mucky metamorphosis: the fly

Are there better movies than David Cronenberg’s 1986 take on The Fly? Maybe. Legend has it that there could be a few better movies out there, but I’d phrase it differently: There are few better movies out there. There certainly aren’t as many tightly expressed love stories, with The Fly‘s economy of storytelling being second to none. If you haven’t seen it, or if it’s just been a while, please pop it in before the clock strikes midnight on Halloween.

The opening scene has Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldbum) meeting reporter Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) at a press event, after which he turns a potential interview opportunity into a full-on confession of his latest brilliant invention: A teleportation device. Before you can say “cheeseburger,” the two are in a relationship and he’s on the brink of perfecting what has, until now, been a flawed experiment missing one crucial component.

Veronica ends up being that component, as she provides the inspiration needed to push Brundle over the finish line. He quickly gets ahead of himself, though, and in a night of rushed frustration, gives his teleportation pods a personal spin. Little did he know he entered said pods with an uninvited guest: a common housefly. For the remainder of the film we bear witness to true Cronenberg body horror as Seth Brundle gradually and inelegantly transforms into… Brundlefly!

The Fly holds up beautifully over 30 years after its initial release. Goldblum is charming, his romance with Geena Davis is heartbreaking, and the effects are as disgusting as they ever were. Toss up a warm bucket of digestive fly vomit and make this a part of your regular holiday rotation.