The Fly (1986)
Let's talk about practical effects, because if any film makes the case for them over weightless, pixelated CGI, it's this one. The Fly is the gold standard of body horror, and the reason it works so ferociously well comes down to latex, foam, and fake blood doing things that no computer-generated image has ever quite managed: making you feel genuinely, physically repulsed. When I say you can practically smell the rot coming off the screen as Seth Brundle's body begins its agonising, irreversible decay, I mean it as the highest possible compliment. The makeup and prosthetic work here is a staggering achievement, and it makes your stomach turn in the best possible way.
What's remarkable is that David Cronenberg isn't simply wallowing in grotesquerie for shock value. He's done that kind of thing before, and brilliantly so. I've loved revisiting his earlier work, including The Brood and Shivers, both of which show a director already obsessed with the body as a site of horror and transformation. But The Fly takes that obsession and wraps it in something far more emotionally devastating than anything he'd attempted before. This is, underneath all the melting flesh and chitinous horror, a love story about watching someone you care for become unrecognisable.
That wouldn't land without the right performers, and fair play to the casting department. I've always found Jeff Goldblum endlessly captivating, and he does a cracking job here as the eccentric, overly ambitious scientist at the centre of it all. He brings a frantic, tragic energy to the role that makes the descent into monstrousness genuinely heartbreaking rather than merely horrifying. He's matched brilliantly by Geena Davis, whose increasing horror feels completely earned and never hysterical. Their dynamic grounds the wildly original premise, a man accidentally splicing his DNA with a common housefly, in an emotional reality that keeps pulling you back from the brink of pure disgust into something closer to grief.
Cronenberg paces the whole thing with a relentless, creeping dread. He never rushes the transformation, which is exactly the right call. You sit with the psychological horror first, watching Goldblum's behaviour shift before the physical mutations truly take over. By the time the final creature suit is revealed in all its grotesque, terrifying glory, you're already mourning what's been lost. That's the trick of it. The sheer audacity of the effects, combined with the claustrophobic warehouse setting and a brooding, perfectly pitched score, creates an atmosphere of inescapable doom that keeps you completely locked in.
What I keep coming back to is how seriously Cronenberg takes the material. He took what could easily have been a campy B-movie concept and turned it into a profound, unsettling meditation on disease, ageing, and the fragility of the human body. There's something almost unbearably sad about the whole thing, a quality that the visceral horror never smothers but somehow amplifies. The grossness and the grief work together. You're repulsed and heartbroken in equal measure, sometimes in the same scene.
Four stars. A deeply unsettling, brilliantly executed nightmare that has lost none of its power to shock and sadden, and an absolute must-watch for anyone with a strong stomach and an appreciation for what practical filmmaking can achieve at its very best.
Rating: ★★★★ | Year: 1986 | Watched: 2026-08-04
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
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Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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