It's been a Cronenberg family kind of day, what can I say?

How can a movie simultaneously be one of the most viscerally disturbing monster movies ever AND one of the most heartbreaking, tragic love stories of the 1980s? It's a rarity to find a movie that hits so squarely on all intended marks (scares, suspense, gross-out moments, special effects, emotional intensity...), but David Cronenberg's still-stunning remake of THE FLY (oh yeah, it's also one of the greatest remakes of all time) does exactly that.

Jeff Goldblum has never been better than he is here, as a brilliant but socially awkward scientist who has invented a primitive form of teleportation, but makes a fatal misjudgment when he tries to teleport…

David Cronenberg is not a minimalist—I think any claim to that term evaporates right around the moment a man turns into an undulating mass of tumors in real time—but his economic formalism, I think, displays the same strengths as the best in that field. That is to say, he has an incredible knack of specifically guiding and manipulating the viewer to certain topics but giving enough leeway to invite all manner of interpretations. Released into the context of the exploding AIDS crisis, The Fly’s story of a man mysteriously, literally falling apart, his body not tumorous but simply disintegrating, obviously had social resonance.

But even now as people broaden out and assign other meanings to it (fear of aging, of…

"I'm saying I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it, but now the dream is over...and the insect is awake."

David Cronenberg works his trademark magic of bringing wonderful body horror and nightmarish creations to the screen with 'The Fly,' a science-fiction horror film that delivers a wonderful starring role from Jeff Goldblum. Starring as an eccentric and reserved scientist who finds his body morphing after a failed experiment, Jeff's Seth Brundle goes from shy and reserved to explosive and combative with his newfound stamina, strength and unhinged nature. Geena Davis is fairly serviceable here as the love interest, torn between the mysterious scientist and her ex-lover/boss, though it's fair to say that she's at times…

Cronenberg's explorations of the physical side of horror always intrigue me and here he displays it in an accessible and rather straight up horror film. And it works really well.

Sharing only the conceit with its 1958 original, this is a genuinely terrifying film. Not for scares, but for the physical deterioration we are shown. It is amazing, terrifying yet something you cannot look away from. Every time you think that the metamorphosis cannot get any more gruesome, Cronenberg pushes it further and manages to introduce yet another horrid aspect of this slowly evolving creature.

It is, in essence, a monster movie, but done by a director that knows how to inject an oppressive atmosphere, lifting it to incredible heights.…

A few years ago when my dad took me to school we would have half an hour there and half an hour back and sometimes we would spend the whole journey talking about movies. We definitely talking about the Alien, Terminator and Predator franchises a lot. I hadn’t seen any of them so I would not let him stop talking about them. I definitely remember one of those conversations being about the fly, and so going into this I kind of already knew what it was about and the story.

I didn’t realise it would be this good though. Jeff Goldblum’s acting is I incredible, I believed him at every point, when he said he was scared, I felt scared…

this film is nearly flawlessly crafted, in every sense of the word. the performances are on another level here. Davis and Goldblum’s initially tender romantic chemistry is irresistible, and, inevitably, it develops into a tsunami wave of tragedy, trauma, and grief. the cinematography, while not particularly noteworthy, features incredible lighting design that brings a heightened dimension of atmosphere to the sets, particularly in the scenes in Brundle’s apartment. the score by Howard Shore is truly unforgettable, and adds yet another layer of immersion and tension to the narrative. and, of course, how could I not mention the effects... cronenberg, you crazy fucking genius.

wow... im honestly fucking floored... this movie is the most 9/10 a movie can get, if that…