31 Nightmares: The Fly · 5:25am Oct 26th, 2014
David Cronneburg’s vision of the Fly is a textbook example of how you should do a remake. Of course it helps that the original version is a very simple story in and of itself.
A man working on a teleportation device accidentally transmits himself and a fly at the same time, merging his DNA with that of the fly. In the original the two swap heads, in the remake… things are significantly messier.
The films both go on after the experiment to show the scientist’s life slowly falling apart before eventually ending in a horrifically gruesome fashion.
For me this movie is Cronneburg’s body horror at its most horrific, Jeff Goldblum goes from handsome scientist to horrific, tragic thing in some truly disturbing sequences. It’s the horror of cancer and bodily decay, the whole film is watching a man slowly die from unstoppable forces and the toll this takes both on him and the woman he loves.
When Brundle-fly is finally put down it’s as much an act of mercy as anything else.
There is a sequel, simply called The Fly II and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. It’s a very different movie than the slow building, personal story of the first. It follows Brundle’s son as he is pursued by a nebulously evil corporation. It hits the right notes and all, but it doesn’t quite feel like it should be the sequel to The Fly.
Tomorrow we look at our last Lovecraft film of the month and begin our countdown to Halloween.
Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! Another of my all-time favorite movies, and proof that a remake can be done right. It's all about how ypou play it. Take the iconic line from the first one: "Help meeeee! Help meeeee! Oh, please, God help meeeeee!" A frantic cry of a man about to be devoured by some giant monster.
But in the remake? A pitiful, whimpering whisper of a man about to be devoured from the inside.
Also, a great example of pitch-perfect musical cues. During the last scene, right after Brundlefly is teleported, we see the computer working, hear it clicking and bleeping, and all the while the score is this incredibly tense string music, slowly building tension, until boom! The message appears in the screen(no spoilers) and that release from the music is... perfect. Chilling, epic, powerful, conveying the exact emotions needed: shock, great sadness, defeat in every sense of the term. Then when the telepod door opens, we hear that horrible, pitiful shriek of... that, and the music cuts off abruptly. Chills. Every dayum time.
Also also, this movie has one of the very few scenes that actually made me gag in revulsion. During Geena Davis' dream sequence, when she gives birth to... well, spoilers.
Also also also, this movie is right behind The Thing as proof that practical effects will always beat out CGI.