"Drink deep and think not of the plasma spring"!

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2010)

When I was a kid, one of the first horror flicks I ever saw was Vincent Price's "The Fly" with that creepy 'Pleeeeese, help me' ending that I couldn't shake out of my young head for a long time. This film takes the same basic premise and raises it a considerable notch with some fine moments by Jeff Goldblum in the title role. What I still like about the older sci-fi and horror flicks is the way they use pseudo-scientific explanations for whatever the subject terror might be. This one sounded pretty convincing with that business about the fusion of Brundle and the fly at the molecular-genetic level.
One of the brilliant things about Goldblum's performance is the way he mimics fly behavior starting with the endless cup of sugar. The early touches with the wiry hair effect and the preliminary disfigurement are nicely juxtaposed with Brundle's disproportionate new strength and acrobatic ability. I recall when I saw this the first time that I wondered when we would see Brundle walking around on the ceiling and sure enough, they eventually got around to creating a nicely convincing scene of it.
The thing I didn't find particularly believable though was Ronnie's (Geena Davis) willingness to stick it out to the very end with fly-man. The clincher for me was when she hugged him right after his ear fell off. I mean, you REALLY had to take it on faith that she was trying to remain true to her feelings for the man she started to fall in love with. But gee, you can only take that idea so far.
Thinking about that pregnancy side story, it seemed pretty obvious that the ending left it open for an eventual sequel that never panned out. On the other hand, I'd hate to put Geena Davis through that again, especially since she would have had to deal with another monster.
But you know, I could go along with all the creepy fly stuff and the grotesque makeup job. However the one thing I really couldn't figure out in all this - who would ever name their kid Stathis Borans?