The Fly (1986)

Episode 74, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd:  Hello, and welcome to another episode of 2 Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig:  I’m Craig. 

Todd:  And Todd, we have special guest back again, Simone. Hello, Simone. 

Simone:  Hey. So excited to be here. Thank you guys for having me back.

Todd:  Now, the the the movie that we chose today, we chose with Simone in mind. It’s called The Fly from 1986 because Simone is a self professed, Jeff Goldblum, would you say fan? Is that putting it mildly? 

Simone:  To put it mildly, yes. I have even gone as far as, having Jeff Goldblum’s face on a birthday cake. For my for my 25th birthday. So, yeah, you could you can say I like Jeff Goldblum a little bit. 

Todd:  The big question is where is the tattoo? 

Simone:  We gotta keep some secrets concealed. 

Todd:  Oh my gosh. This is gonna be a good time. So, the 1986 version of the fly, not to be confused with the 1958 version, I believe. Craig, I think you had seen this movie before, correct? 

Craig:  I had. I had seen it before. I I if I remember correctly, I’ve actually seen it multiple times. However, it’s been a long time and, watching it again, I forgot just how freaking good this movie is. It’s a really really good movie. 

Todd:  It is. Oh my gosh. It’s insane. Now Simone, you’ve of course seen this movie before. 

Simone:  Yes. And when you were so kind to give me a whole bunch of movies, to download onto my computer, this was one that I had specially requested. 

Todd:  Yeah. 

Simone:  But before then, I I watched it in December and then just rewatched it again. But before that, it had been a long time since I’ve seen it. And and similar to you guys, I was when I watched it again in December, I was like, oh my god. I was just amazed by the puppetry, the special effects, and just the overall, like, grossness. This this movie fulfills your, like, grossness satisfaction. 

Todd:  It really does. It is Yeah. But it’s poignant. I don’t know. This movie just this movie gets to me in a bad way, and and I have to say if Simone hadn’t been here with me, I probably would have been bawling on the sofa. To be quite frank, yeah, this one bothers me a lot. I think there’s a lot going on here. It’s not your typical horror movie.   It’s directed by David Cronenberg, who brings us all kinds of great body horror films. He just is really fascinated by, this kind of disgusting body horror. And he’s all of his movies seem to reflect this. And I think this is his most commercially successful film Yeah. By far. Otherwise, he’s been pretty fringe, and, and although his movies are generally well regarded, they don’t make a ton of money. But this one, I think, was made on a what did we what did we find out? 

Simone:  It was like a $9,000,000 budget, but it grossed quite amount. I think it’s like 60 or something million in the box office. 

Todd:  And even won an Oscar for best special effects that year. 

Simone:  Yeah. The only Academy Award he’ll, he has received to this point. 

Todd:  You’re you’re really writing him off. You almost said He will. Yeah. 

Craig:  What really struck me about this movie and what I had forgotten is really how intimate and theatrical it is. I mean, I I had forgotten that there are really only 3 characters in this whole movie. You’ve got, your your your main character Seth Brundle played by Jeff Goldblum, of course, and then Veronica is, love interest played by Gina Davis. And Jeff Goldblum and Gina Davis were an item, at this point. I I guess that, David Cronenberg was interested in casting Jeff Goldblum, and the studio was worried about it because they felt like he wasn’t a well known enough star to be the leading man. But, Cronenberg was was intense that that Goldblum was gonna play it. And then they didn’t know who the leading lady was going to be, but Goldblum suggested his girlfriend, Geena Davis, and Cronenberg was nervous about that, but then she came in red and I guess she just blew him away. And some other pretty big name, people read for Veronica, too.   The only one I can remember off the top of my head is Jennifer Jason Lee, but a couple other big names too. But I guess Geena Davis just nailed her audition. And then you’ve got then kind of this side character, Aethas Borenze, played by John Getz, who, is Geena Davis’ boss. She’s like a journalist and and he’s not only her boss, but her ex boyfriend. But it’s just those three characters It really in the whole movie, like, there are some side characters, you know, some some bit parts, but it’s really just the 3 of them. And it’s really intimate, and I had just forgotten about that. And as I was watching it, especially as, you know, just even as it begins, the first line of the movie, I think, you know, I turned the movie on and the credits roll and the title comes up and that all looks great. And then it just, comes on to a, a close-up on Jeff Goldblum’s face and he delivers what I think is maybe one of the greatest opening lines in any movie ever. 

Clip:  What am I working on? I’m working on something that’ll change the world and human life as we know it. Change it a lot or just a bit? You’ll have to be more specific. Well, you want me to be specific here in this room with, half the scientific community of North America eavesdropping? Is there another way? You could come back to my lab. Listen. I’ll make a cappuccino. I have a Fiam of my very own. You know what that is? It’s not the dilettantes plastic kitchen model. It’s one of those, real restaurant espresso machines with a eagle on Todd.   Somehow I get the feeling you don’t get out much. You can tell that. 

Craig:  It just starts out, you know, like, so exciting and it it just moves boom boom boom from there. I was just blown away. 

Todd:  It it does. I was also surprised Todd because I hadn’t remembered just how it jumps right into the story right away. They’re what they’re at some kind of convention. 

Simone:  Yeah. Like a science convention, and Veronica has gone there and searched for a story. 

Todd:  Yeah. She’s a journalist, working for, Particle Magazine. 

Clip:  Was that it? 

Simone:  Uh-huh. Yeah. 

Todd:  And it’s a science magazine, obviously, kind of like Omni, which they also referenced that I told Simone I actually had a subscription to Omni back in the day. I was I was a pretty nerdy kid. And he immediately takes her to, his his place, and we were laughing about this because the whole dialogue between them. 

