40 Years Ago, David Cronenberg Created The Perfect Sci-Fi Body Horror Remake (And It Broke the Franchise)

It has been 40 years since David Cronenberg proved that remakes could surpass the original movies they were based on by directing a perfect body-horror movie. In 1986, Cronenberg directed one of his greatest body-horror movies, the remake of The Fly. While this wasn’t the first sci-fi remake of the 1980s, it remains the most critically acclaimed thanks mostly to Cronenberg’s directorial vision and his mastery of body horror. The film stars Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle, a brilliant scientist who has created a telepod that can theoretically teleport someone to another telepod. However, when he decides to test the machines out on himself, it results in a horrific transformation.

Released in theaters on August 15, 1986, The Fly was a box office success and even went on to win an Oscar for Best Makeup. It is also known for its tagline, “Be afraid. Be very afraid,” and it has become the movie to which all other sci-fi horror remakes are compared.

The Fly Remake Was So Good It Destroyed the Franchise

“The Fly” was originally a 1957 short story from Playboy magazine by George Langelaan, and the original movie was made one year later by director Kurt Neumann and starred Vincent Price. In the original movie, David Hedison stars as André Delambre, a scientist working on a device that begins to transform him into a fly. Price stars as François Delambre, the scientist’s brother, who is there for the horrific moment when the police investigator looking into André’s death sees a fly with the man’s face screaming for help. It remains one of horror’s most shocking moments.

The movie remains beloved to this day as a cult classic, but Cronenberg believed he could create something different from the material. In his remake, Cronenberg removed most of the kitsch and camp from the original and told a straightforward body-horror story that focused more on Seth Brundle’s transformation and his relationship with Geena Davis’ Ronnie. The horrors in The Fly eclipse anything from the original, and it was not only different enough to warrant a remake but also remains one of the best sci-fi horror remakes in history, improving on the original’s story in every way.

However, there was no chance that any movie in the franchise could compare to the brilliance of Cronenberg’s vision. In 1989, Chris Walas directed a sequel titled The Fly II, which was co-written by a four-man team that included The Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont. That movie was a small box-office success, but it received negative reviews and earned less at the box office than Cronenberg’s film. Eric Stoltz took over in the lead role, and critics bashed the movie for keeping the gory effects but telling a weaker story.

The Fly Was Part of a Series of Brilliant 1980s Remakes

The Fly proved that sci-fi horror remakes could work as critically acclaimed movies on their own, but it wasn’t the one that started this trend, and it wasn’t the last in the 1980s. Eight years before The Fly hit theaters, Philip Kaufman shocked the world by remaking the seminal sci-fi Cold War classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, resulting in a movie that eclipsed the original in every way. Away from the McCarthy-era blacklisting witch hunt, the remake was able to work on its own as a paranoia thriller with the Cold War still a fear for many Americans. That 1978 movie was great, but the 1980s saw three different sci-fi horror movies that proved that remakes could improve on their originals.

The first of these came in 1982, with John Carpenter’s The Thing, starring Kurt Russell. While the movie flopped critically and commercially upon release, it has since been reappraised and stands as one of the best horror movies of all time and arguably one of the best remakes in horror history. What makes The Thing so distinctive is that it is almost nothing like the original movie (The Thing from Another World) and is based more closely on the original story that movie adapted, John W. Campbell Jr.’s Who Goes There?

The Fly was next, and The Blob finished out this unofficial trilogy of classic sci-fi horror remakes. Directed by Chuck Russell, The Blob stands as a cult classic, and it is the one most aligned with the original film. While some prefer seeing a young Steve McQueen in the first The Blob film, the remake with Kevin Dillon and Shawnee Smith has enough fans to warrant its own spot in sci-fi horror history. Thanks to The Thing, The Fly, and The Blob, the 1980s proved that remakes were not a bad thing, and, when done right, they could become masterpieces in their own right.