The Metamorphosis...

Rating: 10/10 (19 August 2014)

In Franz Kafka's classic THE METAMORPHOSIS, Gregor Samsa wakes one morning to find that he's turned into a man-sized insect. I've always thought that THE METAMORPHOSIS would make a great episode of a horror anthology (in something like TWILIGHT ZONE- THE MOVIE, OR as an episode of a teleseries). One of the more interesting aspects of adapting the story would be to SHOW Samsa's metamorphosis. (I tried something similar conceptually when I submitted a script entitled VAMPYRE to George Romero's TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE series: in an effort to go "undercover" and infiltrate a group of vampires terrorizing a city, I had the main character allow himself to be bitten by a vampire. The scenes immediately following depicted his transformation from a man to a vampire. I was told that the episode would be "too expensive" to do.) THE FLY (the remake, helmed by horror meister David Cronenberg) is the next best thing. Jeff Goldblum's absent-minded, muttering acting schtick is pitch-perfect for the character of Seth Brundle and we BUY him as the scientist. Geena Davis does well as the love interest (though I was never really a fan, she does a GREAT job here and is 100% believable in an underrated performance), but it's Goldblum's gradual metamorphosis into Brundlefly that makes THE FLY worth seeing. By far the best of the Cronenbug films. (Boxing fans, take note: durable Canadian heavyweight champion George Chuvalo plays an arm-wrestling barroom brawler.)