Simone:  He’s charismatic but, like, creepily charismatic, but I feel like because he’s Jeff Goldblum and kind of suave and nerdy scientist, he almost gets away with it. But some of his gestures and the weird things that he says, like, once they get back to his place, you know, she sees the telepods and stuff and she’s like, alright well I think I’m gonna go. He’s like, oh no, you you’ve already seen too much already so I’m gonna have to kill 

Todd:  you all. 

Simone:  It’s like if you didn’t if you couldn’t tell by what the title of the movie was, you’d think, like, he was a serial killer. Well, and it’s like he 

Todd:  drive him driving her to his place is like driving her to this big empty warehouse. 

Simone:  There’s like no other cars. 

Clip:  This is 

Todd:  the most trusting reporter ever. Yeah. 

Clip:  Yeah. 

Todd:  It’s so almost sexually charged from the very beginning. There’s and I guess, you know, I didn’t know that they were an item, but it it’s clear, like, there’s something in both of their eyes when they’re talking to each other from the very beginning that you just get that she is somehow attracted to him. Mhmm. And he, despite his awkwardness, manages to pull her in somehow. But it’s so convincing, and only because it’s convincingly acted. It would seem if you were just reading this on the page, that it would happen way too fast and too easy, for the 2 of them to get together. But the way it plays out on screen, it’s it’s totally fascinating. 

Clip:  Mhmm. 

Todd:  I think. 

Craig:  Yeah. And they’ve got really good chemistry. I mean, of course, they were sleeping together. So hopefully, they would have good chemistry. But, I mean, you you can see it. It translates. I mean, they’re just really, really comfortable with one another. And I think that both of these actors, both, Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis are really, really talented in their own right.   But there’s just from the beginning this ease between them. And I don’t really, Symone, get the whole Jeff Goldblum thing Because I don’t know, like he’s this awkward, tall, gawky, you know, not stereotypically attractive guy, but he does have this charisma. You know, he’s got this deep, kind of soothing voice and, I don’t know. Even though I don’t really get it, I could kind of see how you could maybe be seduced by that. And, I I you know, it’s not I I think from his point of view, he’s flirting throughout. From her perspective, she’s really just into it for the story, and she seems almost a little bit uneasy, even though they, have this kind of chemistry between them. And they get there and they’re just kind of talking and and he says, Well, I want to show you this. And he says, Do you have, like, a personal item, like a piece of jewelry or a piece of clothing or something? And, she’s like, Alright, well here we go.   And she takes she slips her shoe off, and I thought she was gonna take off her panties. I was like, oh, okay. Well, here we go. But no, she slips off her stocking and gives it to him, and he puts it in one of these pods and starts this computer running, and lights flash in the pods and, the stocking is teleported from 1 pod to the other. And and they go to the other pod and and she thinks it’s some kinda trick. She thinks it’s a hologram or something, but he picks it up and he hands it to her. And, he’s like, your stocking just teleported. And from that point, she’s she’s on board.   She’s into it. You know, she wants to get this story. She turns on her tape recorder, and she starts asking him questions. And it’s really funny because, you know, I I guess we had to have known from the beginning that this was a romantic pursuit from by him. The second that she starts asking questions and she’s excited about the story, he’s like, oh, wait. I would have never told this to a journalist. And she’s like, well, you just did. You know? What what did you think was gonna happen? It’s funny kind of the dynamic between them, but, the story just, moves, right along, which I was really impressed with. 

Todd:  Yeah. Did you get a kind of a David Copperfield vibe from him when he was showing off the pods? Oh my gosh. 

Craig:  I guess a little bit. 

Todd:  Maybe I’ve just seen too much of David Copperfield, but I’m telling you, like, I felt like he was copying his style completely when he was opening up and displaying and showing the pods. Yeah. And here it is over here. He’s got this big open armed, gestures and things. It’s kind of funny. 

Simone:  His feathered hair pushed back. 

Todd:  Yeah. He’s so Jeff Goldblum now. So Jeff Goldblum. But so she goes and brings this to her editor, and her editor says, well, the guy’s a magician. You know? 

Simone:  He’s like playing you. 

Todd:  Playing with you, and he’s kind of creepy and skeezy. He makes some comments to her, but you don’t really pick up on why until a little bit later. But anyway, he’s not interested in the story. And so, at that moment, Jeff Goldblum interrupts. Jeff Goldblum. 

Simone:  Was he 

Todd:  Seth Brundle. 

Simone:  You got him you got him on the brain. 

Todd:  I do. Brundle interrupts. Well, he’s even his charms are too strong for me. He he bangs on the door because he sought her out and, comes in and, ends up, like, well, you didn’t waste any time. And she says, well, he’s not interested in the story. And he’s like, well, why don’t we go out for some hamburgers, and let’s talk some more. 

Simone:  So from that point, they have this conversation, at at the restaurant, and she says, well, have you ever tried this on anything else that hasn’t been, you know, like my nylon stocking or something? And he said, well, other experiments that have been conducted, like, haven’t turned out so well. And when they go back to his apartment, he puts in this this test monkey, this test baboon. 

Todd:  Yeah. That’s a really expensive test subject Yeah. To try this out on. Yeah. But, yeah, he he can’t teleport live things. Right? 

Simone:  Right. Right. He flesh. Right. The we we learned that the telepod can’t, recognize skin. It can only kind of recognize, prosthetic material or synthetic materials, things like that. 

Todd:  And I think there’s a really interesting bit here, like a really interesting scene because she sets up the video camera. She’s gonna document this. 

Clip:  Mhmm. 

Todd:  His proposal to her is well, forget the magazine article. Let’s write a book. 

Clip:  Yeah. 

Todd:  And to document the whole procedure. So she she become he becomes kind of her project. And she sets up this camera to get his thoughts after the monkey teleportation, where the monkey is completely the baboon is completely turned inside out, which is one of the first of many disgusting effects that we see, and just flopping around on the bottom. And he’s really troubled. His performance is so good. Yeah. And you can see that he’s trying to say something, and he’s trying to talk, but at the other hand, like, his mind is somewhere else. 

