Tag Line : Be afraid...Be very afraid.

This reworking of the original 1958 sci-fi/horror pic by director David Cronenberg certainly raised a few eyebrows when released back in the mid-80's. Partly because of the devastating special effects and partly because of the phenomenal amount of gore present.

The story centres around a typical eccentric scientist type named Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), who happens to have invented a revolutionary new form of transport. Seth's invention is none other than a matter transporter, and so one evening tries to impress an attractive young female reporter named Veronica Quaife (Gena Davis) by showing her a working demo.

Veronica is so impressed she subsequently agrees to help him on the project and document his research. However, the day comes when Seth decides to try and transport himself through the machine. All seems well and he is successfully transported from one pod to the next without any ill effects, or so it seems.

At first he feels fine, but after a while he starts to undergo a hideous transformation. Thick wirey hairs appear on him, his body structure begins to mutate, skin starts to peel and finally parts begin to drop off him in the most gruesome of fashions (the scene where his ear drops off is particularly memorable). After running a series of tests to see what went wrong, he discovers that a fly got into the transport pod with him and the computer accidentally merged them together during the transport process.

Matters are further complicated when Veronica finds out she is pregnant by Seth. Will she give birth to a mutant baby or a giant maggot, and how long will it be before Seth starts behaving like other fly's, and developing a taste for dog excrement? Can Veronica's ex-boyfriend (John Getz) find a fly swat big enough to deal with him, or will his shotgun be up to the job?

If you want to know the answers, you'll just have to check the film out for yourself. Some of the special effects are excellent and gross, particularly the scenes where parts of his body start dropping off in gruesome detail and when he vomits stomach acid on his food to digest it.

Overall Marks : 6/10

Other Information.

• Alternate tag lines used. "Half Man, Half Insect...Total terror". "Something went wrong in the lab today...Something very wrong...".

• Director David Cronenberg gained cult status in the horror world following the release of his 1975 movie "Shivers". He has also directed the popular horror pics "Scanners", "Videodrome" and the Steven King adaptation "The Dead Zone". He has also dabbled with other controversial pics such as "Dead Ringers" and "Crash".

• The film was originally intended as being a project for Tim Burton. When he passed, they hired Robert Bierman, but he had to pull out at the last moment due to a death in the family. The film was then offered to David Cronenberg, who was able to accept as he had just backed out of Total Recall.

• Believe it or not, comedy writer/actor Mel Brooks co-financed the film and was responsible for convincing the studio directors to hire David Cronenberg when the original director backed out.

• This film was responsible for making Jeff Goldblum a familiar face in the film world. His first appearance was as one of the street punks in the Charles Bronson film "Death Wish". He has starred in over 60 films to date, most notably the sci-fi pic "Independence Day" and his most popular role as Dr Malcolm in the dinosaur films "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World".

• Michael Keaton was originally offered the role of Seth, but he declined.

• Geena Davis actually married co-star Jeff Goldblum a year after the films release, but their marriage only lasted 3 years. Her first feature film appearance was the Dustin Hoffman comedy "Tootsie", her other credits include "A League of their own", "Beetlejuice", "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and most notably "Thelma and Louise".

• The doctor holding the giant maggot during the 'nightmare' scene was played by director David Cronenberg.

• The music was composed by Howard Shore who also scored the Cronenberg films "Scanners", "The Brood", "Videodrome", "Dead Ringers", "Naked Lunch", "Crash" and "Existenz". He has also scored music for the films "Silence of the Lambs", "Se7en", "Dogma" and the unforgettable "Ed Wood" by Tim Burton.

Cast & Crew.

Buy the UK DVD

Buy the UK DVD box set (7 discs).

Buy the original Pt 1&2 UK DVD (Double-bill).

Buy the original Pt3 UK DVD

Buy the US DVD (Double-bill).

Buy the original Pt 1&2 US DVD (Double-bill).

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