Monster Movie of the Week: The Fly II (1989)

THE FLY II (1989)

Director: Chris Walas

Genre: Body Horror

THE MOVIE

This is a movie that features about a dozen characters brutally killed, some in disgusting and graphic ways and yet it is most famous as “As that movie where that dog got mutilated,” which just goes to show you that in American movies you can do any horrible thing you want to people, but if you mess with our pets you better watch out. The Fly II is the sequel to the 1986 masterpiece The Fly. Director Chris Walas was the make-up director in the original movie and the focus for this sequel is on gore and creature work.

How did this dude come out of the union of Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis?

The movie picks up as Martin, the child of Seth Brundle and Veronica Quaife is born. Conveniently, Veronica dies in childbirth so that we only have a few shaky shots to see that we are dealing with a Geena Davis look-alike. A biogenetics corporation (the same one referenced in the original movie as having funded Brundle’s research) takes possession of the child and he is raised in a lab environment where he rapidly matures and displays a genius level of intelligence and capacity for science. One day he sneaks out of his area and comes across and lab where they are keeping a number of animals, including a dog, which he befriends. When he returns the next day the dog is being led to one of the teleporters from the first movie. The dog comes out of the machine horribly disfigured and aggressive. This traumatizes young Martin and he is told by his handlers that the dog had been euthanized.

Martin, looking like a guest star on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Soon after, Martin has reached physical maturity and strikes up a relationship with a woman who works at the company. Martin is also in charge of getting his father’s teleportation pods to work. One night while walking through the facility Martin discovers that his old dog is being kept alive for study and he puts the poor thing out of its misery in a scene that achieves real tragedy and is a little difficult to watch. Meanwhile, Martin begins going through the same kinds of changes that afflicted his father, eventually morphing into a human fly.

I would suggest throwing this mermaid back in the ocean..

The Fly II is far from a great movie but is an enjoyable exercise in horror and gore. That is if you can stomach the sad and disturbing dog subplot.

MONSTER/EFFECTS

This movie is more horror and gore oriented than the first and the effects are all quite nice. The idea behind the design of the new final Brundlefly is that the fly DNA is now better integrated into the monster so that he is less of a mutant and more of a new creature all together. He is faster and stronger than the final creature from the previous movie. In fact, he looks something like the titular opponent in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. Hm. Anyway, Brundlefly II is realized mostly using lots of makeup and rod puppet technology.

SEQUELS

None. Although there has been talk of another Fly remake in the pipeline, rumored to be directed by David Cronenberg himself.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

I’m not trying to be all Fangoria or anything but I’m a big fan of the scene where dude gets his head popped by a descending elevator. I mean it is just so over the top and unnecessary. A close second would be the also gratuitous scene where a guy gets his face melted off by fly vomit.

Stay classy, Chris Walas.

DVD AVAILABILITY

Available is a surprisingly thorough two-disc DVD set, featuring commentaries and documentaries and everything. WTF?

MINORITY REPORT

Unless I am very much mistaken there is no one of color in this movie at all. I mean, I’m sure it was filmed in Canada, but come on!

TRIVIA

Ironically, Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future before they recast the role with Michael J. Fox. In this movie he plays a character named Mary who turns into a fly. How weird is that?

TRAILER