The Invisible Raptor Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

The Invisible Raptor Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 31, 2025

There are movies that are unintentionally silly but kind of end up being charming or at least giggle worthy even if they're not particularly "self aware", so to speak, and then there are films that know they're silly and spend a lot of their running time exploiting that very quality. The Invisible Raptor is most definitely in the second category, but the film may frankly offer too much silliness for its own good. The film's eccentric conceit is summarized in its title, and there's probably little doubt that a titular monster / creature who can't be seen was probably "engineered", economically if not biologically, to keep CGI special effects costs down (though there are some passingly funny and rather nicely accomplished practical effects).

There's a lot in The Invisible Raptor that simply has to be accepted as a given, including how exactly the titular character came into being. Suffice it to say it has something to do with a nefarious biological engineering facility in Spielburgh County, which is shown in the film's opening vignette, and which also provides a brief glimpse of arguable "marquee attraction" Sean Astin as a lab worker. Also suffice it to say Astin isn't around for long once his unseen creation manages to escape its cage (though Astin returns for a needless and per the above inexplicable "sting" at the very end of the film).

The bulk of the story follows disgraced paleontologist Grant Walker (Mike Capes, who also co-wrote), whose career trajectory has been on a downhill slide for years, leading to his current predicament as a tour guide at a local kiddie park called Dino World. Unsurprisingly, Walker's erstwhile expertise with dinosaurs (or at least their fossils) puts him on the frontline of figuring out why so many people around town are ending up dismembered (or worse) by some invisible presence. He's aided in his efforts by his former girlfriend (Caitlin McHugh Stamos) and a Dino World assistant named Denny (David Shackelford).

The film has some fun, if mostly brief, supporting performances from various "red shirts" or other people involved in the fracas. These include Henrietta McCluckskey (Sandy Martin), the daffy owner of a local chicken farm, and Sherriff Grimley (Richard Riehle*), who of course isn't suffering the "fools" who keep calling him complaining about something going bump in the night. The Invisible Raptor outstays whatever welcome it establishes in its early going by a probably considerable amount of time, and a lot of its humor is juvenile even by the low standards these types of films often offer (among other questionable running jokes is a recurring one about Denny's genital size, which features its own "reveal" late in the proceedings).

*Note: In the useless trivia department, some readers of my writing here may recall my mention in some previous reviews of the tiny town of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, which I discovered is the center of the known universe after having married a woman from there. Sports fans may have read recently that none other than Bob Uecker passed away there, but Richard also hails from there and actually grew up across the street from my wife's family.

The Invisible Raptor Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Invisible Raptor is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Unsurprisingly there's next to no technical information on the IMDb as of the writing of this review, and I haven't been able to dredge up anything authoritative online about the shoot, but this is an appealing looking digital capture that I'm assuming had a 2K DI. Since the creature is mostly invisible (there's a brief "reveal" toward the end, as seen in screenshot 4), there's not a ton of CGI, which is probably a good thing, considering the film's evidently pretty paltry budget. Detail levels on practical sets and costumes as well as, you know, actual human beings tends to be excellent. Fine detail on some of the wacky quasi "cosplay" costumes that two characters wear (a chicken and a Barney-esque dinosaur) is also nice looking. The palette is generally natural looking, if maybe skewed just a tad toward yellow.

The Invisible Raptor Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Invisible Raptor features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that may admittedly not have the "oomph" of mega budgeted efforts, but which still offers some noticeable immersion in any number of scenes, probably understandably expectedly some of the marauding efforts of the titular creature. The Dino World sequence also offers a nice spill of crowd noise populating the side and rear channels. There are some bursts of LFE as the raptor stomps around the town. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Invisible Raptor Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:02)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Packaging features a slipcover.

The Invisible Raptor Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Several years ago in my musical life I Music Directed an absolutely gonzo but sweet and charming musical called Triassic Parq which "revisits" Jurassic Park from the dinosaurs' perspective, and I kind of wish The Invisible Raptor had jettisoned some of its more puerile humor in favor of some of the smarter writing the musical offered. That said, there are some laughs here, along with some jokes that just fall flat. Performances are genuinely winning, especially some of the sidebar characters hanging around the edges of the story. Technical merits are generally solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.