes should trust a specialist in such a delicate field. The police, however, laugh at the evidence—they've seen all kinds of crap, but figuratively, and few are ever ready for metaphors to become reality.

Only two people believe the unlucky paleontologist: Amber (Kaitlyn McHugh), his ex-girlfriend whom he once dumped ungracefully, and Danny (David Shackelford), a somewhat lost security guard who never got over having his pants pulled down at a school party. At some point, they are joined by Henrietta (Sandy Martin), a slightly crazy chicken farmer whose thriving business the dinosaur has also damaged. She doesn't believe the velociraptor theory and offers her own explanation involving 5G, a government conspiracy, and a giant mutant rooster bred specifically to bankrupt farming. Still, she's better than nothing, so the heroes accept even that version—just to get her pickup truck.

The characters' attempts to defeat the velociraptor are, perhaps, indescribable. The psychologically traumatized guard discovers his inner Rambo. The paleontologist, whose career so obviously failed, finally finds meaning in his profession. His ex-girlfriend mostly thinks about becoming his current one, but in between, she provides what help she can. The farmer is mainly concerned with chickens and such. The velociraptor spends most of the movie eating, running around, and fertilizing the area. Its periodic clashes with locals end rather monotonously and quickly become tiresome, though the final showdown with the heroes is, in a sense, mind-blowing. No one has fought the air so convincingly in a long time.

For all its absurd merits (reminder: invisible dinosaur, chickens, 5G, rap and dancing with a T. rex, ridged feces as the key to truth), the film is, of course, quite excessive. It's not just that by the second hour, jokes about childhood, excrement, and the absurdity of the situation become somewhat tiresome, but that this kind of movie simply shouldn't run for two hours. Like any b-movie on the fun topic of prehistoric lizards, the film would have needed just over an hour to develop its theme (see great Godzilla movies). Finding meaning in the extra forty minutes is as difficult as seeing the titular dinosaur.

Much, however, becomes clear if you view the film as an existential drama about lost people—and over two hours, it's hard to see it any other way. The heroes don't see not only the dinosaur but also life prospects. They are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs, but they have no vision of the future either. For each of them, the elusive dinosaur symbolizes something different.

For the paleontologist, it's the dream of historical justice (both for himself and for the dinosaurs). For poor Danny, it's self-belief, the chance to become something more than an object of ridicule, to be noticed. For Amber, it's that the past can be reclaimed, that some things don't disappear without a trace. What the dinosaur symbolizes for Henrietta is better left unthought, though somewhere in the finale, she goes out to meet it in a chicken costume—and between them and velociraptors, there is, after all, a certain evolutionary kinship—and that is impossible not to think about.

Only in the finale, when each hero understands what they want from life, do they manage to see the dinosaur, even if only its outline. But is more needed? The film's ending is ultimately optimistic: the encounter with living history changes the heroes, the phantom velociraptor gives shape to their lives, even though it itself—like any significant relic of a bygone era—eludes being fully seen or understood.