The Fly (1986)

Wuchak December 3, 2020

★ 6/10

_**Slowly turning into a monster, aka slowly succumbing to age**_ An eccentric scientist living in a warehouse laboratory in a big city in the Northeast (Jeff Goldblum) discovers how to teleport objects, which draws the attention of a journalist (Geena Davis). Everything is going fine until he foolishly uses his invention on himself and a pesky fly inadvertently teleports with him. John Getz is on hand as the woman’s editor while Joy Boushel has a notable small role as Tawny. "The Fly" (1986) has a lot of devotees presumably because of director/writer David Cronenberg, but I found it less effective compared to the 1958 version with Vincent Price. Despite the gory state-of-the-art effects, it’s just not as compelling or horrifying (especially that final scene in the original). The one-dimensional locations are also a turn-off: Excluding the great bar scene the whole movie takes…

CinemaSerf July 8, 2022

★ 7/10

Nobody could ever call Jeff Goldbum a versatile actor, but here he is very much in his element as "Brundle". A madcap scientist, he dreams of being able to teleport things just like Willy Wonka does in 1971. He is almost as keen on journalist "Veronica" (Geena Davis) and so offers her exclusive access to follow and film his research. That all goes remarkably well - first a scarf, then more animated objects before, finally, himself. Snag is - well a fly just happened to sneak into the pod before the transferal and next thing he and his new dipteral cousin start a journey to the symbiotic relationship from Hell. He can crawl on the ceiling; fly and most impressively - dissolve his victims in his own vomit! David Cronenberg is having great fun with this as is Goldblum. The dialogue is entertaining and there is the most bizarre degree of chemistry between him and Davis who turns in one of he…

GenerationofSwine November 8, 2023

★ 10/10

What was his electric bill and how did he not blow out every fuse in his building? Telepods must suck up a lot of juice. Anyway, it's fun. It is the typical 80s flick, with a plot that takes all of 5 minutes to get rolling and a cast that was talented and still cheap enough to throw in a sci-fi horror flick. But, you know, it's also mindless fun, it's not exactly deep, it's about science, and about the dangers of it, that never really manages to actually examine the dangers of science in any significant way... it's more along the lines of Kafka's Metamorphosis, which has already been examined. But it doesn't matter, because you are watching it for mindless entertainment.

Chandler Danier August 24, 2024

★ 10/10

The Fly is so good. Successful futurism. Seems the Fallout games benefitted. The physical effects are amazing and fun. Do not watch if gore sensitive. Why not build a smaller machine first to test on...flies, instead of going straight to human-sized machines and testing on baboons? They gotta be expensive. Mice? The ridiculous nature of the film is a delight. The performances entertain while enhancing the story (narrative). That guy is such an amazing douchebag. The film entertains and engages. Rare. I'm high on science. Gena Davis is beautiful. Would bang if Brundleflymly.

FilmeRioD July 8, 2025

★ 10/10

David Cronenberg’s The Fly is a grotesque, tragic, and strangely beautiful descent into body horror. What begins as a high-concept sci-fi romance slowly mutates much like its protagonist into something far more disturbing and unforgettable. One of my favorite movies!