Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Fly (1986) - Cronenberg's gory, entertaining treatise on sickness, decomposition

1/04/2019

The Fly (1986) - Cronenberg's gory, entertaining treatise on sickness, decomposition - and transformation

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A technical wonder turns out to be a physical nightmare, as promised on this effectively tingling poster for David Cronenberg's The Fly

Promising physicist Seth Brundle is getting near the revolutionary goal of his experimental research, when a beautiful journalist threatens to publicize his teleportation invention before it is ready. The following romance between them leads him to make a fatal decision.

The Fly is written by Charles Edward Pogue (Psycho III (1986)) and great Canadian co-writer/director David Cronenberg (Scanners (1981)), adapting the same-titled 1957 short story by George Langelaan (Turncoat (1967)), which was first adapted as Kurt Neumann's great The Fly (1958).
Cronenberg's film is a successful sci-fi splatter, which, however, for me loses some of the existential sting that Neumann's film produced due to its wallowing in the physical aspects and resulting gore effects of Seth Brundle's metamorphosis into a fly monster. A later revisit of the film has made me realize that Cronenberg's The Fly is still existentially horrific, only Cronenberg fixes on the bodily aspect of sickness and decay whereas Neumann focused on our fear of shrinking and vanishing without explanation, which I for some reason responded more to.
Jeff Goldblum (Vibes (1988)) and Geena Davis (Stuart Little (1999)) are both excellent as the ill-lucked pair; especially Goldblum's ordeal of portraying awful transformation and mania is praiseworthy. Howard Shore's (Hugo (2011)) score makes the experience glide quite wonderfully. The Fly transports us back to the transformation fantasies of the past.
The film is unfathomably gross, (as is teased in the stills below), with special effects that will still make most viewers gasp out in disbelief and repulsion. The Fly is a tremendously entertaining monster movie.

Related posts:

David Cronenberg: Cosmopolis (2012) - Cronenberg/DeLillo/Pattinson's speculative limo lullaby
A Dangerous Method (2011) - Cronenberg's rather disappointing waltz with the fathers of modern psychology
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess Eastern Promises (2007) - Cronenberg invites us to meet the Russian mob in London
A History of Violence (2005) or, Who Is Tom Stall?
Spider (2002) - Cronenberg takes us to the tormented (and slightly dull) mind of a schizophrenic
Existenz/eXistenZ (1999) - Cronenberg's 1990s-flavored VR nonsense
Dead Ringers (1988) or, Brothers and Their Instruments
The Dead Zone (1983) - Eerie sci-fi/horror King-adaptation
The Brood (1979) or, Marital Fury and Craze!
The first adaptation of the same short story: The Fly (1958) - Neumann's great existential angst sci-fi classic

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 9-15 mil. $ (different accounts)
Box office: 60.6 mil. $
= At least a big hit, and possibly a huge hit (returned at least 4.04 times the cost)
[The Fly was released 15 August (USA) and runs 96 minutes. Great comedian Mel Brooks' Brooksfilms was instrumental in developing, financing and producing the film. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, from December 1985 - February 1986. Notorious is the gory material cut out from the film after test screenings, including the so-called monkey-cat and butterfly baby scenes. The film opened #1 to a 7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it held the #1 for another week and then stayed in the top 5 for another 4 weeks (#3-#3-#3-#4), grossing 40.4 mil. $ (66.67 % of the total gross). It won the Best Makeup Oscar, a National Board of Review award and was nominated for 2 BAFTAs. It spun a sequel in The Fly II (1989), directed by Chris Walas, the special effects wizard behind the first film's ghastly wonders, with neither Goldblum, Davis nor Cronenberg's involvement. Davis' then-husband Renny Harlin and Cronenberg have been interested in their own sequels, which haven't come to fruition. Cronenberg returned with an episode of Friday the 13th: The Series (1988) and theatrically with Dead Ringers (1988). Goldblum returned in Beyond Therapy (1987), Davis in Pet Shop Boys' music video for It's a Sin (1987) and theatrically in Beetlejuice (1988). The Fly is certified fresh at 92 % with a 8.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Fly?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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1/04/2019

The Fly (1986) - Cronenberg's gory, entertaining treatise on sickness, decomposition - and transformation

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