The Fly

David Cronenberg directs the story of Seth Brundle, a scientist who tests his teleportation pods on himself with a housefly in the chamber, merging two sets of molecules. The journalist Veronica Quaife witnesses his brief improvement and his long collapse. Who carries the transformation changes as the film goes on, and that reshapes the second half. The early stages are prosthetics worn by Jeff Goldblum: facial pieces, false teeth, a contact lens that enlarges one eye. Later stages move to a full body foam latex suit. The final Brundlefly is no actor at all but a full scale puppet built by Chris Walas, Inc. and worked from under the laboratory stage. About 80 percent of the action plays on one laboratory set designed by Carol Spier. A revolving 28 foot steel culvert cylinder, roughly 8.5 metres, was built for the shots where Brundle climbs the walls and ceiling. A monkey cat sequence was cut after a Toronto preview. Cronenberg has said the film is a metaphor for ageing rather than about AIDS. Walas and Stephan Dupuis won the makeup Oscar. A good fit if you accept half a horror film given to two people talking in one laboratory. Not for you if nails, teeth and skin coming away in close up are too much.