The Fly (1986), a review by Jon
The Fly
4 out of 5
David Cronenberg re-imagines the classic film with Jeff Goldblum as the eccentric scientist who has an accident during one of his teleport experiments and finds himself merged with a fly. Geena Davis is the girlfriend journalist who sticks by him... well, until bits start dropping off anyway. The original film was a typical b-movie horror with a great mad scientist plot. David Cronenberg's update keeps the broad comic book story, but delves deeper into the disgustingly weird and nasty business of Seth Brundle becoming Brundle-Fly. His work is often about mutations, in everything from The Brood to Exitenz and he's just as fascinated by the mind as well. This is probably his most accessible film, except for A History of Violence, but while brilliant and my personal favourite, it's hardly his usual style. No, the gradual transformation of both body and mind into vomit-inducing mush is far more his line!
Strangely, the first part of the story is rather flat. Goldblum is excellent and Davis does nothing wrong, but somehow it doesn't click for me. All stories like this have a long-ish build-up, but this is written too well! There's little of the hokey dialogue you'd get in the old days, but the plot still has clear checkpoints (social misfit; doesn't like travel; etc) and daft convenience (the computer is hilariously naive!) that can write off years of development overnight. It can jar against an otherwise powerful script that is almost from another film. In an odd way, I was reminded of Silence of the Lambs, not least because of Howard Shores wonderful score, but an investigative girl being dragged into an enigmatic madman's world isn't far off the mark either. John Getz's hissable villain may surprise before the end and his character rounds out a very original version of what could have been all too predictable.
Cronenberg really finds his stride once Brundle makes the drunken decision to put himself through the teleporter. From here it's Goldblum's show and his mental and especially physical breakdown makes for fascinating viewing. As with The Thing, the special effects are gruesomely real, but now with the added horror that someone has really thought this through. So you may feel a little queasy when he scratches his ear or mutters about his museum of relics! The Elephant Man was never like this...
Often a film like this lives and dies by the ending, but the pace isn't lost for a moment and the finale is gloriously mad. Part of me prefers the ending of the original (
"Help me!"), but this is still brilliant, horrifying fun, with just a hint of poignancy.
(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on October 12th, 2009)
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May 21, 2024, 03:42:33 AM
