The Fly is Science Fiction’s Most Accessible Body Horror | CineFix Top 100

“Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.”

David Cronenberg has made some incredible movies that are also incredibly gross. This episode of the CineFix Top 100 dives into one of his best, The Fly. Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis star in the story of inventor Seth Brundle and his attempt to master teleportation only to end up becoming a fly for his trouble! Clint and Cal spend another week waiting for Alex to rejoin them, but in the meantime they dig in to the amazing work of professional face-melter Chris Walas, just how much Mel Brooks campaigned for the movie and lament the unfortunate missed opportunity to “collude for Croney” to get more of the Canadian body horror maestro’s work on the Top 100.

Meanwhile, producer Dan’s algorithm teleported itself 15 feet across a room and is now more powerful than ever before…

00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:19 - The Pedigree
00:14:05 - Brilliant Moments
00:49:56 - CineFix Movie Lists
00:55:15 - Best Quotes
00:59:39 - TorF: Things You (Probably) Didn't Know
01:03:47 - Movie MVP
01:05:52 - Snakeskin Jacket Factor
01:09:24 - Not 100 Listed

CineFix Top 100 is produced by Tayo Oyekan, with Director of Photography, Jamie Parslow and Technical Producer, Marhyan Franzen. Our Executive Producers are Clint Gage, Dan Parkhurst and Corrado Caretto. Logo and graphic design by Eric Sapp and title animations by Casey Redmon.

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[Zed-fqlj]

''The Fly'' 1986 is the best tragedy among all sci-fi and horror movies...deeply disturbing and sad, brilliant direction and acting, a great Howard Shore's score, a true masterpiece Cronenberg never came close to ever again!

[grapeshot]

Yes, this is an excellent example of body horror as well as practical effects being superior to CGI in most instances .

[Advent]

This and Carpenter's The Thing may be body horror at its most accessible.

[mariahtheriault]

This is a prime example of why practical effects, when done right, will always look better than CGI.

[batgurrl]

I am so happy to see this movie discussed. A true classic overall and excellent body horror. Be afraid, be very afraid -a GREAT line. As far as non-horror, The Dead Zone, was a beautifully done King adaptation. This is his Peak, no doubt.

[Octopugilist]

It helps that it's an incredibly tragic story. Seth wasn't a mad scientist playing god for his ego, he wanted to cure carsickness. He did absolutely nothing to deserve a fate worse than death, and we can do nothing but watch him rot mind and body.

The Insect Politics scene where he's still relatively lucid and warns his girlfriend that because he's losing all impulse control and empathy, she's in grave danger just being near him. Absolutely heartbreaking.

[mcgarnagle]

I saw this movie as a child in the theatre. I thought it would be a fun and happy superhero movie like Spiderman with fly superpowers. Boy was I wrong.

[jeffwatkins]

So glad to see this in-depth appreciation of this classic, though I think it’s a gross mistake not to include it in your top 100. IMO, it’s the only true horror classic of the last half a century or more, on a par with those of Hollywood’s Golden Age. For my money, never mind all the ghastly effects which are clearly excellent, its highest virtue is its emotional punch. The Seth/Ronnie relationship is genuinely heartbreaking. It’s the first of two Cronenberg films that bring me to tears, Dead Ringers the other. I also personally rate Videodrome up there but it lacks the heart of The Fly.

[jermainehaslam]

A classic to me is when a movie never gets old and has the same affect on you everytime you watch and this is one of those classic films that manages to make you feel sad and devastated for Goldblum and Davis's characters during every viewing.

[MGPCycling]

I watched this movie when it first came out on a bootleg satellite transmission of HBO.

Only movie that I can say I watched way too young. It still haunts me even as an adult.

And that's even with the fact that I grew up on 80s horror like nightmare on elm street and sci fi body horror adjacent films like Aliens.

Amazing film, but dear lord did it screw me up for years

[NiteOfTheWorld]

Guys, I know we're only about 10% into the list. But I'm getting a little concerned about the absence of older films. Only one film on the list so far is pre-1985. Also, Independence Day made the list but not Midnight Cowboy? I

[lanegeorgeton]

I think the more interesting thing is that maybe it wasn’t just Brundle in there, and the apparent devolution. But maybe there was a fly that wanted to be killed as well, having to have gone through a similar bizarre transphormation . Maybe the fly wanted to die as much as Bru doe did

[lobomella]

In preparation for this episode I decided to rewatch THE FLY and my girlfriend was happy to join: she had never seen it and was absolutely disgusted by it 🤣 She loved it!

[YesterdaysMoose]

I've actually been in the warehouse building where this was filmed, it's a ridiculously large space. Interestingly, while I was there, outside a scene from Adventures in Babysitting was being filmed. My mom and I also had basically a private viewing of a David Cronenberg exhibit, one of the teleportation pods was there.

[ismellstatic]

I wanna make the argument that the peak of Cronenberg as a director needs more criticism about the world. The core of Videodrome is a man kissing a warping television screen, the bait that pulls him into the tangled plot of body horror cults that the movie becomes. Cronenberg strikes me as more edgy, sarcastic and critical than the deeply emotional core of The Fly which is why I personally would agree with calling it peak ACCESSIBLE Cronenberg.

[theblacksmith]

How about a top 10 list of the best epiphany moments in film? (i.e. Alec Baldwin’s Jack Ryan realizing Ramius wants to defect, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Alan Turing figuring out the key to enigma, etc.)

[yupitsjessbbyx]

I watched this in middle school and never before had a movie made me laugh, scream, gag and cry in a single sitting

[MartiniBlankontherest]

Might be a top 5 all time for me. I've got fond personal stories around watching that one❤️

[TDawgBR]

Body horror cuts deep for me, so I'm REALLY not a fan of Cronenberg, but I respect his works. Surprised that "Naked Lunch" wasn't mentioned at all.

[Meesterlijker]

Even though this film is a classic, _The Fly_ is still underrated as hell