So much meaning

Rating: 8/10 (25 November 2010)

Seth Brundle is a young scientist who wants to perfect teleportation. Veronica, a journalist, is there to help take down his progress(an early case of taping everything that goes on, including the worst moments, perhaps especially them), and the two have a romance. One night, he tries to transport himself through the machine. And something begins to change. He soon learns that there was a fly there with him, and he's now transforming(and it is terrifying to witness) into... what, exactly? This is not a direct remake of the original 50's one(that I haven't watched, but I understand it's a pretty straightforward creature feature from the period), it's a rethinking of it. DNA was common knowledge, and other traits from the time this was made were incorporated. As he alters before our very eyes, many comparisons can be made, a lot can be taken from this. He goes back and forth between trying to accept it, even asking others for help, and refusing to see any negatives to what's happening. This could be seen as a metaphor for a deadly illness, a drug addiction or even simply the process of aging, and as he articulates what is going on inside of him and his reactions to it and we see the impact on the relationship between the two, this gets to be about so much more than it seems to be on the outside(other than that, as a "human" monster flick, this does utilize primal fears). Through the love triangle, sex and intimacy is seen to be potentially dangerous. We only really have three characters(her former boyfriend and current employer is the third), and they are credible and well-acted. Geena is cute and interesting, and complex beyond what "the girl in a horror movie" usually is allowed to be. She and Jeff work well together, it's not surprising that they were a real-life couple. The humor is great. This is grand, and the operatic score fits perfectly. The FX are amazing and hold up incredibly well. This is not one that will leave your mind sometime soon, for several reasons. There is disgusting, gory, violent and immensely disturbing content in this. The Cinema Reserve 2-Disc DVD comes with an interesting, informational and funny director's commentary track, a 2 hour and 42 minute documentary, one at 12 minutes length(both of them I will review on their own pages here on the site), one that has a 7 minutes running time, 16 minutes of deleted/extended scenes, 7 and a half minutes of film tests, 4 minutes of interviews, trailers and TV spots, still galleries, two screenplays(the initial one and David's rewrite), magazine articles and the short story that this was based upon(a decent read, takes you about an hour... I can imagine that it could be pretty easily adapted into the Vincent Price take on the concept, if you know what I mean). Yes, if you like extras, this is well worth the purchase. I recommend this to any fan of Cronenberg, and anyone who can handle how far this goes and want a brilliant allegorical tale. 8/10