Flyin' High. REAL HIGH.

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2013)

People dog remakes all the time. Hell, to begin with, they have little respect for the Horror, Creature-Feature Bmovies of the 40s and 50s. What David Cronenberg did here, with 1986's The Fly wasabsolutely amazing.
The original The Fly, the Vincent Price, 1958 movie, of which I haven't seen since I was wee little tyke, had a good-enough idea, but they had to settle for the stated "Horror, Creature-Feature Bmovies of the 40s and 50s" standards and low-budgetshence, the giant fly-head prop.
To a kid, that can, and was to me, be scary. As an adult, or young adult, even, this updated version was just shy of being a horror/suspense/psychological masterpiece in filmmaking and should rank high on anyone's "Favorite Remakes" list, if not just "Favorite Horror" tally.
The movie wastes no time setting up what seems like a deliciously and wonderful claustrophobic Broadway play with only a trio of main characters and a few minor extras. In the beginning, (the excellently cast) Jeff Goldblum's brilliant scientist, Seth Brundle entices reporter, (also wonderfully cast, Geena Davis's) Veronica back to his "secret lair" to witness what he refers to: "something that will change the world, and human life as we know it." And he's right. Kinda.
Even though the original movie predated the Star Trek TV show, the concept Seth's been working on is teleportation; the ability to transport objects, inanimate or not, from one pod/space to another. But, with this technology, it could also help with medical surgeries amongst other fantastic uses.
At first, Veronica's skeptical, but eventually she both warms to the idea, the "story" and, eventually, to Seth. (Side note: they had wonderful chemistry on screen, which is no wonder since they did become a couple for awhile in real life.)
But, as all Sci-Fi, Horror stories go, there's the "but, what if" scene. In a jealous and drunk rage, Seth decides not to wait on tests and becomes the first human teleported. It would've been all okay, if not for that pod swallowing that fly. I guess he'lldie.
You (should) know the rest, but not this gruesome and inventive. Director Cronenberg was so incredibly creative and smart, it's a wonder this movie doesn't rank even higher. I am not a prude to when it comes to gross scenes, but some of these scenes when Seth becomes (the fantastically named) BrundleFly, I have to look away.
That's not to put a blemish on this great work of art. If anything, it's Cronenberg's way of saying: Hey, this is real lifeif this were to ever happen.
And remember, this is 1986 and probably was worked on in 1985. The SMART computers of those days were, well, house-size, almost. It was cool to see such an intelligent computer even way back then.
This movie had so many things going for it including, but not limited to: excellent acting, originality even in an old story, chemistry, snappy, believable, rich and often, hilarious dialogue, suspense, horror, drama and a truly satisfying ending. There are a lot of Cronenberg fans out there, but this is BY FAR, my favorite of his tremendous résumé.
* * * Final thoughts: "Be afraid. Be very afraid," says Geena Davis. You know how many years I took to track down that quote, pre-internet? I had forgotten where it came from and loved it. Well, look no further