Clip:  What else? Why didn’t it work? I think it, turned the baboon inside out. Why? Can’t deal with the flesh. It only seems to work with inanimate objects, nothing that’s living. Must be my fault. Why? Computers are dumb. They only know what you tell them. I must not know enough about the flesh myself. I’m gonna have to learn. 

Todd:  Which is kind of a deep line when you think about it. 

Simone:  Mhmm. 

Todd:  It really hones in on his personality as this geeky, kind of awkward guy. This is maybe the first physical relationship, you know, he ends up having with her that he’s ever had. Mhmm. That sense I get anyway. I don’t know about you, Craig. 

Craig:  So you see this baboon in the one telepod and then you see what it comes out as. And not only is it turned inside out, but it’s still alive and it’s still making noise of pain. And like, Oh Todd, it just, Todd, we’ve talked about this a 1000000 times, it kills me to see animals in peril like that. And like that just tugged at my heartstrings. And I feel like, I think that he was upset that the experiment didn’t work, but I think that he was also kind of moved by that, by the pain that he had inflicted, or at least that’s the sense that I got from from the, his reaction to it. And you’re right. The performance is so strong. The other thing, like, you guys said, pretty expensive, test subjects.   Yeah. Like, where is this guy getting baboons? Does he just go down to the local baboon store and pick up a couple baboons? I thought that was really interesting. And, so yeah, they talk about that after they have sex. I mean, it moves pretty quickly. And I couldn’t tell in the beginning if she was seducing him because she was genuinely interested in him or if she was just so invested in this story that she was gonna do whatever she needed to do to land this story. But regardless, they have this fling, and after poise coitus or whatever, he says, Todd on, I want to do an experiment. And she had brought over some steaks because he just goes out for cheeseburgers all the time. So she had brought over some steaks and had offered to cook them, but he takes this steak and he cuts it in half and he teleports one half and then he, cooks both halves up and he gives her the non teleported half first and she takes a bite of it and she’s like, It’s alright, whatever.   And then he gives her the other half and she’s like, Oh no, there’s something wrong with it, it tastes synthetic. And that’s where he goes into that whole deal about how Todd doesn’t understand the flesh, I’m gonna have to, you know, teach it. And apparently, he does. He goes over and bloop bloop bloop, you know, types some things in. And it it seems like there’s there’s almost no time before the next time they they try to transport a new baboon. It works. You know? He puts he puts the baboon in the thing, the the door opens and the baboon comes running out. I thought at first that it was like charging him, but no, it just jumps into his arms.   The only other, you know, outside of plot, I was thinking the whole time I’m watching this I’m thinking, I thought baboons were like the most dangerous primate ever. And, and I guess they are one of the most dangerous. And, and apparently, David Cronenberg was terrified of these baboons. Like, he was just scared to death of them. But I guess Jeff Goldblum was a big enough guy, like a tall enough guy, and he had been working out and beefing up for this role. So apparently, he was big enough that the baboons saw him as dominant. So as long as he was around and he was on set, they they behaved themselves. But I I guess the crew and everybody else was scared to death of these baboons.   But See. You know what I mean? 

Simone:  Are under the the seductive curse of of Jeff Goldblum. 

Todd:  You have a lot in common with baboons. 

Craig:  Yeah. It’s absolutely right. But anyway, so this the second baboon works. So every you know, they’re both stoked, that this is is working. He’s stoked, of course, because, you know, his experiment is finally working. She’s stoked because she’s gonna get the story of the century and everything seems to be, going well. 

Todd:  But one thing that’s been going on also is this editor has been following her. 

Simone:  Mhmm. 

Todd:  And we’ve learned through an earlier scene that they actually had a thing and this guy is a total sleazeball. 

Simone:  It’s the worst because he kind of ends up being, I don’t wanna say hero, but he ends up, you know, kind of coming in handy at the end which I know we’ll get to. But like his regards for the word no is so, like, cringeworthy in every scene. Like, so when Geena Davis goes, I’m sorry, when Veronica goes back to her apartment, and he’s like in he has a spare key from when they were dating, and she he’s in the shower and she’s like 

Clip:  How did you get in? Yeah. I have a key, remember? You gave it to me. I know I should have changed the lock. I knew you wouldn’t. Yeah? Yeah. That’s because unconsciously, you still want me to come back, 

Craig:  move in again. 

Clip:  No. That’s because, very consciously, I’m lazy and disorganized. 

Simone:  She says at the end, like, give me the key. And he just goes, I’ll keep it. And I, like, doesn’t even say, like, no. And, you know, as a woman who’s dealt with creepy ex boyfriends, I’m like, what do you do? Call the cops and, like, change your 

Clip:  door, change your lock. 

Simone:  His lack of regard for the word no is but but anyways, yeah, it’s very apparent that he’s been following her, knew that she had stayed the night, and had slept or at least just kind of put the pieces together that she had slept with, with Seth, decided that he did want to stay on the story and that he was going to supervise the story. 

Todd:  With or without her, basically. Right. Exactly. 

Craig:  Yeah. Right. 

Todd:  So it kinda forces her hand, so they don’t end up going on their holiday that she wanted to go on. They end up staying, and in the meantime, Jeff, Seth, in the meantime, Seth is kinda drinking, and, while she’s gone visiting her editor, and he’s kinda getting jealous, and he’s kinda thinking, okay, she’s going to see him. What’s going on? What’s going on here? And he’s like, screw it. Forget about waiting for the test results to come back from this baboon to see that he’s fine. I’m just gonna go teleport myself, which is a really terrible idea. 

Simone:  Yeah. Making making bad decisions once again under the influence of alcohol. 

