Hooptober Neun (2022) - Film #15
5 Films from David Cronenberg, Ti West, Bill Rebane, Charles B. Pierce, William Grefe and/or Joy N. Houck Jr. (David Cronenberg); films from 8 decades (1980s); 2 insect centered films

I’ve been keen to see this for a long time, and it did not disappoint. Goldblum is enrapturing, in all of his guises, and the premise is carried in large part by his acting choices throughout.

The effects here are also wonderful, from the physical, practical effects to the rudimentary computer visuals. For me, this is effects work at its peak, before CGI ruled the world. As the film went on, and the effects grew more outlandish, they got better and better. I found myself laughing when something particularly awesome happened, not due to it being funny, but just down to the audacity of the visual. Bravo.

I did feel that The Fly was slightly slow to get going, but ironically that the connection between Goldblum and Davis’ characters blossomed a little quickly. However, the film finds its ideal pace after a while, and both of the aforementioned characters are fleshed out nicely.

Whilst the film doesn’t rely on jump scares, there are a few moments that sneak up on you. I found these moments added a lot, and kept stuff fresh. They didn’t feel like cheap scares at all.

The Fly takes some of the tropes of classic ‘monsters’ and deploys them in new ways. There are elements of King Kong and The Phantom of the Opera contributing to this more modern classic.

An amazing film, built around the three pillars of Goldblum’s excellent performance, Cronenberg’s spectacular vision and direction and the effects team’s superlative work. See it if you haven’t.