Thursday, October 1, 2009

Month of Horror - Day One: THE FLY

"When I was a little kid, I puked on my tricycle."

Did you know that Jeff Goldblum isn't in Armageddon? He's in Jurassic Park and ID4 but he's not among the 900 actors in Armageddon. This became evidently clear last night...when I watched Armageddon.

This heartbreaking realization served as inspiration for tonight's screening. We're kicking things off with David Cronenberg's The Fly. For those who haven't seen it, it might look like your typical My Boyfriend's Turning into an Insect movie. But for those in the know, it's so much more.

Cronenberg is famous for showing us just how horrific our bodies really are. Remember when James Woods hid that handgun in his stomach? Or anything The Brood taught us about pregnancy? In The Fly, the human body (as disgusting as it is) combines with my friend Taylor's favorite bug, the common housefly. Sure, it all sounds like fun and games at first. But eventually, you have to ask yourself, was the marathon sex with Geena Davis worth losing your teeth and getting really bad skin? Only you can make that decision for yourself. I can't help you.
Wondering if this movie's for you? Allow me to convince you.


In The Fly, Jeff Goldbum perform a series of gymnastic feats.


He also beats up a wall.



And arm wrestles hillbillies.

Did I mention that he beats up a wall?


The special effects are incredible (incredible enough to earn The Fly's only Oscar), and without giving anything away, the last scene made me hop up and down in my chair due to it's high levels of awesomeness. Want to know how great this movie is? Half way through the movie, I logged on to Amazon and bought the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD. Still not convinced? When the film ended, we immediately started it over and watched it with David Cronenberg's commentary. I don't know if I've ever done that before.

What a great way to start out a 31 Days of Horror marathon!
You've still got time left, who's up for the challenge?

1 comment:

PIPER said...

This is a great movie. While watching District 9 and the transformation the main character went through, I couldn't help but want to yell out "seen it" about 100 times.

I think the scene that sticks out to me is the one you captured in your stills. It's when Goldblume hits the wall several times just to show Geena how much he's changed. It was frightening and a brilliant way to showcase how he was changing without him having to say so.