El monstruo de los mil ojos

THE FLY was a fairly classy, atmospheric sci-fi movie with some horror overtones. It was fun and campy, but also somewhat disturbing in its depiction of a man losing his humanity, a theme which was explored more deeply in David Cronenberg's astonishing remake.

RETURN OF THE FLY is basically a cheap follow-up which is better than it should be. This is mostly due to the always reliable Vincent Price, who returns as the brother of the scientist who became the fly-monster in the original. Here, he desperately tries to sway his nephew from following in his father's footsteps.

The movie concentrates on the son's attempts to recreate his father's teleportation equipment with a hesitant Price helping out, then shifts gears as his other partner, a British ex-con, is discovered to be attempting to steal the research.

This leads to a few misadventures with the teleportation machine resulting in a man becoming a human guinea pig (literally), and ultimately the son becoming a fly-monster himself.

Shot in stark black and white (as opposed to the original's lush Technicolor), RETURN OF THE FLY has a sleazy, grindhouse quality to it. Whereas the original explored the horror of losing one's mind and physical being, this time it's basically just a "monster roaming the countryside" scenario, with any psychological or philisophical aspects thrown out the window in favor of cheap thrills. And while the make-up effects are somewhat improved upon, the ridiculous optical effect of the son's head on a fly's body is unintentionally funny.

Overall, however, it's entertaining enough, and above average for the B-horror movies of the era, though it may be disappointing for fans of the original.

Nice black & white follow-up to the colorful 1958's original. Philippe Delambre decides to continue his father's work, at the disapproval of his uncle François (an ever so great Vincent Price, reprising his role from the first film, this time having a lot more screen time). Inevitably, things go wrong again, but not the way one might expect they would. Actually, the subplot about betrayal and revenge is the one that drives this film and keeps it all interesting. And if you want to know what comes out of the second tele-pod when you throw a human and a hamster together in the first, then all you have to do is watch this sequel to know the answer. Decent classic horror entertainment. And a damn decent sequel to boot.

"The Return of the Fly" takes place many years after "The Fly". The dead scientist from the original film had a son, Philippe, and this young man has grown up and has a fixation of finishing his father's experiments...the same one that turned him into two fly/human hybrids. However, what he doesn't know is that his friend and lab assistant, Alan, is evil and plans on stealing the project. Ultimately, Alan deliberately turns Philippe into the hybrids and shoots Philippe's uncle (Vincent Price) as well!! What a jerk-face! Can they manage to find both fly-brids and reintegrate them back to the creatures they once were? And, can Alan be punished for his infamy?

Rarely would I say this, but this sequel is about equal in quality to the original film. Considering it came out only a year later, this isn't such a huge surprise. It also managed to be creative and original as well as entertaining. Well worth seeing...just like the prior film.

BRETT HALSEY is one of those handsome young actors from the '50s who never quite made it to stardom, and following the trend of other such actors, he fled to Europe where he found a niche for a decade or so in adventure films. He was certainly a competent enough actor and it's a shame Fox never groomed him for major stardom.

Nor did Fox have enough faith in this one to use technicolor (as they did for the original). As sequels go, it's just a fair job on an obviously shoestring budget--and basically, without giving any of the storyline away, it's a story of revenge.

It's all suitably photographed in low key B&W lighting that gives it the proper atmosphere. The performers are capable enough--including Halsey, Vincent Price, John Sutton and Dan Seymour--but their material is scarcely worthy of their combined talents. Fans of this sort of science fiction will no doubt find it has a certain amount of interest.

Anyone who enjoyed "The Fly" will want to see this and probably not be too critical of the shortcomings--although the special effects are not quite as harrowing as they could be.

Summing up: Okay for a viewing, but not likely to be the kind of horror flick anyone will want to revisit.

"Return of the Fly" doesn't look as slick as its' predecessor, but it has something going for it that the first didn't: a better story and execution.

The film stars Vincent Price, reprising his role from the original. The basic plot is that the son of the scientist decides to carry on with his old man's experiments. The title pretty much gives away what's going to happen.

Or does it? One of the joys of "Return of the Fly" is that it's not a retread of the original film. It's a continuation that takes many unexpected twists and turns to its' (predictable) finale. The script, by 3 Stooges vet Edward L. Bernds (who also directed)also has large doses of black comedy in addition to the horror and drama. It also gives us characters we care about while the original had a scientific detachment to the characters. The result: a film that somehow manages to top the original.

One negative: if the original was in color, why is this in black and white?

**** out of 4 stars