Sunday, March 27, 2022

The Fly (1986)

 David Cronenberg's reimaging of the 1958 Vincent Price horror movie 'The Fly' was the directors biggest main stream success ($60 million box office, off around a $7 million budget). Jeff Goldblum is a scientist working on teleportation, Geena Davis a reporter who becomes his girlfriend (the two stars would have a roughly three year marriage after this). A fly gets into the electronic ointment as it were, and it and the scientist merge, the resultant creature getting more grotesque with time, some fine Cronenbergian effects and images, ahh the body horror. 

This is an efficient, trim and effective little film, it touches on a few interesting ethical issues, and has some intriguing sci-fi conceits. It's all played pretty straight, these are solid committed performances. The third (human) wheel in this triangle John Getz comes off as a real creep at first, but he gets to largely redeem himself. I'd say 'The Fly' is certainly worth seeing, but probably not while your eating. ***


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