March 1, 2016

Last week, for my Double Take column, I watched the original 1958 classic THE FLY, paired up with its sequel RETURN OF THE FLY! That paved the way for this week’s double bill, which I was very much looking forward to – David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of THE FLY, followed by its bonkers 1989 sequel THE FLY II!

How’d they hold up?

Let’s start with Cronenberg’s film. First and foremost, as you all already know and I can confirm after rewatching it this past week, it’s a goddamned masterpiece. Plain and simple. From the first 5 minutes of dialogue between Jeff Goldblum’s Seth Brundle, a brilliant if not socially awkward scientist who is trying to convince reporter Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) that she should talk to him because he has invented something that will change the world, you know you’re watching something special.

It’s the beginning of a beautifully executed love story, something of an anomaly in Cronenberg’s filmography since the relationships in the majority of his work tend to feel cold & distant, but this is no surprise here considering just before THE FLY he directed THE DEAD ZONE, which is his only other true “romance.” In real life, Goldblum and Davis were dating at the time so their chemistry is palpable, but I like to think it’s a combo of their real life relationship and the fact that they’re both very good actors that made us instantly fall in love with these characters.

It primarily borrows only the teleportation invention idea from the original in which Seth has created two pods that can disassemble atoms in one and reassemble them in the other. The only problem is he’s only thus far been successful in transporting inanimate objects. He convinces Veronica to follow his work for an eventual book on his machine. The two immediately fall in love and Veronica becomes Seth’s muse to finally cracking the mystery. However, in a drunken night of jealousy, Seth decides to teleport himself, but doesn’t realize that a fly got in the pod with him, hence the machine has scrambled their DNA.

At first, his new found vitality and super human strength he hypothesizes is because he’s been put through a purifier so to speak, but as his body breaks down and his mental state disintegrates, he realizes the truth. Unlike the original in which Andre Delambre emerges from the pod and suddenly has the head and hand of the fly, in this remake, it’s a long, painfully drawn out transformation and heartbreaking to watch. Remove the fly element and you easily have a couple dealing with the effects of cancer or AIDS. It’s also among some of the best FX work of any of Cronenberg’s films and some of the goriest, most inventive stuff too courtesy of Chris Walas and company. But it’s really the tight, eloquent story, the performances from these actors and Cronenberg’s craft at the height of his powers that were able to make this easily one of the best remakes ever.

3 years later came THE FLY II, which is equally as fascinating for a myriad of reasons. At the helm as the director for the sequel is Chris Walas, the FX artists behind the amazing on-screen work of the remake. So, you can rest assured that the FX gags you’ll see in THE FLY II are spectacular and in fact so gory, I can’t believe they got an R rating! I mean, seriously. Look at these two gore gags for example:

Can you believe that?!

Plotwise, THE FLY II picks up immediately after the events of the first movie. Veronica (sadly not Geena Davis this go round but a lookalike) gives birth in the opening sequence to Martin, her offspring with Seth Brundle. She doesn’t survive, yet the child does. And much like his father, he’s a genius but also his growth has been accelerated. So by the time he reaches his 5th birthday, he is already the adult Eric Stoltz. Bartok (Lee Richardson) acts as a surrogate father to Martin, but still confines to the laboratory for testing as if he were a “lab rat.” It turns out that they’re all awaiting his inevitable transformation into a giant fly, because it’s coming! In this film, all the scientists and guards for Bartok are the “bad guys” and we actually want Martin to turn into a giant fly and give them all their comeuppance!

There are 4 credited writers on THE FLY II, two of them being Mick Garris, creator of MASTERS OF HORROR and Frank Darabont, director of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and creator of THE WALKING DEAD! How much each of these writers, along with Jim and Ken Wheat, contributed to the final script is a grey area, but regardless THE FLY II, while not the masterpiece that the Cronenberg film is, still manages to be a lot of fun. And while the FX work is extraordinary in the first one, it’s even better in the second. In fact, I think I might like and appreciate Martin’s Fly design just a tiny bit more than Seth’s in the original. He just looks cool.

How do the two play as a double feature? Perfectly! As they’re intended to be one continuous story, they flow together really well. And if you own the Blu-Ray or DVD’s sets (THE FLY II is only available on DVD for the time being), you’ll be treated to hours and hours of additional documentaries and bonus features covering the entire history of THE FLY franchise, which I welcome after enduring all 4 films in the last few weeks!

So many tid-bits fill out the backstory behind the scenes of these films, including Mel Brooks uncredited involvement as producer! Remember, he also produced David Lynch’s THE ELEPHANT MAN uncredited. And that’s why SPACEBALLS Daphne Zuniga is the lead in THE FLY II. The Brooks connection! The first movie has a long fascinating history and fully details the long process of bringing THE FLY remake to fruition. PSYCHO III screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue was the first writer to draft a script based in part on the original Vincent Price film, but more accurately culling from the original George Langelaan short story which debuted in Playboy magazine in 1957! David Cronenberg was talked about as a potential director but was busy developing TOTAL RECALL for Dino DeLaurentiis and hence has to turn down THE FLY. Robert Bierman was set to direct, but in the middle of pre-production his daughter was tragically killed, making it impossible for him to focus on the project. Timing aligned and it eventually circled back to Cronenberg who was able to shoot it in Canada using his usual crew.

And that’s just a sampling of the history on the 86 film! Between the multi features, the entire franchise is covered. Now I have to go back and watch CURSE OF THE FLY!

In closing, Cronenberg’s THE FLY is mandatory viewing. With slightly lowered expectations, its sequel makes up in gore what it lacks in story and is actually a lot of fun.