The Fly (1986) Collection

Jeff Goldblum

Geena Davis

John Getz

Joy Boushel

Leslie Carlson

George Chuvalo

Michael Copeman

David Cronenberg

Carol Lazare

Shawn Hewitt

Typhoon

Ann Green

Stuart Cornfeld

Ronald Sanders

Howard Shore

Mark Irwin

Charles Edward Pogue

Jack Hooper

David Coatsworth

Homer Denison

Debbie Cooke

John Board

Kim H. Winther

Denise Cronenberg

Marc Corriveau

Kip Ohman

Carol Spier

Marc Boyman

Deirdre Bowen

Chris Walas

Ivan Lynch

James McAteer

Robin O'Donoghue

Gillian Richardson

Scotty Allan

Lee Wilson

Hoyt Yeatman

Matthew Wolchock

Mitchell Rothzeid

Prudence Emery

Nick Kosonic

David Evans

Katherine Kean

Kenneth Post

Gerry Humphreys

Michael Rea

Dwayne McLean

Robin Miller

Elinor Rose Galbraith

Shonagh Jabour

Rolf Harvey

Jane Tattersall

Wayne Griffin

Jim Weidman

Attila Dory

Howard Rothschild

George Langelaan

Patricia Rozema

Donna Mobbs

Marvin Midwicki

Joe Curtin

Danielle Fleury

Robin Leigh

Ian Fraser

Gary Jack

Terry Burke

Nancey Pankiw

Bryan Day

Michael LaCroix

Mark Manchester

Louis Craig

Ted Ross

Ian D. Scott

Trysha Bakker

Sam Bojin

David Willetts

Cherie MacNeill

David Hynes

Don Payne

Carol McBride

Wayne Fitzgerald

Susan C. MacQuarrie

Romuald Sunny

Susan Kinnevy

Charlotte Disher

Doreen Davis

Richard Bissill

Skaila Kanga

Gary Kanew

Kant Pan

Susan Shipton

Jonathan Snowden

Barbara Mainguy

Michael Boddicker

Doron Kernerman

Rick Schmidlin

Michael Lennick

Randy Auerbach

Paul Hotte

Clark Johnson

Brent Meyer

Donald Engel

Paul Griffin

Tom Bisogno

David Giammarco

Sandra Moffat

Michael Followes

Don White

Lesley Mallgrave

Horror

Science Fiction

The Fly

SLM Production Group

Brooksfilms

United States of America

FilmeRioD

David Cronenberg’s The Fly is a grotesque, tragic, and strangely beautiful descent into body horror. What begins as a high-concept sci-fi romance slowly mutates much like its protagonist into something far more disturbing and unforgettable. One of my favorite movies!

Chandler Danier

The Fly is so good. Successful futurism. Seems the Fallout games benefitted. 

The physical effects are amazing and fun. Do not watch if gore sensitive.

Why not build a smaller machine first to test on...flies, instead of going straight to human-sized machines and testing on baboons? They gotta be expensive. Mice? The ridiculous nature of the film is a delight. The performances entertain while enhancing the story (narrative). That guy is such an amazing douchebag. The film entertains and engages. Rare.

I'm high on science. Gena Davis is beautiful. Would bang if Brundleflymly.

What was his electric bill and how did he not blow out every fuse in his building?  Telepods must suck up a lot of juice.

Anyway, it's fun.  It is the typical 80s flick, with a plot that takes all of 5 minutes to get rolling and a cast that was talented and still cheap enough to throw in a sci-fi horror flick.

But, you know, it's also mindless fun, it's not exactly deep, it's about science, and about the dangers of it, that never really manages to actually examine the dangers of science in any significant way... it's more along the lines of Kafka's Metamorphosis, which has already been examined.

But it doesn't matter, because you are watching it for mindless entertainment.

CinemaSerf

Nobody could ever call Jeff Goldbum a versatile actor, but here he is very much in his element as "Brundle". A madcap scientist, he dreams of being able to teleport things just like Willy Wonka does in 1971. He is almost as keen on journalist "Veronica" (Geena Davis) and so offers her exclusive access to follow and film his research. That all goes remarkably well - first a scarf, then more animated objects before, finally, himself. Snag is - well a fly just happened to sneak into the pod before the transferal and next thing he and his new dipteral cousin start a journey to the symbiotic relationship from Hell. He can crawl on the ceiling; fly and most impressively - dissolve his victims in his own vomit! David Cronenberg is having great fun with this as is Goldblum. The dialogue is entertaining and there is the most bizarre degree of chemistry between him and Davis who turns in one of her career defining performances. The visual and make-up effects - especially towards the end - offer a fitting denouement to this gory and frequently amusing sci-fi horror film that is nearly, but not quite, as good as the version from 1958. Certainly worth watching on a big screen if you can - somehow it just looks so much better there.

_**Slowly turning into a monster, aka slowly succumbing to age**_

An eccentric scientist living in a warehouse laboratory in a big city in the Northeast (Jeff Goldblum) discovers how to teleport objects, which draws the attention of a journalist (Geena Davis). Everything is going fine until he foolishly uses his invention on himself and a pesky fly inadvertently teleports with him. John Getz is on hand as the woman’s editor while Joy Boushel has a notable small role as Tawny. 

"The Fly" (1986) has a lot of devotees presumably because of director/writer David Cronenberg, but I found it less effective compared to the 1958 version with Vincent Price. Despite the gory state-of-the-art effects, it’s just not as compelling or horrifying (especially that final scene in the original). The one-dimensional locations are also a turn-off: Excluding the great bar scene the whole movie takes place in a grungy lab or a swank office building.

The cast trilogy is exceptionally tall. While Goldblum (6’4½”) is serviceable and gives it his all, he’s not leading man material, although he’s fine in secondary roles. And I was never big on Davis, but she’s a’right I guess. At least the two absolutely look & act like they were meant for each other.   

In its favor, the movie is a metaphor for how aging & disease slowly destroys the body. Despite the sickening visuals, it’s heartbreaking and tragic, which you might not expect in a sci-fi flick about a guy who morphs into a fly. It thankfully avoids the rut of camp and melodrama.

The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in Toronto with studio work done in nearby Kleinburg.

GRADE: B-/C+

English

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The Fly Collection - The Fly (1986) - Clip: Successful Teleportation (HD)

The Fly

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