By Drew Dietsch
| Published
David Cronenberg’s The Fly is in strong contention for the best horror movie of the ‘80s. It’s a stone cold masterpiece that hasn’t lost an ounce of its power. It continues to hold sway over pop culture enough that if I made a telepod joke, you’d know exactly what I was referencing.
I love Cronenberg’s The Fly and would easily put it in a list of my favorite movies. But also on that list would be the original adaptation of George Langelaan’s short story that gave the world the infamous line, “Help me!”
The Original Fly
The Fly originally hit theater screens in 1958 directed by Kurt Neumann. The story is similar to the Cronenberg version in its most basic premise: a bright-eyed scientist creates teleportation devices that he hopes will revolutionize the world. Unfortunately, he gets a little too eager to try out his experiment on himself. Due to a fly being in the chamber, a horrible fusion occurs that leaves the scientist malformed.
Sounds pretty in line with the Cronenberg version. But the story centers more on the scientist’s wife, Helene, as she tries to help her husband and figure out exactly what has gone wrong. Not to mention Vincent Price is hopping around as the scientist’s brother. It’s more of a family story in the original film and it’s one that I’d recommend to any family with good taste in movies.
Why I Love The Fly
Much like Cronenberg’s The Fly is arguably the best sci-fi/horror movie of its decade, Neumann’s The Fly can definitely attempt a claim at being the best sci-fi/horror movie of the 1950s. The gorgeous color production alone is a standout for the decade, but it’s also the fact that 20th Century Fox really put their confidence behind the movie as more than a B-movie quickie.
Nowhere is that more apparent than the historic reveal of scientist Andre Delambre with his shocking fly head. It’s still a frightening and expertly executed piece of monster horror. When people talk about the greatest scares in horror film history, The Fly needs to be in that conversation.
But the most infamous moment from The Fly is when the fly from the telepod is found trapped in a spider’s web. It’s shown that it has the human head and hand of Andre as it screams for help. It’s one of the most iconic moments in movies regardless of genre.
Why It Needs More Love
As movies continue to get older, their audience continues to dwindle. Cronenberg’s The Fly manages to still find new viewers but Neumann’s The Fly loses potential fans with every passing year.
And that sucks. The Fly is a phenomenal film that only seems dated through the eyes of bores. Just because it’s almost seventy years old doesn’t mean it should be discounted in full. It’s a well-paced little tale that set a standard for the genre.
I want to believe The Fly will still find fans in the years to come. I really hope just one person watches The Fly because of this article. If you do, let me know if you liked it!
