THE FLY (1986)

Forty years ago this summer, genre master David Cronenberg (Videodrome, Eastern Promises, The Dead Zone, Dead Ringers) directed this remake of the 1958 cult classic of the same name starring Vincent Price.  This is the updated story of Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), a quirky scientist who has been developing an exciting new invention geared towards teleportation.  He meets an enterprising science reporter named Ronnie (Geena Davis) and together, they not only work to further this technoloy....but they also fall in love.  But then one fateful night alone, Seth makes the mistake of "teleporting while drunk" and the pod which he's using happens to have a house fly inside of it. :o And what results is a gradual, gruesome transformation for Seth into.....something else!  This film not only became a suprise box office hit but would also go on to win a VERY deserved Oscar for Best Makeup.  Be afraid, be very afraid. 

Also see below for a hysterical stand-up bit from Martin Lawrence about this movie which is cited in this review! :p 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ITAthB4ai0

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

THE FLY       1986

Directed by David Cronenberg

Starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, Joy Boushel, Leslie Carlson, and John Getz

Genre: Operatic Horror

It's not an always an easy watch but almost forty years after it was first released - and when I was WAY too young to eventually catch it on cable - David Cronenberg's operatic body horror tragedy remains a masterpiece. This is not only the rare horror remake which improved upon its source material (though Kurt Neumann's 1958 original starring Vincent Price remains pretty strong), but Cronenberg (with co-wroter Charles Edward Pogue) took this story in a modern direction which still remains fresh even today. The themes of fragile intimacy, technology run amok, and of course the fear of disease still hold up AS do those (deservedly) Oscar-winning make-up effects from Chris Wala. 🫣

There are several images on screen which still make me wince - Cronenberg (with regular DP Mark Irwin) is smart enough to hold on them JUST long enough to ensure we're uncomfortable, yet it rarely feels exploitive. Over the final 40 or so minutes, we are witnessing the gradual physical AND mental breakdown of Goldblum's Seth Brundel....a quirky, insecure, well-meaning scientist who one might made the fateful mistake of teleporting while drunk. (Which is much worse than texting-while-drunk.) 

Given his imposing 6'4" frame and pronounced facial features, Goldblum was clearly perfect casting and beyond that, he brings such a unique, manic energy to this character. This is a buttoned intellectual who has been looking for a boost for so long that when it finally comes in the grisly form of him transforming into a human/fly hybrid, you 100% buy how he reacts to it with the full range of emotions from exileration to terror to curiosity to eventually VERY twisted acceptance of his predicament. 🙄 It's an astounding performance further enhanced by creepily convincing make-up. 

It's also crazy in retrospect that the actor wasn't even nominated for an Oscar that year...this was the same year that Sigourney received her pretty miraculous (and deserved) nomination for Aliens so expecting the Academy to recognize TWO lead performances for two pure genre films at the same time was always unlikely. I just can't see ANY other actor pulling off what he does here - Goldblum is just doing so much interesting stuff here, he almost transcends the freakish appearance of this guy. 🤔 

And Davis to her credit is also delivering a stellar performance here, it's much more than just shrieking and crying which she pulls off with aplomb. As written and performed, this is THE rare female co-lead in a blooming nightmare narrative like this who is given genuine interiority....and that's part of what separates this story from SO many other horror films of this particular era or future eras. Davis is not playing a "final girl" out of a horror franchise like the 'Nightmares or Screams...this isn't really that kind of movie regardless. 

Even moreso, her Ronnie character doesn't fall into the traps of so many modern "elevated" horror films of today like Hereditary or the recent Obsession....Toni Collette and Indie Navarette are admittedly brilliant in those films. But their characters are given ZERO agency by the third act of those films, with screenplays that simply relegate them towards simply reacting to things happening to them, their emotions are treated as an afterthought. Davis' Ronnie is not only given agency here but is treated as a flawed human being having to process some genuinely difficult decisions....it's wrenching to watch and the actress sells the hell out of it. Possibly career-best performances from both leads...

The film tops out at a brisk 96 minutes with not a moment wasted, also thanks to editor Ronald Sanders who also a regular collaborator of Cronenberg's.  I COULD delve further into the really gnarly gross-out stuff which has cemented this film's legacy - misplaced ears and jaws, gooey fingertips, vomiting digestive enzymes - but this film is more than that. (Though it also resulted in an all-time stand-up bit from Martin Lawrence a couple of years later. 😆) Like the OTHER classic horror remake of the '80's - John Carpenter's The Thing - this movie features impressive freakshow moments while also transcending them, all in service of a bleak, straightforward story elegantly told. Also like that film, it ends at JUST the right moment. 

