The Fly - Review

David Cronenberg's 1986 gore filled horror film, The Fly, has gained cult status among movie fans throughout the years. With its comic book violence and graphic make up, the film embodies everything good about '80s horror. The plot is simple, a scientist (Jeff Goldblum) working on a teleportation device decides one drunken night to test it on himself, everything seemingly goes to plan until strange changes start to appear on the scientists body. It is revealed that a fly had got into the machine with the scientist and the computer responsible for teleporting the object fused the two, the man and the fly, together.

Choosing to look primarily on how the deformation of Brundle, the scientist, affects his once blossoming relationship with Veronica (Geena Davis), Cronenberg focuses heavily on characters in the film, ignoring the cheap scares and pointless horror that is featured in many other films of the same genre. Cronenberg uses the transformation of Brundle's physical appearance, from handsome man in a suit to a beast that the audience struggles to look at without wincing, as a representation of his connection with Veronica. The interest thereby comes in two forms, one, in the repulsive features of the changed Brundle, a physical display of horror, and two, the lack of humanity that is evident in the way he speaks, walks and thinks. We do not question Veronica's fear of the new Brundle as we have the exact same fear within ourselves when he comes on screen, Cronenberg masterfully puts viewers in the shoes of the female character, forcing them to forget the passionate, human, scientist we once watched and focusing on what can only be described as an animal. Using horror as a form of telling the story and allowing the audience to understand characters more, the film chooses narrative as a priority over scares, something that relates directly to the success of the film, in my opinion.

The script is written, with many quotable phrases featured, "Be afraid. Be very afraid.", and perfectly combining science fiction and horror, showing off the new technology of the '80s and also the advancements of prosthetics. This film attempts to hammer the final nail into the coffin of horror films made previously to The Fly, screaming "Welcome to the '80s" at the top of it's lungs, we see a huge contrast in this film to the popular horrors of the '70s, with The Exorsist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween appearing to be worlds away from a film such as this. Aside from the advancements in technology shown both in the film and through the camerawork, the lack of discretion regarding the graphicness of the attacks shown in the film also proves Cronenberg wanted to set this film apart from the rest. In mainstream cinema, people would have been, and perhaps still are, discomforted by bones sticking out of wrists and baboons being blown to bits, but Cronenberg was aware of the advancements of cinema and the new features that were available in regards to special effects and camera tricks. No rating was going to stop him from displaying the possibilities of the developing film form, and with the film going straight to an 18 rating in the UK and an R rating in the US, no rating did stop him. 'If we could now show bones breaking and baboons exploding, the people should be able to watch bones breaking and baboons exploding' seems to be the mentality he went for in regards to the more graphic side of the film.

This film is really, really important in regards to the development of the horror film as we know it. With a strong plot and a clever mind behind the whole project, the film is a lot of fun to watch, featuring 'cover your eye' moments and laugh out loud moments, the film is a staple in any horror fan's collection.