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Oops! The two life forms have fused. "I'm the offspring of Brundle and housefly," he notes ruefully. "I'm becoming Brundlefly!" And as his grotesque flyness asserts itself, his humanity struggles to understand and fight the metamorphosis. What remains of Seth the scientist is all too aware of the monster he is turning into: an efficient killer with "no compassion, no compromise." At times he can be wildly ironic, as when he meticulously preserves in his bathroom the teeth, fingernails and ear that have molted, and then jokes that "the medicine cabinet's now the Brundle Museum of Natural History." At other moments he can lurch from irony to insanity to Kafkaesque insight. "I'm an insect who dreamed he was a man, and loved it." "Help me," he tells Veronica. "Help me be human." Alas, she has her own problem. She is pregnant -- but with Seth's child or Brundlefly's?
Director Cronenberg (The Brood, The Dead Zone) tells this story with no compromise but plenty of intelligent compassion. In the film's first half, the edgy romantic comedy is beguiling, especially as played by Goldblum and Davis, two deft charmers who inhabit their roles as if they have comfortably lived there forever. The Faustian tragedy of the second half is underscored by some revolting and riveting special effects. Watch closely for Brundlefly's agile wall climbing. Close your eyes during the hallucinatory sequence in which Cronenberg, as an obstetrician, helps Veronica give birth to a 20-in.-long bouncing baby maggot. And be alerted that this insect consumes food by spewing formic acid on its prey; it makes for a very messy lunch.
There is a method to Cronenberg's shock tactics. Whereas Howard the Duck is an effects festival attached to a smirk, The Fly is smart and serious about its characters. Seth and Veronica could be any two people falling in love, eager for adventure but anxious about the changes and dark revelations that come with learning how little they know about their lovers. That nice guy lying next to you in bed, breathing in your rhythm, smiling in his sleep -- what demons sleep within him? And why does his snore sound like a gentle bzzzzz?