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?

The Fly (1958) - Neumann's great existential angst sci-fi classic

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An excitement-building, eerily creepy poster for Kurt Neumann's The Fly

A brilliant scientist works to create a teleportation device in his basement laboratory, but when he starts to experiment, a terrible mistake takes place.

The Fly is a wholly incredible experience, an extraordinarily well-made sci-fi horror drama. Its first half is quite entertaining; its second half produces an anxiety-provoking fear that is extremely rarely provoked by films. The existential anxiety that grabbed me felt as if it completely consumed me on my first time of watching the film, and to me The Fly will always have something insanely eerie, mysteriously terrifying about it.
The Fly is written by Australian James Clavell (Savage Justice (1967)) (his first produced screenplay), based on the same-titled 1957 Playboy magazine short story by George Lagelaan (The Dolphin Speaks Too (1964)), and directed by great German filmmaker Kurt Neumann (The Big Cage (1933)). It marks the major horror genre entrance for Vincent Price (Diary of a Madman (1963)), who went on to become one of the genre's biggest stars of all time, and is shot in glorious colors by Karl Struss (It's a Small World (1950)).

Watch the great, Vincent Price-hosted trailer for the film here

Cost: 350k $ - 495k $ (different reports)
Box office: 3 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The Fly was released 16 July (USA) and runs 93 minutes. The film was to be distributed by Fox's B movie sub-company Regal Pictures, but Fox upgraded the film and took it for its own in the end, probably realizing its high quality. The laboratory set cost 28k $ to produce. Filming took place in Montreal, Canada and in Los Angeles, California for 18 days in March 1958. The film is reportedly loyal to Langelaan's story for the most part; it does change the setting from France to Canada and erases a suicide by the Hélène character in the end. In North America, the film was released on a double bill with Space Master X-7 by Edward Bernds. It earned 1.7 mil. $ in rentals and was one of Fox's biggest hits of the year and reportedly the 8th highest-grossing film of the year overall. Neumann passed away a few weeks after the premiere and did not live to realize that he had made his career's most successful film. Two sequels were made; Return of the Fly (1959), by Bernds, with Price, and Curse of the Fly (1965), without either of them. David Cronenberg made an acclaimed new version, The Fly (1986), which had one sequel, The Fly II (1989). Price returned in Have Gun - Will Travel (1958, TV-series) and theatrically in House on Haunted Hill (1959). Neumann had completed 3 more pictures that were released after The Fly: Machete (1958), Watusi (1959) and Counterplot (1959). The Fly is fresh at 95 % with a 7.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Fly?

Creepshow (1982) - Fun, campy horror anthology from King and Romero

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The morbidly festive poster for George A. Romero's Creepshow

QUICK REVIEW:

With a framing story about a voodoo-practicing boy, whose father throws his Creepshow comic out, 5 ghoulish stories are served: SPOILER About a living corpse, who wants his cake; a meteor, which transforms a fool into a Plant Man; a jealous millionaire, who favors monitored drowning; a monster from the North Pole in a crate; and finally one about a neurotic city magnate with a bug problem ...

- Particularly this last story is a true nightmare for all of us who can't stand tingling insects, (in this case cockroaches.) 
Creepshow is an anthology horror movie homage to 1950's horror comic, written by horror maestro Stephen King (Christine (1983)) and directed by master horror director George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead (1978)). Its stories are deliberately corny and sensationalist with some holes here and there.
The film boasts several stars: Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild (2007)), Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)), Ted Danson (Cheers (1982-93)), King gives a highly physical performance as the fool, and E. G. Marshall (Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)) amuses as the unlucky magnate in the final story, which also showcases Romero's keen satirical talent.
The lighting throughout is refreshingly high-key Bavaesque, the animations are cool, and Tom Savini's (Martin (1976)) special effects are somewhat crude but effective. The film is a joy (especially for a horror-fan.)

Related reviews:

George A. Romero: Dawn of the Dead (1978) or, Mall of Death!

Watch the awesome original trailer here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 21 mil. $ (US only)
= Box office success
[The film is labeled a sleeper hit. Including other territories (which I can't find numbers for, except that nearly 350,000 people paid admission in Spain) and video, TV and merchandise, Creepshow must surely have been a great source of income for Warner Bros. It took First Blood's #1 spot at the US box office and was Warner's top horror film of the year. It got one official sequel in 1987 and a direct-to-DVD unrelated sequel in 2007.]

What do you think of Creepshow?
Other horror anthologies that you like or dislike?