Golden Oldie Revisited - The Fly

[Sheridan Passell]

Director: David Cronenberg
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz and David Cronenberg as the Gynecologist
Released: 1986

In this fantastic remake (probably the only time I will ever put those two words together) Jeff Goldblum is the eager scientist who is genetically mixed with a fly in a teleportation experiment.

Thankfully they didn’t keep the giant bug head from the original, as that would’ve been too funny.

“Hey Geena Davis, gimme a kiss.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have a fly’s head.”

There’s no end to the fun with a prop like that, but instead Gold gradually begins to change. Not into a fly of course, that would be too obvious and a huge let down (Like at the end of ‘American Werewolf in London’ “IT’S A DOG!” everyone shouts). In this movie however Goldblum turns into… a wrinkly pink turd. It’s at this point that Geena Davis realises the relationship is over.

But of course he doesn’t take the hint and tries to add her to the Fly/Goldblum/Turd creation. Instead of letting him down easy she puts a shotgun to his head, just like a woman.

But of course she’s pregnant, as there has to be a reason to pursue a sequel, which of course they did. But I don’t know why they chose this route as the son would have to be a fly. There are so many creature-human combination possibilities they could have used:



9/10

Daniel O'Carroll

[dalmatianjaws]

Gotta say, GREAT and REMAKE can be used together when talking about John Carpenter's The Thing.

[Tiger]

Great remakes - Although not necessarily better than the originals (and other than the previously mentioned, The Thing, which is also one of my fave films of all time!)

Cape Fear (1962) - Cape Fear (1991)
Infernal Affairs (2002) - The Departed (2006)
Seven Samurai (1954) - The Magnificent Seven (1960)
The Maltese Falcon (1931) - The Maltese Falcon (1941)