The Fly

Hooptober 12 — 11/35 Beautifully disgusting. This is body horror at its most tragic. Cronenberg takes what easily could’ve been a stupid creature feature and injects it with mass amounts of humanity. Jeff Goldblum is magnificent in this, and you really feel every once of pain that his character endures. Geena Davis also manages to bring this together, and she fills the story with sincerity that makes the descent feel anything but poor. But my God, the effects were incredible. They still hold up in the most stomach churning way, and the prosthetics look life-like. Goldblum’s transformation is both disturbing and disgusting, and we get to see him fall apart slowly, piece by piece. It’s not always perfect, as the pacing dips in and out at times, and sometimes the dialogue can dip into more of a melodrama. But when this movie soars, it soars, and it’s so rare for a film to be this disgusting to watch but also so moving.