The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

Considered fairly gruesome in its day, the original 1958 The Fly looks like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood compared to this 1986 remake. Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis star as Seth Brundle, a self-involved research scientist, and Veronica Quaife, a science-magazine reporter. Inviting Veronica to his lab, Seth prepares to demonstrate his "telepod," which can theoretically transfer matter through space. As they grow closer over the next few weeks, she inadvertently goads Seth into experimenting with human beings rather than inanimate objects. Seth himself enters the telepod, preparing to transmit himself through the ether – but he doesn't know that he is sharing the telepod with a tiny housefly.

Synopsis by Hal Erickson, Allmovie.com

David Cronenberg`s "The Fly" is that absolute rarity of the `80s: a film that is at once a pure, personal expression and a superbly successful commercial enterprise.

In a summer already blessed with the finely crafted thrills of James Cameron`s "Aliens", "The Fly" still stands out for the intensity of its shock sequences, which must rank with the most fiendishly imaginative and ruthlessly gut-wrenching ever recorded on film. Yet the film also is a droll black comedy and an unexpectedly moving love story.

Cronenberg, a Canadian-born director who lives and shoots most of his films in Toronto, has acquired a considerable cult following over the years with such luridly titled low-budget horrors as "They Came from Within",

"Scanners" and "Videodrome". He began in movies as a maker of abstract, experimental films, and his work until now has reflected a certain unease with story-telling.

Though his films are filled with powerful, original images and driven by fresh and disturbing ideas, he has never been able to put together a fully functional narrative, with action that develops smoothly and logically and characters who can command our complete identification. "The Fly" changes all that. Cronenberg finally has become a complete filmmaker, weaving both visual concepts and convincing emotions into a full-bodied creation.

That "The Fly" is such a shapely project may be due to the contribution of screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue, who shares the script credit with Cronenberg. Certainly no Cronenberg film has displayed dialogue of this degree of wit and expressivity.

Still, the storyline springs directly from Cronenberg`s most personal obsessions. He seems finally to have found a way to put his private concerns in order, to transform intuition into narration.

At the center of Cronenberg`s work is his fixation on the physical transformation of the human body through emotions. His characters develop strange growths that turn into tiny, murderous creatures ("The Brood"); or anger can be externalized and projected in a way that makes an enemy`s head explode ("Scanners").

In "The Fly", Cronenberg is interested in the physical transformations of sexual feelings. He departs from the basic situation of Kurt Neumann`s original 1958 "The Fly" (a scientist invents a machine that can transfer matter through space; in trying to project himself, he accidentally mixes his molecules with those of a house fly, and emerges with the head and arm of an insect). In this film, Cronenberg pegs his story to the stages of male development.

When we first meet Dr. Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), he`s presented as a shy, fumbling adolescent, clumsily trying to pick up a beautiful and fiesty science reporter (Geena Davis) at a cocktail party. He uses his invention as a tool of seduction, inviting Davis back to his lab to inspect his creation.

They sleep together ("Is this a romance we`re having?" he asks, in genuine astonishment), but Davis remains emotionally involved with her former lover (John Getz, of "Blood Simple"). In a fit of drunken jealousy, Goldblum decides to impress her by projecting himself through his as-yet unperfected device. He doesn`t notice the fly that has buzzed into the transporting chamber with him.

What follows is an awful parody of puberty, with Goldblum discovering mysterious hairs on his body (actually, the bristles of the fly), devouring junk food and feeling himself possessed of a strange new power and self-confidence. Pimples appear on his face, but they don`t stop there; soon his entire body is covered with dripping sores, and he`s on his way to a complete transformation.

His long dormant sexuality has been awakened, and there`s no controlling the changes it works on his body. He becomes, as his computer tells him,

"Brundlefly"–half-human and half-insect, and the human component is rapidly losing ground.

Goldblum, heretofore an appealing comic actor ("The Big Chill"), has never displayed this much range in a film. Brundle`s transformations require him to develop from a gawky child into a commanding sexual presence and then into a monster of rage and paranoia. Goldblum inhabits each stage fully, while still retaining our sympathy–no easy task, when his mutations turn out to include the need to vomit stomach acid on his food before he can digest it.

Davis, dark haired and radiant, stands by him through his grotesque, violent transformations, and their relationship becomes a most touching portrait of loving sacrifice. Still, the couple can`t be whole until the curse of Goldblum`s raging sexuality has been lifted, and in an astonishing final sequence–his degenerated body suggesting both an old man and a child–he discovers peace in the moment before he dies.

"The Fly" presents human sexuality as an irredeemably dark, destructive force, a point of view that isn`t easy to accept in these supposedly liberated times. But horror movies–the best of them, anyway–exist to give form to the unthinkable, to allow us to confront our most irrational feelings, our darkest impulses, and to exorcise them.

"The Fly" seizes on our ingrained, instinctive horror of sexuality, the sense of shame that our fundamentally puritanical society can`t help but teach us, and by confirming our worst fears, helps us, for a moment, to move beyond them.

Review by Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

×

The Fly (1986) [Collector's Edition] Re-Up

Close

Special Features:

DISC ONE:

- The Film
- Audio commentary with director/co-writer David Cronenberg.

DISC TWO:

"Fear of the Flesh: The Making of The Fly" - documentary:
- Larva (pre-production)
- Pupa (shooting)
- Metamorphosis (post production)
"The Brundle Museum of Natural History" - featurette (film historian/archivist Bob Burns collection - 11:50 min)
4 Deleted Scenes:
- Second interview (1:42 min)
- Monkey-cat scene (with the storyboard and script separate from the video - 6:58 min)
- Brundlefly vs. Baglady (script only)
- Butterfly baby (2:25 min)
2 Extended Scenes (you can use the optional "red box" around the parts that were excised):
- Reconciliation (2:59 min)
- The poetry of steak (3:39 min)
Written work:
- Gorge Langelaan’s original short story
- Charles Edward Pogue’s original screenplay
- David Cronenberg’s rewrite screenplay
Articles:
- Cinefex: "The Fly Papers"
- American Cinematographer: "New Buzz on an Old Theme"
- American Cinematographer: "More About The Fly"
Film Tests (visual effects):
- Opening title treatments (1:54 min)
- Pod lighting and effects (2:01 min)
- Brundlefly make-up (2:17 min)
- Exploding space bug (0:50 min)
- Cronenfly (0:48 min)
Promotional materials:
- Trailers and TV Spots
- - The Fly Teaser (1:23)
- - The Fly Trailer (1:59)
- - TV Spot #1 (0:30)
- - TV Spot #2 (0:30)
- - TV Spot #3 (0:30)
- - The Fly II Teaser (0:40)
- - The Fly II Trailer (1:08)
- - The Fly (1958) (1:55)
- - Return of the Fly (1959) (1:33)
- 1986 Electronic Press Kit: Featurette (6:58)
- 1986 Electronic Press Kit: David Cronenberg Profile (4:21)
- One Sheet & Lobby Card Gallery (17 images)
4 Photo Galleries:
- Publicity
- Behind the scenes
- Concept art
- Effects