Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Movie mini-review: The Fly (1986)

It's probably been twenty years since I saw The Fly, directed by David Cronenberg. My high school buddies and I had regular movie nights and I know I first saw this horrific movie at one of those, packed like sardines onto the couch, peeking between my fingers at the icky bits. I just rewatched it and while I had the couch to myself this time, I still had to watch from behind my fingers a couple of times.

What a great movie. Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum (who became a couple after making this movie) have terrific chemistry together. Goldblum in particular is wonderful as he transforms from the eccentric and awkwardly charming scientist to the insane and terrifyingly pathetic Brundlefly. Cronenberg does a great job of building tension, letting us think that okay, that last bit was as awful as it's going to get - before ratcheting up the horror. And boy, did I forget how gruesome this movie is: the inside-out baboon; the fingernail peeling; the giant maggot-fetus; Brundlefly regurgitating on poor Stathis's extremities ... eek. Na-sty!

My good friend D sent me a link to the new movie, The Strangers, that her husband is probably going to drag her to see*. I won't be seeing that. I've come to realize that if I'm going to see a horror flick (and yes, I admit that I do see more of them than I thought I did), I'm most likely going to see a monster movie. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, carnivorous jungle plants, carnivorous sheep, aliens, insane bug-human hybrids - those are obviously all fiction, there for entertainment and then gone once the lights come up. The scary movies where the bad guys are people, that's too possible to be entertaining.

* D - if you do have to see The Strangers you should write me a review and be a guest-blogger - TPQ could write something too and we could have point/counterpoint!

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