So I cribbed this from the Hopeful's page because I have been watching a lot of horror lately. I'm not a big fan of 'torture porn' like SAW or Hostel. I like the old school horror.
This week I'm going to give a shoutout to the best horror movie of the 1980's - David Cronenberg's 'The Fly'.
It's a proper tragedy - a good man brought unstuck by his own pride just like Walter White or Tony Montana.
"I seem to be stricken by a disease with a purpose, wouldn't you say? Maybe not such a bad disease after all."
Up and coming scientist Seth Brundle is working on a machine that will revolutionise transport forever and change the world - teleportation pods that take a person from one place to another instantly.
With his financial backers desperate for results and under pressure to see his genius recognised, Brundle starts resorting to extremes to push research on the pods further.
Realising that the only test that matters is transporting a human subject, Brundle gives himself up as a guinea pig. Cue horror. A fly enters the teleport pod at the same time as Brundle...and they are merged at the genetic level.
"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, perhaps she'll die."
In classic Cronenberg style, what happens from then on is explicit body horror. Brundle's physical self starts to undergo an awful transformation that takes his mind with it. He loses his fingernails, his teeth and his hair and that's just the beginning.
"My teeth have begun to fall out. The medicine cabinet is now the Brundle Museum of Natural History. You wanna see what else is in it?"
There's a crawling tension throughout the whole movie as Brundle undergoes his change. It's unsettling and sticks in your head for a long time. It's also utterly brilliant. It speaks to us of the era of AIDS and the fear of a science led apocalypse during the Cold War. It reminds us how fragile our bodies are...and our minds.
"I'm saying... I'm saying I - I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over... and the insect is awake."
