Review of Fly, The 1 & 2 Twin Pack

Introduction

David Cronenberg made The Fly in 1986 and the film tells the story of a brilliant scientist (Goldblum) who is conducting a teleportation experiment. Having finally perfected the process, he decides to go through himself, but merges himself with a housefly and he slowly turns into a terrifying creature. The movie is notorious as a result of gory special effects.

The follow-up, The Fly II came three years later after the success of the first movie - and carries follows the life of the Fly`s son, who has inherited the mutated genes of his father and develops into a fully-grown man in just five years - then the change into monster starts to take place…

Video

Both movies are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and feature a clean and stable print, which is reasonably detailed and free of dirt.

As far as the visuals go - the first movie has much better special effects - and is much more unpleasant as the movie focuses on Goldblum`s transformation. From the oozing sores, to breaking someone`s arm in an arm-wrestling match, to Goldblum pulling his finger nails off - it`s pretty nasty at times. A failed experiment is quite nasty as well - overall one not to watch whilst eating! The second movie is billed as having "incredible" special effects, but they really are quite poor by modern standards - the mutated dog is dreadful and the final monster is particularly unconvincing. The original`s focus on small but unpleasant detail has helped it to age much better. The second movie also features the worst false beard I`ve seen ever seen in a film!

Audio

Both movies have been given remixes up to Dolby Digital 5.1 - and this is used primarily for effects - like a fly buzzing about - and for the most part the rear channels are quiet. Sound is used to good effect to help give the gory visuals even more impact - but overall the sound is just average.

The dialogue is always clear and understandable.

Features

Both movies have a trailer, behind the scenes/making of and cast/crew interviews - none of which is particularly exciting.

The movie is packaged in a clear Amaray case with a internal second tray - and the rear of the cover lists the chapter breaks for each movie - 24 in each case. There is also a leaflet inside showing some other double packs that are available.

Conclusion

Most of the double packs I`ve seen contain one strong film and one weak one - and this is no exception - The Fly is a classic horror movie which is still very watchable (from behind a cushion at times) and deals with the personal tragedy of Goldblum`s brilliant research going wrong. Strong performances from Goldblum and Davis are back by grizzly effects and a good script and plot.

The Fly II follows on and in true horror sequel style is no match for it`s predecessor - primarily because the cast is uninspiring, the story dull, the effects quite poor and at the end of the day, we know what is going to happen.

Both movies are presented quite well and whilst two films for £19.99 seems like good value, I`d have preferred Fox to have released just the first movie at £12.99 instead - the second really isn`t something I`d watch again and isn`t worth the extra expense.

I`ve rated the content to reflect both films, but individually the first scores 8, the second scores 4 - my combined rating of 7 assumes that most people are interested in buying this for the first movie.