Imagine if you were a scientist who had an experiment go terribly wrong, and now you were transforming into an insect. This is the plot of the 1986 movie, “The Fly.” This is one of the many horror/sci-fi films directed and written by David Cronenberg that will give anyone the creeps.
Felix’s Review
The picture follows Seth Brundle played by Jeff Goldblum, a man who is trying to create a teleportation device after years of hard work. His work is being documented by journalist Veronica Quaife played by Genna Davis, whom Brundle falls in love with. The machine is making drastic improvements, and he decides to test it on himself. The experiment is a success as he was able to teleport across his lab. However, a fly was a part of the teleporting process, making him fuse with it at a genetic level.
Throughout the rest of the film, we see Brundle start to slowly change into a fly-like creature. Parts of his body start to fall off, he starts climbing on walls, and his teeth are no longer strong enough to chew food. Along with this, Quaife finds out she is pregnant and is likely going to have a fly baby. Brundle decides he has to become more human, so he tries to trick Quaife into fusing with him. Seconds before the process is complete, her boss at the paper company comes to rescue her and kills Brundle.
“The Fly” is a perfect film to get into the horror genre. It isn’t a movie filled with jump scares or slasher kills, but rather terrifying images and scenes you’ll look away from because of how gross it is. The part when Brundle fully transforms into the fly might be the most sickening scene in cinema history. His deformed body falling apart and his insect body appearing will give anyone the ick.
Crongberg is great at creating disgusting and weird movies like this one. They aren’t for everyone, but they deserve a lot of praise. It is an older movie, so there was no use of CGI. Everything the audience saw was not made by a computer but by real people. It just makes the movie more horrifying that these prosthetics and puppets were really there.
I rate “The Fly” 10/10.
Ava’s Review
As a huge David Cronenberg fan, “The Fly” is one of my favorites. Brundle’s awkwardness and almost adorable dynamic with Veronica make the movie seem lighthearted, but not for long, as the brutal body horror makes you remember what this film is all about.
Recently, I read Cronenberg’s introduction to “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, and found it interesting the way he compares Brundle of “The Fly” to Samsa of “The Metamorphosis.” For anyone who does not know “The Metamorphosis,” the story follows Samsa, and similarly to Brundle in “The Fly”, he wakes up one day completely transformed into a giant insect. While reading “The Metamorphosis,” my inner Cronenberg fan always comes out and draws connections between the two stories and characters. Although they have similar ideas, Cronenberg highlights that Brundle’s transformation was created through science, highlighting his experiment as “bold and reckless.”
Personally, I think “The Fly” is a good introduction to the wonderful world of Cronenberg films. Compared to his earlier films like “Videodrome” and “The Brood and Scanners,” I think “The Fly” is a lot calmer in the element of body horror, and a good place to start if you’re just getting into horror. Anyone who loves those cheesy horror movies from the 1980s where the practical effects look so fake that they’re almost good will absolutely love this movie, as well as many of Cronenberg’s other works.
I rate “The Fly” 10/10.
Contact the writers: [email protected], [email protected]
