David Cronenberg crafts an incredibly gory, but ultimately effective science-fiction horror that works as a gut-punching scarefest

Rating: 9/10 (25 October 2017)

David Cronenberg boasts a few top-notch tricks under his sleeve to pull off a reimagining of the 1958 original of the same name. For a director with an appealing pastiche of gruesome practical effects and ringing in an effectively grim atmosphere, Cronenberg crafts an astonishing rendition of a man who's human identity is slowly faded away by a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong. The Fly is not your standard horror picture boiled with vicious desires tingle with audiences' stomach with over-the-top gore and repulsiveness, it is one that carries a surprisingly gripping edge and journeys into an emotional territory that most horrors films hesitate to venture in. As disturbing and grotesque as it can get, it rarely pokes you with the feeling that Cronenberg believes that can filling the screen with stomach-turning gore is the only tool to leave you squirming in your seats. Of course, that is not to say it is a good idea to have lunch before sitting through this. This film places its focuses on eccentric scientist Seth Brundle (played by Jeff Goldblum) who hopes to revolutionize technology of his new teleportation machine, which he uses to grab the attention of a cute journalist Vanessa (played by Geena Davis). Determined to take his research one step further, Seth conducts an experiment where he steps into one of teleportation pods, unaware that a house fly has managed sneak into the other. Coming out the pod, Seth experiences bizarre and unsettling changes to his body as the fusion between him and the fly causes him to slowly morph into a hideous human-fly hybrid creature.
David Cronenberg embraces his trademark grandeur of gruesome practical effects reminiscent to his previous works, and combines it with sharp precision of storytelling to conduct a brutally bleak horror tale that works in the fashion of a gripping human tragedy. Lead character Seth Brundle has met the love of his life and hopes to impress her with his outlandish research, but all goes wrong when a simple task leaves his man peeling away from the very identity that defines him. And if you think there is no room for an emotional human touch, think again, because Cronenberg places it at the heart of this bodily transformation plot. The story progresses with a menacing tone as the lead character watches as his body steadily deforms into a hideous figure complete with gritty-looking make-up and prosthetics while losing his limbs including his ears, and a sense of dread crowds the atmosphere as Seth sees his relationship with Vanessa deteriorating at the hands of his ugly bodily transformation that makes the Toxic Avenger look like a snuggle doll. And that is just part of how Cronenberg effectively breaths humanity into both Seth and Vanessa. It is an effective alternative element to the more common route of the monstrous villain hunting down victims and picking them of one by one. And this picture would not have worked as strongly without the performance by Jeff Goldblum who poses a convincing a normal human man morphing into less and less of a human. As for Geena Davis, there is no problem with giving her credit.
The Fly is a gripping science-fiction horror picture bound with an astonishing human touch that renders the film drifting from your average horror movie conventions. Thanks to David Cronenberg, it works in more ways than what one might expect from an 80s gorefest. One thing is for sure though, it is definitely not for the faint of heart.