Craig:  Well and I I also thought that this scene was hilarious, but also super endearing. Like, so she, the the editor sends her a mock up cover of of, you know, what he’s gonna do for this story. So she has to go confront him and deal with that. And Seth is putting together, you know, 2 and 2 that they used to be together, and he’s drinking and he’s talking to the other baboon. The other 

Todd:  baboon. The 

Craig:  other baboon’s just like sitting in a chair listening to this guy pour his heart out. And you’re right, he’s drunk. But I also thought, and I don’t even know, it’s been so long since I’ve seen it, I don’t know if I noticed this before, but while he’s talking to the baboon, the baboon is like swatting away a fly. And I never noticed that, I don’t think. And so when he goes, to get into the telepod, we see this fly kind of buzzing around and then we see right before he teleports that the fly is actually in there with him. And so when he does teleport, you know, he’s got this, you know, sexy nude silhouette kind of thing going on, in in the pod. But then when he comes out, he comes out looking fine, but there’s also no more fly. And I felt like I could tell right away.   And again, I’m sure it’s directing and writing and all that too, but you gotta give Goldblum the the credit here. You know, as soon as he comes out, you can tell that there’s just something a little bit different about him. You know, he’s a little jumpier, he’s a little bit more manic, and these things, you know, progress, as we go along. But as soon as he comes out, you can kind of tell that there’s a little bit something different about him. Eventually, Gena Davis comes back and, actually, we keep referring to them by their actor names, Veronica comes back. He says, you know, I did this. And they, you know, kinda spend some time together, and and you can just tell, progressively as it moves forward that he has in fact changed. 

Todd:  It’s interesting because, you know, and and Cronenberg really intended this film, it’s it’s clear as day, as as a metaphor either illness or aging, or just the the honestly, just the way that relationships progress through time, I think, when something is thrown in that kinda gums up the works. And I think that’s what makes this movie so tragic. What’s different about this film from the 19 fifties version is that in the and and by the way, Craig, have you seen the 19 fifties version? 

Craig:  I haven’t. I’m kind of embarrassed to say. 

Todd:  You know, Simone, have you? 

Simone:  No. I haven’t either. 

Todd:  You know, a lot of these fifties horror film, sci fi horror films can be kinda cheesy and low budget and kinda cornball. This one is really sad. It is really tragic. And instead of this being a couple that, you know, met over this this experiment, it’s actually a husband and wife, and it’s the husband, is a tinkerer. He’s like one of these mad scientist tinkerer types, like, in the basement. So he’s got this this whole lab set up in the basement where he’s doing these experiments. And instead of this gradual transformation that we get in this movie, in that movie, he becomes a like a half fly almost immediately. And we see little snippets and, like, out of frame things that imply what happened, but what we don’t see is him much.   Because once we do see him toward the end of the movie, his whole head is like a fly’s head. You know, it’s a little corny. But by then, we have gotten what we basically see is this breakdown of their marriage, where he’s kind of disappeared, and she’s wondering what’s happened to him. She goes downstairs, and he’s, he’s locked the door of the basement. He won’t let her down there, but he won’t tell her why, and so she’s getting scared. And then he, you know, finally does kinda let her down there, but he won’t let her see his face, and she’s like, what’s going on? And it is it is the saddest, most tragic thing when you put yourself in her shoes. You know? And this movie, I think, takes that and just stretches it out longer and makes it sadder. Because he wakes up and he feels different and he’s stronger, and at first it’s like a good thing for him, but it separates them almost immediately.   You know? He’s the guy who’s found this newfound energy, this newfound strength. They were having this coffee shop conversation, and he’s so excited about it that he’s just dumping sugar into his coffee over and over and over again. And she’s, like, looking at it, and she’s, like, do you like some coffee with your sugar? And and he’s just babbling on and on about stuff you can hardly even understand what it is. 

Clip:  So I asked the computer if it had improved me and it said it didn’t know what I was talking about and that’s made me think very carefully about what I’ve been feeling and why. And I’m beginning to think that the sheer process of being taken apart atom by atom and put back together again. It’s like coffee being put through a filter. It’s somehow a purifying process. It’s purified me. It’s cleansed me. And I’ll tell you, I think it’s gonna allow me to realize the personal potential I’ve been neglecting all these years that I’ve been, obsessively pursuing goal after goal. Do you normally take coffee with your sugar? What? Oh, my god.   You know, I I just don’t think I’ve ever given me a chance to be me. But, of course, interestingly, at the exact same moment that I, achieved what’ll probably prove to be my life’s work, that’s the moment when I started being the real me finally. So, listen. And not to wax messianic, but, it may be true that the synchronicity of those two events might blur the resultant individual effect 

Todd:  of either individually. And immediately, there’s that wedge between them, where in a way, it’s almost kinda like a drug user Todd. You know, where this drug user’s found this insane awesome hide that the other person can’t or isn’t going along with, and he’s so excited about it, he just wants to bring her along. 

Simone:  Yeah. He’s trying to convince her to go into the telepod and and transport because he thinks that it will transform her. 

Todd:  Yeah. And they’ll be like 2 super people. 

Simone:  Yeah. 

Todd:  Yeah. And and I mean, he’s doing, like, all these acrobatics, in the in the in the room when she wakes up and kinda finds him wandering around, and he’s doing all these crazy flips and things like a circus performer. That was kind of a cool scene. 

Craig:  It could have been really corny, I think, because it’s almost like a Footloose moment, you know, where he’s doing, like, all these, like, aerial, acrobatic things. But it it it it’s good that it illustrates what’s going on with him. In addition to that, they’re having, like, marathon sex. Like, it almost made me a little uncomfortable. It almost made me a little uncomfortable when she was like, how could you do that? How do you still even have any fluid in your body? And I’m like, ew. 

Simone:  But after that scene is when we see his face again for the first time, and that’s when we start to see some discoloration in his face. We’re starting to see some deterioration, some spots here and there and it’s like, oh. 

