Return of the Fly

This rushed sequel to 1958's classic THE FLY is actually more entertaining than the original thanks to a faster pace and a greater emphasis on action and chills.

The original fly's son, Philippe, is now a brilliant young scientist in his own right. He seeks to reconstruct the teleportation device that erroneously turned his pops into a frightening (well, silly, actually) insect man. With the project a success, a crooked assistant -- in an apparent murder attempt -- teleports Philippe along with a fly (clever writing, I must say). Like father, like son, this bug man is out to terrorize. But maybe, just maybe the man within the beast can be salvaged.

With decent performances from Brett Halsey and the returning Vincent Price, this 1959 outing deserves its own place on the mantle of great black and white horror entries.

My words for this film are going to be less harsh than others for the simple fact that this film, in no way superior or even comparable to the original, is entertaining. The story has the little boy from the first Fly film, Phillipe, coming back to carry out the work of his father, against the express wishes of Vincent Price, his uncle. The plot is very predictable and the acting is nothing more than adequate(Vinnie notwithstanding). The film is in black and white, and in general very cheaply made. What then does it have going for it? Well, for one it has a nice performance by Vincent Price. Another thing is it has some bizarre scenes and murders, things lacking from the original. The guinea pig scene is reason enough to see the film.

Vincent Price has been promoted to top billing for this quickie sequel to 'The Fly' but that isn't really reflected in the amount of footage he gets.

Brett Halsey, however, is far more plausible as Andre's son than Charles Herbert had been; but knowing what had happened to his father he should have been more careful when once again he noticed a fly buzzing about the laboratory.

Clearly every expense has been spared, a fact reflected in the loss of Karl Struss's sumptuous colour photography, and with a score totally lacking the lyricism of Paul Sawtell's earlier work; while rather than the heartbreaking intensity of the relationship between the husband and wife in the original and the bleak nihilism of the final instalment of the original trilogy five years later we instead get rather commonplace gunplay.

THE FLY was a fairly classy, atmospheric sci-fi movie with some horror overtones. It was fun and campy, but also somewhat disturbing in its depiction of a man losing his humanity, a theme which was explored more deeply in David Cronenberg's astonishing remake.

RETURN OF THE FLY is basically a cheap follow-up which is better than it should be. This is mostly due to the always reliable Vincent Price, who returns as the brother of the scientist who became the fly-monster in the original. Here, he desperately tries to sway his nephew from following in his father's footsteps.

The movie concentrates on the son's attempts to recreate his father's teleportation equipment with a hesitant Price helping out, then shifts gears as his other partner, a British ex-con, is discovered to be attempting to steal the research.

This leads to a few misadventures with the teleportation machine resulting in a man becoming a human guinea pig (literally), and ultimately the son becoming a fly-monster himself.

Shot in stark black and white (as opposed to the original's lush Technicolor), RETURN OF THE FLY has a sleazy, grindhouse quality to it. Whereas the original explored the horror of losing one's mind and physical being, this time it's basically just a "monster roaming the countryside" scenario, with any psychological or philisophical aspects thrown out the window in favor of cheap thrills. And while the make-up effects are somewhat improved upon, the ridiculous optical effect of the son's head on a fly's body is unintentionally funny.

Overall, however, it's entertaining enough, and above average for the B-horror movies of the era, though it may be disappointing for fans of the original.

Nice black & white follow-up to the colorful 1958's original. Philippe Delambre decides to continue his father's work, at the disapproval of his uncle François (an ever so great Vincent Price, reprising his role from the first film, this time having a lot more screen time). Inevitably, things go wrong again, but not the way one might expect they would. Actually, the subplot about betrayal and revenge is the one that drives this film and keeps it all interesting. And if you want to know what comes out of the second tele-pod when you throw a human and a hamster together in the first, then all you have to do is watch this sequel to know the answer. Decent classic horror entertainment. And a damn decent sequel to boot.