The Fly (1958)

Plot Outline: A scientist is working on an experiment to transport matter when he uses himself as a guinea pig and accidentally mingles his atomic pattern with that of a fly.

The Review: This pretty sub-standard but infamous 50s horror film is more science fiction than anything else. It may have been heralded a classic, but it reality, it's not that good thanks to it dating very rapidly with some hokey effects towards the film's finale. It's a quality premise though which has been duplicated dozens of times since. However, despite a limited budget, it isn't great and wasn't designed to become the 'classic' it has become. You know it was meant to be a schlocky 50s sci-fi/horror and it works well at that. The film is quite boring really and only picks up towards the end. It's your typical mad scientist film where you don't know what he is doing until the end product so there is a bit of mystery there (however the film's title is an obvious giveaway). There are good performances from Hedison (even though he spends much of the film under a cloth), Owens and Price. I really wanted to boo Price during the film for some reason but he's a hero here, not the villain. There are also two classic scenes involved and rightly so. The first is when Patricia Owens pulls the cloth off her husband's head to reveal his fly face (and then you can see her screaming throughout the numerous eyes of the fly). And of course, who can forget the infamous "help me, help meeeee!" ending. That is a brilliant ending and it does send shivers down your spine when the spider starts to attack the fly. The cries of the fly will haunt you well after you've seen it. But that's the only thing you'll remember from this film.

Final Verdict: These two scenes alone are worth watching but its probably best to skip the rest of the film to do so. Classic? Not quite but certainly influential.

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