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The Fly (1958) - Kurt Neumann


1950's era monster movies rule. Whenever I watch one I imagine myself going to the Drive-In movies on a Saturday night with my best girl so she can have an excuse to play overly distressed damsel and hold on to my arm during the scary parts, and so I can play tough guy flex that shit out. Most horror movie producers of the era probably realized their films were just part of a teenage mating routine and so the horror flicks of that time usually ended up being forgetful B-Movies with a stupid monster in a bad costume performing to the minimalist of horror movie standards. This movie was very different. I can't even go as far as to say that this movie has a bad guy...well, maybe Vincent Price swooping in on his brother's wife in the end of the movie, but that is another kind of bad guy.

This film is far less frightening than its 1980's remake. The movie deals with a scientist who isn't mad or anything cliche like that, however, he discovers a technology to teleport matter from one location to another, and problems arises when the scientist attempts to teleport himself. He teleports successfully at first, however then on his second try he is horrifically disfigured when a fly makes its way into the teleportation pod while it is activated.

The movie does a great job of maintaining an atmosphere of suspense the entire time as the movie is well acted and the plot is pretty well planned out. I was pretty relived when I watched this movie and didn't see a guy in a bad costume with a visible zipper.

The ending of the movie is legitimately frightening and I can't seem to get the voice at the end of the film out of my head. It gives me the willy's. The movie does a great job with using sound to intensify the scares and peaks at incredibly high levels. This same technique is used in more modern movies like Aliens. The dialog is low, but still audible, and then when something exciting occurs it gets incredibly loud. This sort of made me jump even when the situation wasn't even particularly scary. Good technique.

This movie is timeless and fun to watch, hell its a classic. I would suggest that you make a big bowl of popcorn and watch this movie as it is a good stepping stone for horrorphiles out there who want to ease themselves into older horror movies. I am going to give The Fly a 7 out of 10.

HELP ME!!!
  • The director died two weeks into the general release of the film. He never got to see it become the success that it was. 
  • Filmed in Los Angeles, CA.
  • This movie was remade in 1986 by David Cronenberg

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