OVP: The Fly (1986)

Film: The Fly (1986)

Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz

Director: David Cronenberg

Oscar History: 1 nomination/1 win (Best Makeup*)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

All October long, The Many Rantings of John is running a marathon dedicated to the Horror classics of the 1960's-90's that I'm seeing for the first time this month.  If you want to take a look at past titles from previous horror marathons (both this and other seasons) check out the links at the bottom of this article.

I have come a long way when it comes to horror, especially in the past year.  Films like Nightmare on Elm Street and Child's Play that I avoided for years because I assumed they would be too scary for me, I'm now able to handle.  But the one subgenre of horror I don't know that I'm ever going to actually enjoy is body horror.  This is a type of horror that deals with disruption of the human body that is, to be frank, too much for me, to the point where I don't find it enjoyable even when it's done well.  I didn't like this about me as a film critic (I often say, "all genres are capable of making good movies"), and so I wanted to throw a couple of the biggest body horror films in this month, and we're going to get to two in the next couple of days.  We'll start with one of the rare horror films to not just get an Oscar nomination, but to win one.  The Fly won Best Makeup (which weirdly the Oscars are stingy about handing over to horror despite this being a genre perfect for the category), and is generally considered to be a classic of the body horror genre (some even consider it to be David Cronenberg's best movie), and so with the OVP giving me a "just watch it, you have to eventually anyway" boost I got sucked into the world of Jeff Goldblum's The Fly.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is relatively short, and pretty simple (it's actually a remake of a 1950's horror film starring Vincent Price).  It's about Seth Brundle (Goldblum), a quirky scientist who takes a woman named Ronnie (Davis) back to his lab, and later learns she's a reporter.  She wants to write a story about the incredible invention he's created-a machine that can transport matter from one end of the room to the other.  Inevitably, he starts to move onto live-action matter, first a baboon, and then in a drunken stupor, himself.  When he does this, he's not smart enough to realize that there is a housefly in the chamber with him.  Initially, the change is incredible-he has super strength & his virility increases to the point where he exhausts Ronnie sexually (you gotta love the implied joke that it's Science Fiction if a man can last longer than a woman in bed).  But he starts to change for the worst, craving sugar & showing fits of anger.  Eventually he grows intense amounts of body hair, and drives Ronnie away.  When he finally calls her, he's transformed, now a grotesque mutant figure.  What's worse, Ronnie is pregnant (possibly from post his transformation), and could be carrying a mutant baby.  He kidnaps her to prevent her having an abortion (which given the situation, even Ted Cruz would've told her was the best course-of-action), and tries to fuse them together in a mutant state, before she eventually kills him, the film ending with the man she loves shot by her own hand.

The film itself is impressive.  Borrowing in a lot of ways from Franz Kafka's The Metapmorphosis (shut up, I've read the book, I'm allowed to reference it without it being abysmally pretentious), the movie shows the ways we are willing to give up our own humanity if it means feeding our ambition.  Jeff Goldblum & Geena Davis are both good in their roles.  This is about the most "Jeff Goldblum-y" performance the actor has ever put to screen, and other than Jurassic Park, is where most of the impressions of him come from.  And the makeup design is impressive-the realism isn't quite what it'd be in 2023, but in 1986...it feels appropriately grotesque.

I am not a fan, though.  I'm willing to admit at this point that really well-done body horror will probably never be my thing, because even if this is good...I never want to see it again.  The way that Goldblum's face looks when Geena Davis pulled off his jaw with her bare hands...I've been clutching my chin multiple times since to ensure it's still there.  I also think there are some gaps in the story, perhaps a little bit too much of an ode to the 1950's horror film in that they allow for serious plot holes.  For example, isn't Davis at all concerned about the woman that Goldblum had a one-night stand with also being pregnant...like, is no one thinking that that might be a different kind of horror moment for that poor woman (or is that the plot to the sequel?)?  It's a good movie, I fully acknowledge that...please never put it in front of me again.

Past Horror Month Reviews

1920's: The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera

1930's: The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Dracula's Daughter, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Invisible Man, Mad Love, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London

1940's: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Cat People, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Dracula, The House of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Invisible Woman, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Invisible Agent, The Mummy's Curse, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, Phantom of the Opera, She-Wolf of London, Son of Dracula, The Uninvited, The Wolf Man

1950's: Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Blob, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Creature Walks Among Us, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It Came from Outer Space, Revenge of the Creature

1960's: The Devil Rides Out, The Innocents, The Masque of the Red Death, Night of the Living Dead,Village of the Damned

1970's: The Amityville Horror, Black Christmas, Carrie, Dawn of the Dead, Don't Look Now, Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes, The Omen, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, When a Stranger Calls, The Wicker Man

1980's: Child's Play, The Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, Gremlins, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, The Thing

1990's-Present: The Blair Witch Project, Scream