By Mark Wilkinson
"I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it."
A
remake/re-envisioning of the 1958 film of the same name. This time around
through the twisted mind's eye of David Cronenberg. The Fly is essentially a
two-handed tragic romance, between the brilliant scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff
Goldlbum) and journalist Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis). When he asks her back
to his lab to show her his latest project--teleportation--she is immediately
drawn to the eccentric genius, as they begin a budding romance. One night, an
intoxicated and jealous Seth, decides to become the first human to test out his
Telepods. The teleportation is a success; however, the audience is shown that a
regular house fly got into the Telepod with him. Seth is now
becoming...Brundlefly.
While this
is probably the most commercial of David Cronenberg’s films, that doesn’t stop
it from being his greatest. It's effervescent with ideas. Much like Brundle
when he first comes out the teleporter, you can sense Cronenberg's energy - his
need for telling this story. The Fly is perfectly suited for the king of
body-horror, as he brings out all the stops for this masterpiece of gross-out
cinema. What’s more important than the grotesque effects, however, is the focus
on strong characters and their evolution throughout the story, which has always
been Cronenberg’s real strong-suit. Howard Shore’s score lifts the film to
transcendent heights, giving the film an operatic feeling, truly befitting its
tragic tale of a man crushed by his own hubris. Cronenberg fully delivers with
The Fly, the places he takes it to are so deep, so dark and so painfully human,
that it still feels so real and kicks like a mule.
Cronenberg
has always been criticized for being rather misogynistic. This is a claim that I’ve
never agreed with. However, he acknowledges his reputation and makes a bold
decision to have the movie be told from Davis's character perspective, not
Goldblum's. This is not just a story about misunderstood male genius, but
simply the human wish to be more than we are. Geena Davis is remarkable as our heroine Ronnie. She puts in such a commanding performance,
bringing great emotional range and complexity to her character who maintains
strong, sensitive and independent throughout the film, with the last 20 minutes
or so giving her great opportunities to really express the tragedy of their
situation through some fantastically depressing and traumatized acting.
Goldblum here is also off the scale. Cronenberg wrenches this man's soul out
into the camera. It's uninhibited, it's lunatic, and also involves being
covered in prosthetics for a good proportion of screen time. Every line, hand
gesture and eyeroll is vintage Goldblum, yet suits the character perfectly.
Goldblum truly sells the slow and tragic transformation he goes through as the
evolution of the creature grows throughout the film. Until the moment that they
slough off in bursts of milky puss, Brundle’s eyes are always glinting brightly
behind his gnarled diseased flesh. That ever-present humanity throughout his
nightmarish metamorphosis is one of the many aspects that make The Fly such a
tragic film.
The auteur
gives flesh, blood and literal presence to the slow and insidious decomposition
of our souls, like a cancerous disease that gradually eats away at our bodies
and minds. Science may temporarily endow us with expanded strength and stamina,
but at the end of the day, everyone will one day be buried six feet under. No
one will recognize you when you're rotting. A man who creates an insect-monster
of himself is a perfect metaphor for this, as well as the age-old effort of
messing with forbidden science. It’s also perfect material for the horror
genre. It visualizes our finite existence in such goopy, molecular terms, but
also vividly fuses the cerebral with the visceral in ways that few horror films
ever thoughtfully balance. This is Cronenberg firing on all cylinders, with
great casting, beautiful cinematography and lighting, fantastic set design and top-notch
practical effects.
The effects
and visuals in this movie are just incredible. Much like Brundle and the fly,
the make-up seems to fuse with Goldblum for this performance. The slowly
growing stages of his transformation are subtle at first, but still just as
off-putting and disgusting as the ones towards the end when he's in full fly
mode and you really FEEL Ronnie's horror at seeing this because, even though
it's now just a puppet on screen, you 100% believe this is still Seth. You've
seen him gradually turn into this monstrous creature before your very eyes -
which, ultimately, is the magic of horror films. And The Fly pulls that trick perfectly.
The gory practical effects never feel exploitative or out of place, only
serving to enhance the emotional resonance and sadness of the story. The Fly
tells its story visually rather than verbally in all the right ways, and the
film around those special effects gives them real, tragic life. Simple.
Effective. Brutal.
The Fly is
a gooey masterpiece of disgust and decay. It is the epitome of the term ‘body-horror’,
an oozy and grotesque fairytale that drips with disease and spectacular gore.
Behind all the vomit, slime, crumbling bodies, and hideous fly mutations,
Cronenberg offers a harrowing meditation on what coming to terms with our
mortality looks and feels like. This is a story about dying, about becoming
other. It's about the horror of metamorphosis, how our bodies and minds slowly
decay over time, and how age betrays us till we cease to look recognizable.
It's also about confronting the death of someone close to you, and the grief
and agony that unfolds there. Cronenberg's ability to imagine the biological
implications of death in such repulsive visual language works as a
complimentary magic trick to how he then disguises the entire premise as mad
scientist horror fare. Not only does this movie stand alongside John
Carpenter's The Thing (1982) as one of the best remakes ever made. This is one
of the best horror movies ever put to screen.
Be
The Fly Is Available Now On Blu Ray
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