Todd:  How does she not notice that? Yeah. She doesn’t really say anything about it. 

Craig:  Yeah. And he’s well, and he’s got, like, these weird thick hairs growing out of his back, and she’s kinda grossed out by that and tries to cut him off or whatever. But like you said, Todd, it is almost like a drug addict. In fact, he even says that specifically. He’s like, He says, It’s like a Craig, except it’s pure, it’s perfect, you’ve got to do it. And he almost tries to drag her into the telepod and she’s saying, no. You know, there I I think something went wrong. And and, he says, well, then if not you, I’ll find someone else.   I mean, he’s just, he’s manic, basically, 

Clip:  Craig. 

Craig:  And she, so she leaves, I guess, or he storms out and, he goes off to this bar where he like challenges this guy to arm wrestling and he just totally breaks this arm wrestler’s arm, and that’s a totally gross effect. And then he takes home this this girl, and they have sex. And then in the morning, he tries to get her to get into the telepod, and she won’t. Gina Davis luck because again, he it’s almost as though he’s gonna force her into it. But Veronica, shows up and she says 

Clip:  Be afraid. Be very afraid. 

Craig:  I had no idea that that line came from this movie. You know, you hear that all the time. I had no idea it came from this movie. But but she it you know, she can clearly see that there’s something wrong with them, and and she says, you’re changing, something’s wrong. And and he just accuses her of, being jealous. He says, you’re jealous. I, you know, I’ve become free. I’ve been released.   And he, like, demonstrates his power by, like, bashing down walls with his, fists. But, he tells her to leave, and and not to come back. But it’s then when he goes into the bathroom and looks in the mirror and he starts to realize and understand that he is in fact changing. And that scene is a total gross out scene. 

Todd:  Oh my god. 

Simone:  With the fingernails? 

Todd:  Ugh. My god. It it’s also kind of darkly comic though. He sees at first the hair, and he tries to shave it off, and it’s too thick, and the razor won’t work. So he throws in the tub, and it the the razor shatters just kind of in the background. And then when he finds that his fingernail can just pull off, he’s, like, almost fascinated by it. And he looks at the other fingernail and starts to pull it off, but pus is squirting out. And and he’s the whole time he’s 

Craig:  So gross. 

Todd:  It’s like he’s just looking at it and almost more fascinated by it than anything. Yeah. I don’t know. There was something a little darkly humorous about it, I thought. Although it was the scene, I think, that you remembered. 1 of the one of the more notorious scenes that you remembered. Right, Simone? 

Simone:  The fingernails and then the teeth. Because what really if there’s anything that has to do with teeth, I’m out. Like, I, 

Todd:  I 

Simone:  get I get really, really grossed out by teeth stuff. So when he’s leaning over the computer and, like, later on they they say some time has call has has passed on. At one point, he calls Veronica back and he said, in these past 4 weeks, you know, I’ve gotten worse. And she she goes to his apartment, and he’s now needs to walk with with canes. And and you can see his his body is really morphing and changing and, he reaches for a donut because kinda like flies they want something sugary, something sweet and so his apartment’s just littered with, like, hostesses or, you know, whatever. And he peaches for it and this, like, vomit acid falls out and then his ear falls off. And then Veronica goes in for a hug, and I’m like, no. That’s the last thing you wanna touch.   Like, girl, I know it’s Jeb Goldblum, but, like, even I am my limits. 

Craig:  Oh, Todd. I that you say, Todd, you say kind of darkly humorous. That was the part that I found, kind of funny was he, he picks up this donut and, like, almost unconsciously, he vomits on it. And then, like, when she reacts, he just looks at her. He’s like, oh, that’s disgusting. Like, he didn’t even realize what he was doing. Yeah. Yeah. 

Clip:  You 

Todd:  almost you almost expect the next words out of his mouth to be, but do you mind if I go ahead and eat this anyway? Yes. 

Simone:  But at that, it wasn’t until then when he admits to Veronica, like, I’m scared. But that was actually one of the only moments that we see him being scared because after that, then he kind of goes back into his science Todd, and he’s fascinated by this change. And and that’s when he learns and realizes, what Todd they call it, a fusion, with a fly at a molecular genetic level that that there was a fly in there, in the in the telepod and that it Todd didn’t just teleport with him. It teleported into him and his DNA is now fused with this fly. 

Todd:  And it’s that classic eighties computer thing where computers could just have Yes. 

Simone:  Conversations with you. You just type 

Todd:  it, what happened to me? 

Simone:  Yeah. If not grumble, what is it? 

Todd:  Like, if this computer is smart enough to be able to actually have a conversation with you, you probably figure you can use complete sentences with it Todd. You know? 

Simone:  Yeah. And when he he calls himself Brundlefly, he gives himself this new name. That’s when I really think he just accepts his fate. Like, I can’t stop this. I’m gonna turn into this fly. And Veronica, you can film me. Like, he wants to document this process. He’s holding on to his his body parts that have now fallen off.   He calls calls it the the natural the Brundle Natural History Museum or something. He still kind of has this, this wit and humor about it. 

Todd:  Yeah. It’s like he vacillates between being able to laugh about it and be funny about it and to, you know, to being absolutely terrified. And again, I just think that’s so apt. That’s such a a real life experience of a person who’s ill or sick. You know, they’re not depressed all the time. They often try to find humor in their situation. But, you know, it’s tragedy is just around the corner, so it could be uncomfortable. It could be different.   And honestly, the minute she sees him come out with those 2 canes, I’m again, it’s just like an old person, right? He can’t really walk, he’s got the 2 canes. And the tears in her eyes, even though there’s that comedy in that scene with the ear falling off and the puke and stuff. I’m sorry, but that just bothered the heck out of me. I just pushed all of my tragedy buttons, you know. 

