This Day in Horror History: David Cronenberg’s THE FLY Was Released in 1986
When talking about movie remakes that equal or surpass the acclaim of the original, we must mention David Cronenberg’s The Fly, released on this day in 1986. Regular readers of Dread Central know I’m a huge fan of the film which, along with Aliens and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, cemented my status as a life-long horror fan back in 1986.
Synopsis:
When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a merger of man and insect. Initially, Brundle appears to have undergone a successful teleportation, but the fly’s cells begin to take over his body. As he becomes increasingly fly-like, Brundle’s girlfriend (Geena Davis) is horrified as the person she once loved deteriorates into a monster.
I’ve remained enamored with The Fly, so much so that we featured the film on an episode of my talk show, Chronic Horror. Check it out below.
Trivia:
The infamous cat-monkey scene where Brundlefly fuses a cat and the remaining baboon and then beats it to death with a lead pipe was cut following a Toronto screening. According to producer Stuart Cornfeld the audience felt that there was no turning back for Seth and they lost all sympathy for his plight, which caused the rest of the film to not play as well. In Cornfeld’s own words: “If you beat an animal to death, even a monkey-cat, your audience is not gonna be interested in your problems anymore”. (Source)
Related Article: Female Lead THE FLY Reboot In The Works with Jeff Goldblum?
Scripted, but never filmed, was a segment meant to have followed the deleted monkey-cat scene: A homeless lady screams after interrupting Brundlefly as he feeds out of an open dumpster. Brundlefly seizes the bag lady and disintegrates her face with his vomit drop. Before he finishes feeding on the woman’s corpse, Brundlefly’s humanity emerges for a moment; just long enough to contemplate the horror of his sub-human existence. (Source)
Those involved with the making of the film, including David Cronenberg, remember that the baboon (whose name was Typhoon) was very much a wild animal, and not an actor. Visual effects supervisor Hoyt Yeatman said in a special features documentary that Typhoon was once startled by the flashing lights in the telepod and broke the door off to get out. The wrangler and Jeff Goldblum (who is 6’4″) were the ones who had to keep the primate in check. “They’re very volatile, and there’s no such thing as a tame baboon,” Cronenberg said. “Jeff, because he was much bigger and stronger than the baboon, was able to dominate him, and the baboon’s wrangler said it was a good thing that the baboon formed that relationship … Otherwise there could have been big trouble on the set with some of the female members of the crew.” (Source)
Are you a fan of The Fly? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
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