The Fly (1986)

 

Often, studios do remakes because they think it's an easy cashgrab based on an already existing fanbase. However, when directors that are passionate about the material redo earlier films it can lead to brilliant results. One need only take a look at 'The Thing' or 'The Blob' and of course this one. The original 'The Fly' was clearly a cautionary tale about human hubris, but as this one is directed by David Cronenberg, it's a little... meatier... and has more to do with disease and aging. Cronenberg also spices this up with hefty doses of Kafka's 'Metamorphosis' and various ideas about horrid things like cancer.

The endresult is an absolute classic. 

Jeff Goldblum (the man, the myth, the god) plays Seth Brundle, a quirky scientist with poor social skills, who at a convention drags a hapless reporter (Geen Davis) with him to show his work. She isn't impressed at first, but when it transpires Brundle has actually managed to create working teleporters, she becomes fascinated. Just one problem: he hasn't figured out how to transport living tissue. They work together and gradually develop a relationship and eventually Brundle figures out how to safely teleport a baboon, so now maybe even humans are an option.

Things go a little sideways when - during a drunk and jealous rant - Brundle decides to teleport himself yet not notices that a fly has also entered one of the pods, thus fusing both into one. This isn't apparent at first, but Brundle becomes more agitated, energetic and even downright nasty towards Veronica (Davis). 

It is in these stages that his slow decay begins to build and build as Seth eventually discovers he is not completely human anymore. And when he surmises that the only way to regain some of his humanity is to fuse with another human being, things really become dark...

Cronenberg is always a hoot, but it is by far Goldblum who steals the show. His performance is excellent, ranging from the quirky yet a bit clumsy Brundle down to the hyper-agitated state, to the deformed Brundlefly acting through a thick layer of pretty gruesome makeup. His humanity and expression stays intact and the little twitches indicate he's becoming more and more insect. It's great stuff.

Of course, this wouldn't have the same impact if it wasn't for the awesomely gruesome (or gruesomely awesome) makeup by Chris Walas. Seth's transformation starts with some pimples, then evolves to fingernails falling out (a pretty gnarly scene) and Seth's body looking more like a human tumour than anything else, before fully turning into a monstrosity at the end. 

An ending which is both horrifying and tragic, I might add. 

You do need a pretty strong stomach for certain scenes, but the effects never detract from the excellent acting. This is another great example of a remake done right, adding new stuff and reshaping an older idea into something new and compelling.