A campy, horrifying, and artful horror classic.

Rating: 10/10 (7 March 2009)

At the IFC theater in NYC, there are weekly midnight screenings of Cronenberg movies. I've seen a few, but I haven't really loved any of them. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is not afraid to navigate the extremes of cruelty and kitschy tenderness, but it didn't do a whole lot more than make me laugh and wince a bit. CRASH was very interesting but not fun, and really only memorable for its subject matter- not for any great scenes or performances. DEAD RINGERS really stuck with me, but the movie as a whole is a bit muddled and overlong. And EXISTENZ is ill-conceived Sci-Fi with lots of gore. I walked into last night's midnight screening with nothing more than curiosity, but I'm very glad I went. The film print was grainy but the richness of the colors in the original film more than made up for it. THE FLY is a gory, shocking, confusing movie that truly challenges and rewards the viewer. It challenges the viewer to laugh, cry, and cringe, for there are moments when nothing other than all three are possible.
The movie opens with Brundle meeting journalist Veronica at a scientific convention. With only the minimal dialog necessary, the action begins, as we see Brundle's attempts to teleport objects and Veronica's fascination with the man. We barely get to know the characters before they are in bed together and one of them is doing wild and crazy things with technology, but what is amazing is that, while it all happens so quickly, nothing remains too mysterious. The dialog is all very focused and to the point and Jeff Goldblum as Brundle manages to make even lengthy exposition into entertaining ramblings.
Brundle, even before he becomes a fly, is highly entertaining to watch, and this is key to the movie's success. And his transformation is done extremely well, as he first merely demonstrates a fly-like stamina and agility before he transforms into a confused human insect.
It is not only Brundle's transformation that is disgusting- there is also a brief and surprising scene in which he demonstrates his new insect powers as he breaks an arm wrestler's hand off at a bar. This scene is disgusting and campy, yet it manages to achieve just the right level of shock and hilarity, and it fits with the movie's absurd tone.
The special effects in the movie were done at a period which I believe to be the peak of movie special effects, when computer animation was just enabling us to see things that weren't possible, like a human body transforming into a fly, but it wasn't sophisticated or cheap enough for filmmakers to rely on it the entire time. When Brundle is still a human fly, it is done entirely with makeup, which makes it extremely convincing. Today, it would almost definitely be done with CGI, not because it would look better, but merely because it is cheaper and easier. The movie would not be nearly as convincing if it were done with today's effects technology.
And the effects would also not be nearly as impressive if it weren't for the fact that the movie ultimately relies on other things to intrigue us. The effects are so, well, effective, because they really feed our interest. The movie really gets us to ask, "What will happen to this man as he turns into a fly?" and builds suspense hanging on that single question, and the effects show us all of the gory details- and the details turn out to be even more gory than we'd imagine.
It was THE FLY that convinced me Cronenberg deserves his good reputation. It's truly one of the great monster movies.