Craig:  Doctor. Oh gosh. Yeah. It’s really sad. It’s really sad to see her reaction to him. And I think we have to say, you know, from this point forward, he’s going through these stages of his metamorphosis and he’s just getting more and more, deformed and and he just looks disgusting. I mean, from the beginning, he looks gross and it just progresses and progresses where he’s getting more fly like. And the makeup, I mean Todd deserved the Academy Award.   I mean it’s just amazing. It’s so disgusting and it’s all practical and it looks, while it’s disgusting, it looks so Todd. As we move through these last parts of the movie, it just progresses and progresses and progresses until finally at the end he kinda goes, you know, full out giant fly monster. But Todd, I can’t say enough how amazing these effects are. And for this to be, you know, in the 1980s, all of this is practical effects, it just looks fantastic. I just can’t imagine it looking any 

Todd:  better. It’s the guy who did, the gremlins, who designed the gremlins, right? 

Craig:  Yeah. I think you’re right. 

Todd:  Then she goes to her boss again, and she’s just kind of reaching out to the only other per as skeezy and as slimeball as this guy really is, she’s really the only other person that we know of anyway that she could apparently reach out to. So she goes back to him, and he’s like, I don’t believe it, you know, essentially. And she’s like, well, let me show you. And I thought this moment, she was gonna try to bring him to the apartment, but she actually goes by herself. And again, I guess her her idea is just to videotape him. And so he’s already got the idea, in fact, I think, isn’t this when he’s walking across the ceiling, and across the walls, and things, 

Simone:  the brightening? Yeah. Yeah. 

Todd:  And and, so this this is actually my favorite humorous part of the movie. So he he’s like, we need to record this for posterity. He’s he’s back in full on science mode. And he’s again, he’s thinking maybe some good is gonna come out of this. And so, you know, she sits down with the video record. He sets up the video recorder of the Todd, she’s behind, he’s like, alright, get me in Craig. And he sits down in the kitchen behind a box of donuts. Okay. 

Clip:  How does Brundlefly eat? Well, he found out the hard and painful way that he’s very much the way a fly eats. His teeth are now useless because although he can chew up solid food, he can’t digest it. Solid food hurts. So like a fly, a brindle fly breaks down solids with a corrosive enzyme, playfully called Todd drop. He regurgitates on his Todd, it liquefies and then he sucks it back up. Ready for demonstration kids? 

Craig:  Oh, so nasty. 

Todd:  And of course, we don’t see it. The camera slowly pans away from the television while this is playing, and it it is a great little transition, but it it turns out that it’s again the the boss who’s watching this. And you just see his face go. Oh. 

Craig:  Yeah. And and meanwhile, Veronica comes into the apartment, and she, goes directly to the bathroom and and Stathis, the boss, follows her in there. And plot twist, she’s pregnant. And then we get a great scene, where, it seems like she’s she’s going immediately in for an abortion, but she she goes in and, it it and I think that actually David Cronenberg, the director, plays the gynecologist in this scene. She, like, it seems like she’s there for an abortion, but then all of a sudden, the the gynecologist is is like, You’re gonna have to help. You’re gonna have to push. And so she starts pushing, and then we just see her face and she starts screaming, And then it goes back to the gynecologist who’s holding this giant maggot. And you realize, of course, that it’s a dream, but it’s a really I remembered that it was a dream.   But I imagine people seeing it for the first time, it would be quite a shock. And you know, we talk about dark humor. Frankly, as I was sitting here watching it, I didn’t really, you know, there are a couple of moments where it was somewhat humorous, but it’s so dark, and so sad and so terrifying. Even in that moment where, you know, the the gynecologist delivers this big writhing maggot, You know, in hindsight talking about it, it’s funny, but in the moment, it’s it’s horrifying. I mean, it really is a nightmare and and you really get the sense that she is terrified at the prospect of what this baby could be. And I think that that says a lot about how well they balanced, you know, this dark humor with, the actual nightmarish feel to it. Because in the moment, I was really kind of feeling the shock and horror that I think her character was feeling. It is really effective. 

Todd:  And I think following that scene, she wakes up and she ends up going back to his apartment. She keeps going back to his apartment. Yeah. And she’s going to confront him about the baby, and it’s hard for her. And this, again, super poignant scene when he comes out, and he’s, again, kind of in good spirits, but she’s trying to speak with him, and she’s just breaking down into tears. And finally, he says what I think is one of the most sad lines in the whole movie. 

Clip:  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 alive. No. Except I’m saying, I’ll hurt you this day. 

Todd:  Oh, my gosh, man. That that’s just so sad. 

Simone:  Yeah. He’s kind of putting in that he has these these kind of primal instincts now and and that less and less of human Brundle is there and it’s it’s more truly Brundlefly. And it is. It’s really heartbreaking. And that’s when Veronica goes out and back to her car, where Stathis had had driven her over there. And she says I I couldn’t do it, but I want and she kept on saying I want it out of me. I want it out of my body. And that is really gut wrenching to watch too because you can see her heartbreak in in seeing Seth deteriorate and turning from a man that maybe not necessarily that she loved, but obviously had started to grow very deep feelings for and a connection with and and to think, okay.   Maybe if I if I have this baby then there’s a part of him there but she’s still so terrified that it it could be this maggot creature 

Clip:  Yeah. 

Simone:  That’s inside of her, and I want it out of me. I want it out of my body. 

