A Mosca da Cabeça Branca

The Fly is a movie I have just been dying to see, I have heard a lot about this movie, mainly the infamous "Help me! Help me!" scene. But of course the number one reason being that this is the original to the remake with Jeff Goldblum which is an incredible movie in itself, but I was curious what the original would be about. Honestly I was thinking that it was going to be very cheesy, it's a 1950's horror movie that would probably be over the top, but honestly, from the very beginning you get gore, which was odd, but sickly enough I love it! I am also a huge Vincent Price fan, this is the man of the classic B horror movies and his voice and presence make these movies worth the watch. So I finally got to see this on netflix, I absolutely loved The Fly. Is this better than the remake? Honestly, the remake is more realistic on what would happen if this really did occur, but don't overlook the original, as cheesy as a fly in a giant trench coat can be, it's all good and this story is tons of fun and really scary.

A woman named Helene Delembre phones her brother-in-law, Francois Delambre to tell him that she has just murdered her husband. Francois calls in the police and she admits killing him but refuses to say why. Later, Francois tricks her into telling the story to him and Police Inspector Charas. A scientist, Andre Delambre, has invented a teleportation device. After a few failed attempts, he succeeds with living organisms, deciding to go for the ultimate risk and transport himself. The first time works, but, unknown to him, a fly enters the cabin with him and the two are hopelessly scrambled together. The scientist emerges as a half-man, half-fly, a human with a fly's head, leg and arm/claw. His wife finds out something is wrong as she now sees him with a cloth over his head and a hidden arm. He eventually tells his wife what has happened and she first sees his claw and screams, then later sees his fly head and screams more. His wife, son and maid try to find the "fly with a white head" and fail. The son had caught it just after the accident but had been made to let it go, before any of them knew what it was. Andre attempts to reverse the process to return himself to normal, but fails and when he realizes that his mind is being overtaken by that of the fly he asks his wife to end his suffering by killing him with a heavy machine press.

The Fly is a fantastic and thrilling movie. I know that the ending sequence of "Help me! Help me!" was cheesy and over the top to some, but to me it was just plain creepy, it really scared me. The whole atmosphere of the film just felt uncomfortable and disturbing. Granted, I know these were not top of the line make up effects with the fly, I do have to laugh juts a little bit with seeing a fly in a trench coat. But still it was effective and made for a great sci-fi story. I love these old movies for a specific reason, this was the time when film meant something to the cast and crew making it and The Fly was made to give people the chills. It's just rare now-a-days, if this was made in today's world, it would be all gore and just stupid. So I do recommend that you see this film if you are looking for a good scare. Both this and the remake are terrific films and are a ton of fun to watch.

8/10

"The Fly" is one of the better giant insect movies of the 50s. It starts out with the discovery by a night watchman of the grisly killing of scientist Andre Delambre (Al Hedison aka David Hedison) apparently at the hands of his wife Helene (Patricia Owens). She calls Andre's brother Francois (Vincent Price) to tell him of the tragedy. Francois in turn, calls in Inspector Charas (Herbert Marshall) and together they question Helene to try to find out what happened.

In a flashback, we learn that Andre had been experimenting with transporting matter at light speed from one point to another. When he reached the stage of using a human in the tests, he had used himself. Unfortunately, when he transported himself, unbeknownst to him a common fly had been in the disintegrator with him. When they re-integrated things were not quite as they had been before. Of course no one really believes Helene's story until Francois and the Inspector are shown the unfortunate fly by Andre and Helene's son Philippe (Charles Herbert).

Director Kurt Neumann builds up the suspense by first letting us guess what has happened in the laboratory and then delaying the unmasking of Andre as long as possible. That scene reminded me of the unmasking of the Phantom in Lon Chaney's "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925). The wide screen is used to great effect in that scene when Helene first sees what has happened to her husband, and we then see multiple images of her, much in the way that we believe a fly would see it, screaming in terror.

The fly makeup was, I thought, quite convincing and who can ever forget the final scene when a spider is closing in on the title character (Help me, please...Help me..).

As a child in the theater I screamed and had bad dreams.... Then as a teenager I watched the "Fly" on TV and still Jumped back in fear at the sight of that horrible face! A few years later my friends and I watched it on TV again, but this time I turned down the sound at the scary scenes ( theorizing that the music was the cause of the fear) but even at low volume the haunting cries of "Help me...Help me" gave me the chills. A MUST SEE DF.

The "help me, help meeeee" scene revolted and scared me so much as a young child that it was years before I could see this movie again. Even now I cringe when I witness that nightmarish scene. As good as Cronenberg's movie is (and it is very good), there is nothing that surpasses the delirious horror of the man-fly in the spider's grasp.

Elsewhere, the movie is rather subdued. In some spots, almost too much so. Although the first revelation of The Fly's appearance is another classic spot...the multiple reflections was a great touch. Like all great monsters, the Fly has a very sympathetic edge to it. We are revolted by the horror of this monster but we feel overwhelming pity for him as well.

Vincent Price does a workman-like job in a rather blasé part. Usually he adds a special touch to a film, but really, any number of actors could have played his part here.

The scientific basis of this movie is pure rubbish, as there is no way that insect and human parts could biologically interact with each other. The result of such a mixture would be instantly dead in real life.

But that doesn't matter here. A nightmare has its own logic. And "The Fly" is a nightmare.

The Fly tells the story of an eager scientist named Andre Delambre. He is happily married and has a son. He has the perfect suburban life. That all changes when he invents a device that can transport inanimate objects, but it has trouble transporting live matter. When he tries it on himself, a fly gets into the chamber with him, and their particles mix up giving Andre the head and arm of a fly, and giving the fly Andre's head and arm.

The Fly isn't an overly terrifying film, but the plot is really interesting. The film starts off as a murder mystery, and slowly evolves into a mix of sci fi and horror as we see the transformed Andre Delambre's mind slowly seep away while being replaced with the fly's. The make-up is really good for a 1950's movie, and it's almost believable that the scientist's head was replaced with a giant fly head.

The characters in the film are all portrayed by great actors of the time, such as David "Al" Hedison as Andre/The Fly and horror master Vincent Price as Andre's brother Francois. The Fly offers up good acting and a great plot and should be recognized for its artistic effect on movies. If you're looking for a classic to watch, pick this up.

7/10