David Cronenberg is the master of the truly weird. With movies like Videodrome , Naked Lunch , the Dead Zone and Scanners under his belt, its hard to argue that point. Cronenbergs remake of the classic Vincent Price horror film, the Fly, is one of his strongest accomplishments, departing enough from the original to keep from being a retread but maintaining enough aspects so as not to alienate fans of the original. And on top of that, its *really* gross.

Scientist Seth Brundle (Jess Goldblum) has a terrible motion sickness problem. To rid himself of vehicular travel once and for all, Brundle has built a teleportation device which he calls a telepod . He invites journalist, Veronica Quaif (Geena Davis), to document his progress. But

Follow up:

theres one problem, the telepod cant transport living matter. Brundle eventually believes hes worked the kinks out of the telepod, and in a moment of *very* bad judgement, sends himself through. Unfortunately for him, there happened to be a fly in the pod with him. Brundle comes out feeling like a million bucks, but the positive effects dont last long. Gradually, Brundle begins to decay and transform into something inhuman.

Cronenberg goes all out with this film, taking every opportunity he can come up with to make the audience cringe in their seats. From fingernails falling off, to oozing pus to gratuitous gore. Brundles ailment is very reminiscent of cancer, albeit to the maximum extreme, and this gives the film an almost realistic vibe. You know that out there, there are people suffering a similar (though much less hideus) fate and you cant help but really feel for Brundles character.

Though often recognized for being an excellentscience fiction and horror film, at its core, the Fly is a romance film. The love between Brundle and Veronica is extremely strong and her dedication to him even after his predicament takes a swing for the worse is beautiful. It leads into one of the most tragic and depressing endings of any film Ive ever seen.

The casting of Jeff Goldblum as Brundle was just absolute genius. Goldblum is well known for being so fidgety and high-strung, he was ideal to play a man turning into a fly. His natural mannerisms and charisma only add to the believability of Brundles decay. The monster of the film, the fully transformed Brundle-Fly, doesnt appear until the very end. However, its very much worth it, and even after he has transformed into a hideus creature, you still have a strong enough emotional investment in the character to continue caring for him, puppet or not. The effects are excellent in the most disgusting ways possible, such as ears falling off, or just plainimpressive, like great sequences where Brundle climbs walls and ceilings like Spider-Man.

The Fly is one of the best films from the 80s and a remake that truly trumps its predecessor. I cant rate this film any lower than an A, its just too perfect.