The Fly

"Be afraid. Be very afraid."

1986 1h 36m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 5,190

HorrorScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When brilliant, eccentric scientist Seth Brundle makes a huge technological breakthrough in teleportation, he decides to test it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a common housefly manages to get inside the device and the two become one.

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

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Cast

Jeff Goldblum
Seth Brundle
Geena Davis
Veronica Quaife
John Getz
Stathis Borans
Joy Boushel
Tawny
Leslie Carlson
Dr. Cheevers
George Chuvalo
Marky
Michael Copeman
2nd Man in Bar
David Cronenberg
Gynecologist

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: David Cronenberg
Writers: David Cronenberg, Charles Edward Pogue, George Langelaan
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

40 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Fly (1986) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by David Cronenberg, shot by Mark Irwin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Howard Shore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ronald Sanders shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis and John Getz carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Be afraid. Be very afraid.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

David Cronenberg directs. Mark Irwin behind the camera. Howard Shore scores. Ronald Sanders cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.0× over at the box office.
240 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "The Fly (1986) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by David Cronenberg, shot by Mark Irwin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Howard Shore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Ronald Sanders shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis and John Getz carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Be afraid. Be very afraid.".
9IMDB entry: tt0091064 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 23 themes, including "monster", "experiment", "mutation", "toronto, canada".
11Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Mark Irwin
Original score: Howard Shore
Editing: Ronald Sanders
Production design: Carol Spier
Costume design: Denise Cronenberg
Makeup / hair: Shonagh Jabour
VFX supervisor: Lee Wilson
Sound: Gerry Humphreys
Stunt coordinator: Dwayne McLean
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $60,629,159
Return: 404% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Fly (1986)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

The Fly (1986) Collection

The Fly is a 1986 American science-fiction body horror film directed and co-written by David Cronenberg. Produced by Brooksfilms and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis and John Getz. Loosely based on George Langelaan's 1957 short story of the same name and the 1958 film, The Fly tells of an eccentric scientist who, after one of his experiments goes wrong, slowly turns into a fly-hybrid creature. The score was composed by Howard Shore and the make-up effects were created by Chris Walas, along with makeup artist Stephan Dupuis. The Fly was released on August 15, 1986, to massive acclaim by critics and audiences, with praise mainly regarding the special effects and Goldblum's performance. It grossed $60.6 million at the box office against its nine-million-dollar budget, becoming the largest commercial success of Cronenberg's career. A sequel, directed by Walas, was released in 1989.

Also by

David Cronenberg

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-12-03
★ 6/10
Slowly turning into a monster, aka slowly succumbing to age An eccentric scientist living in a warehouse laboratory in a big city in the Northeast (Jeff Goldblum) discovers how to teleport objects, which draws the attention of a journalist (Geena Davis). Everything is going fine until he foolishly uses his invention on himself and a pesky fly inadvertently teleports with him. John Getz is on hand as the woman’s editor while Joy Boushel has a notable small role as Tawny. "The Fly" (1986) has a lot of devotees presumably because of director/writer David Cronenberg, but I found it less effective compared to the 1958 version with Vincent Price. Despite the gory state-of-the-art effects, it’s just not as compelling or horrifying (especially that final scene in the original). The one-dimensional locations are also a turn-off: Excluding the great bar scene the whole movie takes place in a grungy lab or a swank office building. The cast trilogy is exceptionally tall. While Goldblum (6’4½”) is serviceable and gives it his all, he’s not leading man material, although he’s fine in secondary roles. And I was never big on Davis, but she’s a’right I guess. At least the two absolutely look & act like they were meant for each other. In its favor, the movie is a metaphor for how aging & disease slowly destroys the body. Despite the sickening visuals, it’s heartbreaking and tragic, which you might not expect in a sci-fi flick about a guy who morphs into a fly. It thankfully avoids the rut of camp and melodrama. The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in Toronto with studio work done in nearby Kleinburg. GRADE: B-/C+
CinemaSerf2022-07-08
★ 7/10
Nobody could ever call Jeff Goldbum a versatile actor, but here he is very much in his element as "Brundle". A madcap scientist, he dreams of being able to teleport things just like Willy Wonka does in 1971. He is almost as keen on journalist "Veronica" (Geena Davis) and so offers her exclusive access to follow and film his research. That all goes remarkably well - first a scarf, then more animated objects before, finally, himself. Snag is - well a fly just happened to sneak into the pod before the transferal and next thing he and his new dipteral cousin start a journey to the symbiotic relationship from Hell. He can crawl on the ceiling; fly and most impressively - dissolve his victims in his own vomit! David Cronenberg is having great fun with this as is Goldblum. The dialogue is entertaining and there is the most bizarre degree of chemistry between him and Davis who turns in one of her career defining performances. The visual and make-up effects - especially towards the end - offer a fitting denouement to this gory and frequently amusing sci-fi horror film that is nearly, but not quite, as good as the version from 1958. Certainly worth watching on a big screen if you can - somehow it just looks so much better there.
GenerationofSwine2023-11-08
★ 10/10
What was his electric bill and how did he not blow out every fuse in his building? Telepods must suck up a lot of juice. Anyway, it's fun. It is the typical 80s flick, with a plot that takes all of 5 minutes to get rolling and a cast that was talented and still cheap enough to throw in a sci-fi horror flick. But, you know, it's also mindless fun, it's not exactly deep, it's about science, and about the dangers of it, that never really manages to actually examine the dangers of science in any significant way... it's more along the lines of Kafka's Metamorphosis, which has already been examined. But it doesn't matter, because you are watching it for mindless entertainment.