A Very Effective Horror Remake

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2005)

Someone decides to remake a camp horror movie ? One thing's for sure and that's it's got to be better than than the original where a man who swaps heads with a fly walks about a house with head gear that looks like Michael Jackson's Blanket baby costume
Hey I enjoyed this remake a lot and is certainly David Cronenberg's most mainstream movie . Like most successful horror movies ( HELLRAISER for example ) it confines itself to human elements like desire , hubris along with a love triangle and uses a limited number of locations in this case most of the action takes place in Seth Brundle's apartment . There's something present here that is totally lacking in nearly every horror movie of the 1970s and 80s and that's pathos , we feel sorry for Brundle as he has his genes spliced and starts to mutate into Brundlefly and in many ways the movie feels more like an update of James Whale's FRANKENSTIEN or a remake of THE WOLF MAN featuring an insect mutation instead of lycanthropy . This type of poignancy was absent from the 1980s where horror " heroes " were Freddy Kruegar who was an ethereal child molester killed by vigilante parents . That alone makes THE FLY unique . The final scene were Brundlefly emerges from the teleport after merging with metal and wants Veronica to end his suffering is a truly touching scene almost unheard of in the genre
Being an 1980s movie means we're devoid of CGI and count your blessings for that because the make up here deserved throughly deserved the Oscar it won . True maybe some of the gore is excessive but the final transformation of Brundlefly is very impressive .Jaw dropping in fact . We also get to see undoubtedly Jeff Goldblum's best performance playing Seth Brundle in not a too dissimilar way that Tom Baker played The Doctor in DOCTOR WHO though it's fairly obvious that when Brundle does gymnastics it's a body double since the camera never focuses on Brundle's face . The supporting cast also play their parts as if they're in a serious film , especially Geena Davis which makes THE FLY an even more involving experience . If the actors believe in the story so will the audience
An outstanding horror movie from a decade that featured nothing but teenagers getting sliced and diced by serial killers that couldn't be killed , and a horror movie that shouldn't be remade under any circumstances . What's that ? Hollywood have just started on a remake ? No doubt doubt we'll see Leonardo DiCario or Johhny Depp star in a movie bulging with CGI . I'll be going out of my way not to watch it