Craig:  We’ve already seen that the reason that he says that he’s dangerous is because he’s been messing around with the computer, and he’s been trying to figure out ways that he can minimize the amount of fly in him. And what he has figured out or what he’s decided to do is that, he can fuse more people or splice another human into him and so the, percentage, I guess, or ratio of human to fly will diminish. And that’s why, he tells her that he’s a danger to her. But he also overhears, he’s watching from the roof as he overhears, Veronica telling Stathis that she wants this thing out of her. And so when they go to the abortion clinic, I guess he follows them and and at one point Veronica’s alone in the abortion clinic and there’s this huge glass wall, and and here comes Seth, the fly. He just busts through the wall, and he takes her out. And he takes her back to his place, and he says, I I can’t believe you want to kill the baby. He says, The baby may be all that’s left of the real me.   And again, it’s another one of those kind of heart wrenching lines where he says, Please don’t kill me. Like, you know, if that’s all that may remain of what I was, you know, it’s just kind of heartbreaking to him that she might kill that, terminate it. She’s upset and and and kind of protesting, and he eventually says, We can now be the ultimate family. His plan is that he’ll he now has 3 telepods, 2 that will then go into 1. So he wants to put her in 1 and he’ll go in the other and he says, We’ll be the ultimate family. 3 in 1. He drags her and and puts her into one of the pods. As he’s doing that, she kind of swats at his face, and and his whole bottom jaw, falls off.   And it’s in this moment where we get the final transformation. I mean, his whole outer body that we’ve been accustomed to just kind of falls away to reveal this this fly monster. It doesn’t look exactly like a fly, and I guess that was intentional. Cronenberg didn’t want it to be just a big fly. He still wanted it to be some sort of combination of man and fly and that’s what we get. Gosh, the effects are just amazing. So he puts her in one and he goes, to get in, the other. And, that’s I mean, all of this really is is the climax of the film. 

Todd:  Statham had had come over as well, and he had been incapacitated in a pretty gross scene. Ugh. He got really 19 fifties sci fi, well, except for all the gore here. I even noticed that the score seemed to change. It seemed to be way more like, again, almost a nod to the original, that style of music. The score done by James, Howard Shore. Right? 

Simone:  Yeah. 

Todd:  I always get him and James Horner confused. But, yeah. And, and he had been incapacitated. But, in as Brundlefly is, setting all this up, he comes back too, and has a shotgun that he aims at the door of the Brundlefly’s teleporter. And he shoots the door open. And, he also shoots the with his other shot, the the cable that connected it with hers. So he’s able to go and unlock hers, and then you see the computer screen saying fusion of Brundlefly and transporter pod complete. 

Clip:  And I don’t know about you, but 

Todd:  I’m just like, okay, I cannot wait to see what this is. And, and sure enough, like, it’s just and this is, again, just so how you can find such touching moment in this absolutely horrifying special effects extravaganza. The machine opens, and Brundlefly has fused with this teleporter in all kinds of weird ways, and he’s just crawling across the floor towards her. And she stands up, and has her gun with her. It’s like she knows what she needs to do to put him out of his misery, but even then she can’t bring herself to do it. Even as he uses this Claw. To, like, raise it to his head, like, this is okay. This is what I want.   It takes her a while before she’s finally able to blow his head off. And then Cronenberg spares us no side. 

Simone:  No follow-up. 

Todd:  Yeah. I mean, we totally get to see his head fly open. Oh. Yeah. And then that’s it. You’re right. Fade to black and credits. 

Simone:  You know what I was almost kind of hoping for was, when you see kind of action shots like that, how they’ll do it from, like, 6 different angles and each angle gets, like, slower and slower. So like, like, chunks flying everywhere. I almost expected it to be to to to be like that. But, yeah, I mean, that the movie starts abruptly and ends abruptly. So we kind of get this sense of, like, well, what’s Veronica gonna do? What’s what’s 

Todd:  have the baby. 

Simone:  Yeah. Fly number 2. Fly number 2. 

Todd:  That’s right. And I guess they played around quite a bit with the ending. Mhmm. You know, test audiences saw this, they had a different end they had probably 3 or 4 different endings including another couple scenes in there that they ended up cutting. Craig Dad, have you seen any of those other endings or heard anything about? 

Craig:  I’ve read about them. I I I know that there were a couple of scenes, well, there was one scene that was shot that they had in the original cut, but it didn’t test well with audiences. There was a scene where, once he realized what had happened, that he had been fused with a a fly, He, I guess Todd an experiment where he took the remaining baboon and a cat and fused them together. And what came out, of course, was absolutely monstrous. And so he beat it to death, with like a lead pipe. And audiences just responded really badly to that scene. 

Clip:  I guess they were 

Craig:  like, you know, once you they’re lead even if it’s just, you know, this monster, you kind of lose all empathy, for the guy and and the movie’s kind of over at that point. So they cut that out. There was also a scene, that was meant to follow that that they never even filmed, where he killed, a homeless lady, I think, in the street who had kind of caught him doing something in a dumpster. And then the the the endings, I don’t know if I’m gonna remember them all correctly, there I know that there was one ending where she woke up with, Stathis, and it was implied that they were together. And in fact, Stathis even said, You don’t have to worry, we figured it out, the baby’s mine. So it wasn’t even his baby. Yeah. And and Jeff Gold Jeff Goldblum hated, hated that ending and was insulted that they even filmed that.   And then I guess there were was another ending where she I I don’t remember if it was another dream or if it was supposed to be the actual deal, but where she gave birth again, her baby was born and it had beautiful butterfly wings. 

Todd:  Yeah. It flew off into the sky. Right? 

Craig:  Right. 

Todd:  That would be very strange. 

Craig:  It would be very strange. I’m glad that they went with the ending because like Simone said, I mean, it begins abruptly and it ends abruptly and it is tragic. I mean, Gena Davis, oh man, her performance here where where he clearly wants her to shoot him, but she just struggles with it so much and she’s weeping, and saying that she doesn’t wanna do it, but eventually she does. And that’s that’s just where it ends. I think that it’s a great ending. They they did make a sequel. Have have you guys seen the Fly 2? 

Simone:  No. Oh, no. I didn’t know there was a Fly 2. 

Todd:  Oh, yeah. 

Craig:  Oh, my gosh, guys. You have to watch it. 

Simone:  Goble in it. I’m not interested. 

