The Fly

David Cronenberg’s re-make of the classic B-grade 1958 original is not a pleasant experience but as a remake it is very good, the awful 1980s fashion aside.

In the film’s early stages Jeff Goldblum seems an unlikely choice as the reclusive scientist, Seth Brundle, acting more as if he were in one of his typical comedic characters but once the unhappy transformation begins, his physical presence comes to the fore and for this kind of thing his performance is top-drawer, lending a palpable sense of tragedy to what might have just been a very cheesy affair. Geena Davis as a struggling journalist who gets involved with him also works well, giving substance to a role that has her for a lot of the time emoting to a rather disgusting-looking assemblage of prosthetics (the film won an Oscar for make-up, Chris Walas, the man responsible for that, going on to direct the ill-advised sequel, The Fly II).

Cronenberg gives full rein to his predilections for bio-technological fantasy and oozing slime and viscera but for once they are integrated into an aesthetic whole, albeit a largely repugnant one.

FYI: Davis utters the famous line "Be afraid. Be very afraid" when she advises a woman Seth has picked-up not to get into his teleporting machine. Cronenberg appears as the obstetrician who delivers Ronnie's Lynchian slug baby.

 

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