One of the great "horror" films

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2004)

Most remakes are simply not the match of the originals that they have pulled their inspiration from. Usually, they are rather shallow, poor copies of their greater source material, and very few remakes find themselves the film that is better remembered. Recent examples of this phenomenon are films such as Planet of the Apes, a truly classic film from 1968 that was remade in 2001 with most of what made the original a special event missing. There are, as with anything, exceptions, and one of the greatest, in my opinion, is the 1986 remake of The Fly. While I have not seen the original film, I cannot believe for an instant that it is the better of the 1986 version, one of the great overlooked films of the 1980's.
The original was based on a short story by French author George Langellan and is most well known for it's famous ending where a child finds a fly in the backyard of a house with a man's head on it, about to be attacked by a spider, as well as the flip side featuring a man with a giant fly head wandering around a lab. It also starred famous Roger Corman player Vincent Price, the most notable name associated with the film. While many people looked on this film with fond memories, it is also not really viewed as a true "classic" and that is why in the mid-'80s producer Stuart Cornfeld and screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue hatched a plan to remake the film for modern audiences. With financial backing from Mel Brooks (a rather unlikely suitor) the team of Cornfeld and Pogue attracted director David Cronenberg to the film. Cronenberg, a Canadian native who had made several unusual low-budget horror films since the 1970s, had created his own minor subgenre of horror that became known as "venereal horror" for it's often sexual nature. The Fly, while much more mainstream than his previous projects to date, would fit his mindset perfectly, and lead to the birth of a veritable masterpiece.
The film centers on Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) a scientist who has devoted his life and brilliance to developing teleportation. He suffers from motion sickness, so his desire to do away with any standard mobile form of transportation makes sense. While attending a press gathering held by his financial sponsor, Brundle meets and falls for science magazine journalist Veronica "Ronnie" Quaife (Geena Davis). She is late of a relationship with the editor of the science magazine Particle, Stathis Borans (John Getz), and is intrigued and attracted to the rather naive, yet charming and charismatic scientist. They begin a relationship and she begins documenting his development of the teleportation devices (which Brundle dubs "telepods") for a book to be published after the telepods are complete and fully functional. Brundle is dogged by a rather severe set of drawbacks in the development of the telepods when it comes to transporting living creatures, leading to an early scene where a baboon is teleported and arrives in the sister telepod inside out. Brundle eventually licks the problem and successfully teleports another baboon. However, coinciding with the completion of the telepods, Ronnie must deal with Borans who is using her relationship with Brundle to try and get her to commit to writing his story for him, as well as trying to not get her to leave his life. In a jealous panic when Ronnie goes to see Borans, Brundle decides to test the telepod on himself, while unwittingly sharing the telepod with a normal housefly. Initially, the teleportation is a success. However, shortly thereafter, Brundle begins to show changes. He is physically stronger than he previously was, with an increased sexual drive as well. This is also accompanied by a strong temper and rather displeasing personality at times. Physically he begins showing some rather strange symptoms as well, such as strong acne and tough hairs growing out of different parts of his body. Ronnie challenges him on these points, but Brundle just dismisses them, saying she is jealous of his new physical perfection, and he separates from her. But when his fingernails begin falling out and he finds that to eat, he must regurgitate a strange soupy substance on his food first, even Brundle cannot ignore the reality of what has happened. He discovers the truth of the event and tries to get Ronnie to help him, but she finds that she cannot continue to support him in the midst of the wild physical and emotional changes he is going through.
The Fly received a lot of press for it's at times gruesome imagery, and I can't deny that it isn't the easiest film to sit through if you have a weak constitution. But, that does not make the film not worth seeing. While on the surface The Fly is categorized as a "horror" film, the film cannot be easily and simply classified in that genre. The film is in fact a strong love story and character study of Seth Brundle. The film's heart is with the two people at the center. Goldblum is near perfect as the scientist who knows how to assemble complex machinery and develop brilliant formulas for teleportation, but has a hard time expressing his feelings for Ronnie. It's the ultimate underdog story as the unlikely nerd finds love in the arms of a beautiful woman. Ronnie is also portrayed well by Geena Davis as a tough journalist who has heard lots of interesting promises from scientists in the field before, but finds herself at first intrigued, and then finally attracted to, Brundle. Their genuinely touching and involving relationship lays the groundwork for why this film works. Once their involvement has been established, the film unleashes it's horror elements upon us, in the form of Brundle's disturbing transformations. Most of the film from about the mid-point on is revealed from Ronnie's point of view and we can only watch in horror as she goes to visit Brundle and see what stage he is in at this point. The strength of their relationship as developed by Pogue and Cronenberg early in the film makes the latter scenes all the more powerful.
Much must be said of the makeup effects created and supervised by Chris Walas. The film's eventual path lives or dies on the convincingness of the transformations that Brundle must go through, and Walas and his crew pull it off brilliantly. There are no seams or zippers, no obvious tell-tale signs of makeup work being done here. We believe, whole-heartedly, in the transformation of Brundle visually, and the film would not be the same without it. Again, Goldblum helps sell the transformation as well, with his mood swings and erratic behavior, eventually leading to a man scared beyond belief by what is happening to him. However, it is his powerful, gut-wrenching desire to be whole and human and with Ronnie again where the film's final strength is gleaned from. The final fifteen minutes are truly difficult to endure first from Goldblum's performance and then from Davis', as the two lovers must come to terms with the inevitable. There are few other "horror" films that are as filled with human emotion as The Fly, and this film stands as the crowning achievement in David Cronenberg's oeuvre.