Craig:  Oh, he isn’t it. He isn’t it. Be there because they they, use footage of his interviews with Geena Davis from the first movie. Now I don’t know if it’s all repeat stuff or if they used additional footage that they filmed, I don’t remember, but he does cameo in it on video. It could just be because I have fond memories of watching it when I was a kid because I know that I saw The Fly at some point, but they used to play The Fly 2 on TV all the time, and I fell in love with it. I love that movie. I’m sure that it’s not as as high quality as the first one, but I think it’s fantastic. And it opens up with Veronica.   Geena Davis chose not to reprise her role because they kill her off in the first scene. She gives birth, to this baby, but she dies in birth. And then it follows, the life of this young kid. And it’s so good. You guys, I can’t believe you haven’t seen it. You have to watch it. I love that movie. 

Todd:  We should do that one. That that sounds interesting. No. I know that there was a sequel. I just imagined it was terrible. 

Craig:  Maybe it maybe it is. Maybe I’m looking at it through rose colored glasses, but I just remember really, really liking it. And it’s got good people in it. Gosh, I’m sitting here trying to think of his name. What’s the the the guy from the eighties, the redhead kid who was in Mask, the the lead kid in Mask, you know what I’m talking about? 

Todd:  Yeah. I don’t remember his name. I know what you’re talking about. 

Craig:  I can’t think of his he’s the lead. He’s the lead, and then, his love interest in the movie is the girl who was princess Vespa from, Spaceballs. 

Todd:  Spaceballs. Oh, yeah. That that 

Craig:  sounds really goofy, but it but it it it’s similar to this. It’s similar to the the first movie. I mean, it’s serious. It’s it’s not, goofy at all. Oh, yeah, guys. You gotta watch it. You you guys should watch it together, over there. 

Todd:  This movie’s great. It’s so well done. It it does have kind of a dreamlike feel, and that’s the one thing I do remember. I did remember it being an intimate movie. In fact, Craig, I actually remembered it as being a movie with only 2 characters in it. Like, in my mind, in my memory, I completely wrote off, the the boss character. I really did. I thought this was just the 2 of these people.   And it’s filmed in that, that orange and blue tone. I mean, most of the movie takes place at night, and it’s all this orange and blue. It looks so Yeah. Now it looks so tired, but it it Todd does add of a dreamlike look to it. Even his apartment at times seems smoky, and kind of dreamlike. 

Clip:  Mhmm. 

Todd:  And that was an interesting choice. And I do also like the way that it plays a little bit with, like you kind of alluded Todd, Simone, earlier the trope of the dashing man, of coming in and saving the day. Yeah. He’s not very dashing. And he doesn’t No. Really save the day. Although, like you said, he does well, I mean, he does kind of save the day. I mean, she ultimately pulls the final trigger and puts an end to it, but he’s the one who saves her.   But at the end of the day, you don’t imagine they’re gonna end up together. You know? 

Simone:  Yeah. You don’t think that after 

Clip:  all of this ends, they’ll look at each other and be like, well, we went through this ordeal together. I guess we got his tape together. Yeah. He’s still 

Todd:  a snazeball, but 

Simone:  he kinda 

Todd:  did it. Plus, he doesn’t have a hand or a foot in any 

Craig:  way too. 

Simone:  So that’s Yeah. He’s got enzymes out. 

Todd:  Do you have any final thoughts, Simone? 

Simone:  No. But it was such a pleasure to to watch this again and, you know, again, I feel like in the last time we recorded talking about Final Destination, I’m I sound like such a heartthrob, like, teenage heartthrob young girl. Like, oh, Kevin Sock. Oh, Jeff Goldblum. Like, I don’t just like movies for, like, attractive lead male characters. 

Todd:  It just so happened. Well, we picked this one knowing that your with your Jeff Blue, Goldblum obsession. 

Craig:  My final thought, Todd, would be going back to what you said was, you know, about how intimate this was. The whole time I’m watching this, I’m thinking, Why isn’t this a play? You know, why, why hasn’t somebody put this on stage? Because it is so intimate. Of course you would have to have, you know, some great makeup artist or some trickery of, special effects or something, but, I just feel like it would work so well on stage. I guess at some point, somebody did turn it into an opera, and, David Cronenberg actually directed it, on stage. I have no idea, you know, I’ve not seen any of it, I have no idea what it was like, but, there has been at least one incarnation of it on set pieces, I just think that this is ripe for a stage, adaptation, and I would be first in line to 

Clip:  see it. 

Todd:  Interesting. Well, you know, it it has a great pedigree. If you haven’t seen the 19 fifties version, it is well worth a watch. It is not what you would think. It’s it’s, again, a very tragic story, and Vincent Price is in it. Hey. He doesn’t play the the scientist, but he plays a friend who comes in, and his job is really comforting the wife and trying to help figure out what’s going on with the friend. It’s just a well acted movie, and it really tugs at your emotional heartstrings in many way of the ways that this movie does, which is quite a feat for what looks on its face to be just a cheesy, you know, kind of weird, fifties sci fi movie.   It’s got some real heart and and message to it that this movie clearly picked up in spades and just ran with. 

Craig:  I just read yesterday that, the remake is in the works. Fox, the Todd, I think the studio who did this one, is, they’ve hired a director. They’re working on it. They’re working on a script, so we may see a remake here in the next few years. 

Todd:  Well, pretty soon, everything that we know and love is gonna have a second version for us. 

Simone:  That’s very true. 

Todd:  Yep. Well, thank you again for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast, please share it with a friend. You can find us on iTunes and on Google Play, on Stitcher, and as well as our home on Facebook. You can like us there, share us, and let us know what you thought of this episode, as well as any future movies you’d like to see us review. Until that time, I’m Todd. I’m Craig. 

Simone:  I’m Simone. 

Todd:  With 2 guys, a woman, and a Chainsaw.