THE FLY (1958)

The Fly is a 1958 American sciennce fiction film, directed by Kurt Neumann. The screenplay was written by James Clavell, from the short story "The Fly" by George Langelaan. It was followed by two sequels, Return of The Fly and Curse of The Fly.
THE STORY

Apart from a member of a happy family Andre Delambre is an ambitious scientist working on a teleportation device. After a number of experiments he decides to teleport himself. What he didn't notice was a fly that accidently flew in the teleportation pod with him. The result was a hybrid man spliced with a fly. Andre's wife, Helen, now has to find the fly to reverse the progress. After trying several times to catch it the fly flew away leaving Andre with no other choice but to destroy every evidence of this horrific experiment- including himself. He then  forced his wife to contribute to his self destruction by making her press the button of a hydraulic press. Helen is now traumatised and obsessed with flies, particularly a whited-head one and  is named as a murderer which leeds her to commit suicide.

WHAT I THINK OF THE FILM
The Fly is one of the definitive big-budget horror film of it's era. It's impact and it's influence are still being felt in modern horror films. Although the film's special effects don't match the current ones it seems like it was pretty scary for that time (1960's). Two scenes are the ones which are indelibly impressed on my memory. First, the one where Helen uncovers her husbands head, revealing the horrendous transformation of his face. Second is the screaming scene of the man-looking spider and it's eventual death by a spider.  What I really enjoyed about the actual film was the scenario and the acting which is very different to what we see nowadays. A lot of people thought it looked very fake and out of date but I believe it's been beautifully made even though it's visualisations are contrasting to today's horror films. In addition, it was a story of the psychological adventure of this traumatised woman who has to live the rest of her life thinking of her crime. Psychological films genuinely appeal to me as it's more engrossing looking into people's mystifying minds. To sum up, I am the kind of person that dislikes old movies but this one proved me wrong as it was way ahead from it's time.


WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF THE FILM
"A barometer for what some people perceive as funny and what others think is creepy"


I think that the people who perceived it as funny are the current ones. Obviously this film was named as one of the most horrific ones in the late 50's.


"A true classic of the genre ... but I still like the remake better."


Of course, the majority of people believe the remake is the best along with me.


"Clavell's script successfully treads a fine line between black comedy and po-faced seriousness."


To be honest it did seem like some kind of a comedy to me but only because I am not familiar with what was considered as frightening for that time.


STILLS

This is one of the most memorable scenes of the movie where Andre's son and brother are unable to help the fly as it's been eaten up by a ferocious spider. 

 'Help me! Help me!' is the squealing sound of the half human spider. The close up of the spider is rather freaky and it's what most people remember from the movie. 

Even being a monster Andre is still in love with his wife but feels miserable that he cannot express it her as he feels repulsive.