2023 Blind Spot Series: The Fly (1958)

-

 

Synopsis: Helene (Patricia Owens) admits to her husband's (David Hedison) murder after a disastrous mistake happens in his lab.

The Fly is a film I was always familiar with by its VHS cover. I used to walk up and down the horror section at my local video store as a kid, and this was one that always stuck out. Because of the film's artwork, image my surprise when this wasn't a campy story about a dude accidentally turning himself into a fly.

I haven't seen the Cronenberg remake of this either, but I'll likely start it after I post this review. I was really expecting this to be more of a creature feature than a mystery and I'm not mad at what I got. At a quick 90 minutes, I was completely engaged with watching this mystery unravel. Owens has to do a lot of the heavy lifting acting wise. Unfortunately the supporting cast can be a bit rough, but she was delightful. 

Walter White's obsession with a fly contaminating his lab in an episode of Breaking Bad is now fully justified. (it always was, but now I get more context) I just dug this from start to finish. The only reason I'm not giving it an A is because the majority of the actors were pretty bad, even for 1950's standards.

Grade: B+

Comments

  1. thevoid99October 28, 2023 at 7:47 PM

    I've never seen the original film but the Cronenberg remake is an entirely different beast of a film as it served more as an allegory about AIDS at that time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 30, 2023 at 9:04 AM

      You probably saw on letterboxd, but I did catch the Cronenberg one now as well! So gross lol

      Delete
  2. joel65913October 29, 2023 at 5:45 PM

    Nice choice for Halloween month! I saw this years ago and appreciated it for what it was, drive-in fodder with a fun concept and a better than average cast for this sort of B movie. It was actually more sad than scary and I imagine it felt that way even when it came out in the days when "horror" was much more on the gentle disconcerting side than it is now.

    The remake with Jeff Goldblum is a completely other beast with much more vivid special effects though it retains that tinge of sadness. Both Jeff and Geena Davis give excellent performances in it (and married briefly after appearing together in the film).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 30, 2023 at 9:04 AM

      I caught the 80's versions as well and......ew. I definitely prefer the story of this version better.

      Delete
  3. ruthNovember 1, 2023 at 4:41 PM

    Wow I didn't even realize there was an earlier The Fly movie. I'm only familiar w/ Jeff Goldblum's one which was terrifying!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamNovember 2, 2023 at 9:42 AM

      This one is very different! I like it a lot more.

      Delete
  4. BirgitNovember 2, 2023 at 12:09 PM

    Poor Vincent Price and Herbert Marshall. I like these actors. The ending always freaks me out.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing Bobby, and the
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But
Read more