40 Years Ago Today: One Of The Greatest Sci-Fi Horror Movies Of All Time Was Released

"The Fly" began its life as a short story by George Langelaan, first published in a 1957 issue of Playboy Magazine. The story was about a woman named Hélène who is committed to a mental asylum after killing her husband, André. In a note, Hélène confesses to her brother-in-law that André had been experimenting with a new type of teleportation pod. When André climbed into the teleportation pod to test it, a housefly flew in with him, and he rematerialized with his head and arm replaced by a fly head and arm. The fly, meanwhile, had a human head and arm ... and it has gone missing. Hélène crushed the fly parts of her husband in a hydraulic press, by his explicit request. 

"The Fly" was adapted into a celebrated feature film in 1958, directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Vincent Price as the brother-in-law character. Hélène was played by Patricia Owens and David Hedison played André. The fly makeup in "The Fly" is first-rate, and the film is genuinely scary. Many horror movie fans recall the scene wherein the human-headed fly is discovered in a spider web yelling, in a tiny voice, "Help me!"

"The Fly" was a hit, and warranted a pair of sequels that no one remembers. "The Return of the Fly" came out in 1959, and "Curse of the Fly" came in 1965. 

40 years ago today, though, the remake of "The Fly" hit theaters, and it left a mark perhaps even deeper than the original short story or the 1958 feature film. Canadian director David Cronenberg reimagined "The Fly" as a slow-moving body-horror tragedy about a man slowly losing his life to a creeping, uncontrolled disease-like mutation. 

David Cronenberg has been very frank about what he was trying to do with the remake of "The Fly." On the film's DVD commentary track, Cronenberg addressed the rumors that "The Fly" was about watching someone else slowly succumbing to the effects of AIDS. Cronenberg noted that, more universally, it's about the effects of aging and the slow onslaught of inevitable death. 

In "The Fly," Jeff Goldblum plays Seth Brundle, a scientist who, like in the original story, is developing a pod-based teleportation system. The teleporter doesn't work very well, as it tends to turn living things inside out. While working on his teleporter, he meets and romances Ronnie (Geena Davis), and she gets to witness Seth as he struggles to have a breakthrough. When he tests the pod on himself, a fly once again gets into the pod with him, and the machine kind of splices their DNA together.

Unlike in the original story, Seth emerges from the pod in his full human form, and assumes it was a success. In the weeks that follow, though, Seth begins to notice weird, horrifying changes in his body. At first, he just becomes hyperaware and strong, and weird dark hairs grow out of his body. Before long, his skin begins to crust over with a yucky, scab-like substance. He begins to lose his hair, then his teeth. He vomits on his food before eating it. Ronnie is terrified of Seth's changes, but assume he's merely sick with some strange disease. 

Even after Seth pieces together that he has been spliced with a fly, he is scared more than relieved. Eventually, though, his mind begins to leave him.

Seth has a moment when he fancies himself a new breed of insect politician. Insects have no politics. They have no compassion. They are driven by brutality.

The film climaxes with Seth trying to force Ronnie into a telepod in order to splice his fly self with Ronnie and their unborn child. This leads to a final transformation sequence that is one of the most terrifying and disgusting in cinema history. Pieces of Seth fall to the floor in wet, pus-coated strips, his head changes shape, and he begins to look like a giant, gooey housefly. No one will be able to watch the final transformation sequence without being marked. It's one of the best, scariest scenes in a stirring, deeply emotional horror movie. 

"Thy Fly" won an Academy Award for its makeup effects, pioneered by Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis. Walas, incidentally, went on to direct the less interesting sequel film "The Fly II" in 1989. "The Fly II" isn't as moving as "The Fly," but it certainly ups the grossness quotient. It's one of the most disgusting movies you will ever see. 

While many recall the horror and bodily ickiness of "The Fly," I have trouble thinking of it without recalling its overwhelming sense of sadness and anxiety. Seth Brundle's transformation is horrifying, and Ronnie is startled each time he loses an ear or pukes on a donut, but really, when seen from Ronnie's perspective, she is merely watching a loved one waste away to some unknown ailment. Also, Ronnie and Seth slept together after they teleported, impregnating Ronnie, so now she worries if she or her unborn child perhaps contracted something. "The Fly" is about worry, hurt, inescapable mortality, and fear. The terror is just a bonus.