John's Horror Banana-nanza Episode Fourty-Three: The Fly

David Cronenberg took a suspenseful 50's sci-fi movie, added insane makeup effects, let Jeff Goldblum do his scientist stuff. And with a little help from Geena Davis, he created one of the best remakes ever. In fact, more people have seen this 1986 version than the original.

So the plot goes like this. Seth Brundle, played by Jeff Goldblum, thinks he's created the world's first
teleportation device. When Veronica, a reporter looking for a breakthrough story, sees his machine
in action, she tries to take the story to her editor, but is met with doubt, much to Brundle's delight.
He continues work, and begins a romance with Veronica. They transport a steak which doesn't taste
quite right, and in a sign of things to come, transports a monkey and which comes out the other side
inside out.

After some sex, Brundle suddenly realizes (in typical Goldblum scientist fashion) that the flesh isn't recognized by the machine. So he teaches it to do so, and then decides to test it on himself. Well, it works, except for one problem. While in the transporter, a fly flew in. Slowly, he begins to realise his body is changing. He tries to review the experiment through the computer, which informs him that not only did the machine transport him, it merged him. With the fly.

So slowly, his body falls apart as a giant fly takes over. By the end of the movie, he's vomiting acid
and his jaw is falling off. And we also get to see Geena Davis give birth to a giant maggot. Good stuff.

The movie has an emotional element to it that a lot of similar movies didn't carry. You really feel for Veronica and Brundle, even as Brundle slowly becomes cocky and evil. The ending hits hard, and really leaves an impact.

Overall, I highly, highly recommend this movie if you're just diving in to Cronenberg's work. "Scanners",
"Videodrome" and "The Brood" also deal with the human body being messed up. But none have the
explosive emotional impact this one does.