LogFAQs > #980031090

Seginustemple - A visionary departure from the original movie, brilliantly re-imagining the man-fly hybrid in the mode of a werewolf transformation, one fraught with contemporary themes like cocaine, AIDS, abortion rights, and genetic engineering. Cronenberg displays a real mastery of tone, deftly pivoting through horror/black comedy/tragedy on a dime. There's a scene where Brundlefly vomits on a donut and his ear falls off, Veronica is disgusted and squirts a tear as the music swells, he goes "I'm scared" and she hugs him - it's so perfectly gross and funny and sad at once. Speaking of the music, this is some of Howard Shore's finest work. I criticized his score for Videodrome but compared to The Fly it's night and day in terms of how much he adds to the movie. Goldblum also brings his A-game under heavy makeup to drive home the pathos, ranging from manic exaltation to deseprate self-distraction as his condition develops. Makeup/sfx quality goes without saying, the final transformation sequence is eye-popping and holds up incredibly well. I always get a kick out of Brundle trying to persuade Veronica to fuse with him at the end because it reminds me of Scott Steiner math: "see normally you get in the telepod with another person you got a 50/50 chance of winning, but I'm a genetic freak and I'm not normal so you got a 25% chance at best, then you add the baby to the mix and your chances drastically go down because the baby *knows* he can't beat me and he's not even gonna try...

Rockus - Another remake of a 1950s film. While the original Fly isnt quite as good as The Thing from Another World its still got a bit of that existential crisis of learning that the universe is a massive cruel chaotic place and how our lives might seem so small in it, something along the lines of another 50s classic, The Incredible Shrinking Man. Cronenberg takes his remake in a different direction from asking whats our place in the universe? to asking what are we in our own sacks of flesh? What are we as people? Are we still just our base instincts? Some extraordinary effects and grotesque makeup bring a body horror physicality to its psychological horror while still keeping its impactful emotions intact. Another terrific reimagining of a classic.

Evilordexdeath - In my writeup for another film I say that I find more realistic scenarios the most horrifying. Out of all the categories of more fantastic horror scenarios though, body horror tends to be the one that freaks me out the most. Cronenberg is from my understanding one of the maestros of body horror, but while that was a relatively minor aspect of his earlier film Videodrome and absent from Dead Zone since that was a Stephen King movie, in this one we get to see Jeff Goldblum transform entirely into a spooky fly monster. The special effects are quite well done so it gets rather stomach-churning by the end, especially with the story beat that Geena Davis' character gets pregnant with his possibly-mutant child. My understanding of this movie was that Goldblum would come out of his teleporter as a body horror monstrosity but it's more of a slow physical and mental degeneration as he gradually becomes more and more fly-like. The characterization we get from this does end up being interesting, with much of the film portraying a conflict between a rational scientific mind and increasingly animalistic and pained mental conditions. Overall pretty solid stuff.

Inviso - I am SO thankful that this somehow didnt disgust me as much as the 1950s original, because THAT is a film that I watched and spent a week unable to eat soft food out of sheer disgust via my arachnophobia. Thisdespite being objectively viler and more visceraldid not upset me AS MUCH. It was still super gross, and I absolutely would not want to watch this again any time soon, but I can at least appreciate it for what it was. The effects in this movie, namely the slow, painful process of Jeff Goldblums transformation from 99.9% man, 0.01% fly to 50-50it makes sense that this movie has an Oscar to its name for the make-up it showcased.

But yeah, Im a big plot guy when it comes to the movies we watch on this list, and I actually found a lot of the messaging in this film really interesting. Once it becomes clear that Jeff Goldblum has inadvertently fused himself with a fly, I appreciate the fact that the movie doesnt go out of its way to pad the runtime with some long series of tests and experiments trying to fix things. Hes fused on a molecular leveland theres no way to undo that. You cant just separate the molecules if thats what the machine reads as standard for Goldblums character. So instead, we just get to watch him devolve and lose more and more of his humanity, until he truly does become a monster in the films closing segment. Sure, he broke a guys wrist before then, but thats the point where he tries to fuse himself in his fly form with Geena Davis and their unborn childAFTER melting her exs hand and foot over with his stomach juices.

Also, big ups to Geena Davis for playing her part extremely well. She starts out as the spunky reporter, but grows enamored with Goldblums scientific mind, and she HATES her ex for being a douche. But then shes the one who gets put through the wringer as the only person for most of the movie who understands that something is wrong, and theres nothing she can do about it. Giving her the moral dilemma of a potentially half-fly baby is piling on, but it makes for a more interesting story, because it effectively means she cant just abandon Goldblumpart of her HAS to care about him, even when she tries to get an abortion to try and sever those ties.

Finally, I do love the double turn between Goldblum and the ex, because Goldblum is portrayed as this nice, charming guy, and the ex is an arrogant doucheyet by the end of the film, the good guy is trying to mutilate Geena Davis, and the bad guy gets mutilated himself in the process of trying to protect her. Now, I still dont LIKE the ex, but its an interesting thematic choice on the nature of man versus monster. All-in-all, the movie has a lot going for itbut its just a little too extreme for me to be able to confidently say I enjoyed it. Its interesting, for surebut a little too much for my tastes.

Snake - At the heart of The Fly lies its deeply human story. Jeff Goldblum delivers a tour de force performance as Seth Brundle, a brilliant but eccentric scientist who becomes obsessed with perfecting teleportation technology. Goldblum's portrayal is both charismatic and vulnerable, drawing viewers into the character's descent into madness with empathy and dread. His chemistry with Geena Davis adds layers of emotional depth to the narrative, transforming what could have been a straightforward horror film into a poignant exploration of love and loss (though her character of Ronnie is somewhat underdeveloped compared to Brundle). The film's practical effects are nothing short of astonishing, from the gruesome transformation sequences to the grotesque final reveal of Brundle's metamorphosis. Overall an absolutely amazing film anyway you slice it, I just prefer some others on this list more.