Best Needle-drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):

Canadian composer and three time Oscar-winner Howard Shore (who won his Oscars for conducting music for the Lord of the rings trilogy) has had a long-time collaboration with Cronenberg going back decades to 1979 horror film The Brood, also including previous episode A History of Violence.  Shore has also done some notably stirring scores for some ICONIC disturbing thrillers over the years including previous episodes Seven and The Silence of the Lambs.  (Audio clip) 

And for The Fly, he also delivers a go-for-broke operatic score which does its part to sell the terror and tragedy, DEFINITELY one of HIS best.  Truly bombastic stuff with horns and strings which simply don’t quite….is it any wonder that they would eventually adapt this story into an actual on-stage OPERA? Just listen to the stirring overture which opens this film during the opening credits over what’s INTENTIALLY vague imagery – COULD we be looking to people, COULD we be looking at INSECTS?  Who’s to know? (Audio clip) 

But for me, THE most effective piece of music occurs about half-way through at a very crucial moment when Goldblum’s Brundle has finally DISCOVERED the true reasoning behind this upsetting transformation he’s going through – he’s trouble-shooting on his computer, figuring out the genetic source of a foreign object he found GROWING on him.  We see a startling digital image show up on the screen of….you guessed it….A FLY.  But THAT’S not the kicker.  What immediately follows IS the kicker helped by Shore’s score REALLY kicking in…..and it comes down to a ONE simple word along the truly devastated expression on Goldblum’s face when he reads it.  The word is FUSION…..AND this track is elegantly titled, “The Maggot – Fly Graphic.” (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Pretty much EVERYONE is at the top of their game here, even John Getz (Blood Simple, The Social Network) who is probably saddled with the most cliched role here: the douchey, lecherous, '80's yuppie named Stathis. As written, his character (likely the weakest aspect of the film) MIGHT be a bit too conveniently reprehensible as Davis' editor/former boyfriend with ZERO personal boundaries. 🙄 But at least when things get increasingly dire in the third act, Getz pulls it off when his character is required to get more serious...if I had any real quibble with this film, it’s just how ABRUPTLY his character shifts into hero mode during this climax.  Still we wouldn’t get to this film’s powerhouse ending without it. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Now there are NO shortage of standout moments of gross-out horror over the last forty minutes of this film but for THIS category, I will instead focus on a key piece of dialogue.  Late in the movie when Ronnie has visited him ONE last time, Goldblum’s Brundle-Fly delivers a moon-lit monologue about "insect politics" which is just one for the ages - not only is what he's explaining to Geena Davis' journalist Ronnie Quaif so unnerving to hear, but you can't help but be unnerved by just how he is SO calm delivering it!  Undoubtedly the lighting, the make-up, and of course Davis’ reactive performance play a HUGE part of selling this scene too….but I honestly can’t imagine ANY OTHER actor pulling this offer better than Goldblum. (Audio clip)  

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

Now along those lines…..I am SO tempted to choose Goldblum for this category and as far as I’m concerned, this remains his best ALL-TIME performance.  Now this WAS the same year that the late, great Paul Newman FINALLY won his Oscar for previous episode The Color of Money and I’m not going to dispute that….but it’s still crazy in retrospect that he wasn’t even nominated. (Audio clip) 

THAT said……considering when this film was RELEASED, this was at a time when major studios were NEVER more apprehensive about widely releasing films with bummer endings…..big budget films with such endings as previous episodes The Thing and Blow Out were notorious box office flop as a result.  So yes Fox the studio was apparently DEAD-SET on testing this film with a hopeful ending….and you can actually watch a couple of GENUINELY bad alternative endings online.  Ugh….two words: BUTTERFLY BABY. (Audio clip) 

And YET….how this film ends is unquestionably brutal and abrupt and depressing….and it works AND this film was STILL miraculously a box office hit.  It ended up making around $60 million worldwide on a $15 million budget….not a blockbuster but still an unqualified success.  And SO much of that was because Cronenberg stuck to his guns on the ending…..he apparently wasn’t even involved with the shooting of those alternative endings and no matter because none of them even worked with test audiences as well as the ORIGINAL ending which he (with co-writer Charles Edward Pogue) had always envisioned.  For directing a genuinely uncompromising genre classic - released during a time period when compromise was running rampant within the studio system – David Cronenberg is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Streaming on Prime Video

Overall, this might remain the PINNACLE of body horror and if you have not YET seen it….be warned because it is NOT for the SQUEAMISH.  Happy 40th Anniversary to one of THE best horror films EVER!

And that ends another INSECT POLITICIAN review!