The Greatest Films #12:The Fly

The Film:

The Fly is one of the best monster movies ever made. It is dark, twisted, and totally reinvents the old “mad scientist” genre. It laughs in the face of fanboys who still grasp at the glory of the old black and white monster movies.  I’m so indifferent to those movies and when you watch something like The Fly it isn’t hard to understand why.

David Cronenberg’s remake of the original could have been a disaster. It could have been a cheesy nostalgia film, pining for the days of B-movie style shlocky crap. I’m not hating on B-movie stuff, it has a time and a place, but what Cronenberg did was make a masterpiece of cinema. He put his own brand of science-fiction, sexually-motivated characters, and violence (properly called “body horror) into the machine and out came a dark, demented, and most of all tragic story of a scientist who just wanted to invent something magnifcient and turned into a monster.

What it’s about:

Seth Brundle is a eccentric scientist who is instantly likable, but is indifferent to the outside world. His newest invention, two pods that would transport matter between them — more importantly human beings — promises to make Seth world famous over night.

Moreover, Seth allows a journalist, Veronica, exclusive coverage of his invention and they begin a relationship. The key to the movie, and why it works so damn well, is that the jealousy that Seth feels at Veronica’s ex-boyfriend feels real. It doesn’t just feel like a plot device and we feel that Seth would actually risk his life in a drunken mistake.

Famously Seth tries to travel between the two pods, but forgets to make sure that the pods are clean of any other living organisms — like a fly. Yes, I think the transformation, if it would happen at all, would happen immediately, but ignore that.

Why it is a great film:

With a lot of great movies it is hard to say exactly what makes them really, really good. However, with The Fly it is really easy: It is a great movie because Jeff Goldblum is so good and so empathetic in his role as Seth Brundle. We immecdiately identify with his eccentric, quirky personality. Also, no one in the movie is a winner or loser and even the so-called antagonist is a pretty decent person in the end.

The best scene in the movie, and one that takes the movie to a whole new level, is when Seth talks about fly politics. In this scene he gives a speech that contains one of the most haunting confessions ever in horror movies, he says “I’m an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over…and the insect is awake.” And then, when asked to clarity what that means he says, “I’m saying…I’ll hurt if you stay.”

When he delivers this line it isn’t meant for dramatic effect or to be a haunting line (which it is), instead it ends up being a tormenting admission of  a good man whose goodness has been destroyed by a monster.

David Cronenberg is treasure of the West and probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He remains one of the most original filmmakers of all time. His work spans across decades of time and all his movies seem to be connected with themes of science-fiction, sex, transgression, and center on discovering what makes people tick.

-Collin