Movie Review: The Fly (1958)

Vincent Price was pretty much a staple of classic horror, and this is no exception. While he doesn’t play a villain, it’s still nice to see him in this, as he’s a fantastic actor. The Fly is one of those crossover horror films that started bringing color to the scene and was the inspiration for the 1986 version starring Jeff Goldblum. This film begins with Andre Delambre (David Hedison) crushed in a hydraulic press, and Helene Delambre (Patricia Owens) making the call to his brother François Delambre (Vincent Price) to tell him that she had killed Andre. This may also be one of the first horror films to start somewhere in the middle, and then go back and re-trace what happened up until that point, which is a style of storytelling that is used a lot by directors like Quentin Tarantino these days.

After some setup, it goes back to the beginning with Andre working on a machine in his laboratory that he has successfully been able to use to teleport an item from one side of the room to the other. He does some tests on other various things, and once he dials it in, decides to try it on himself, only something goes terribly wrong.

The Fly is a fantastic film that is a great way to get into watching older horror films if you aren’t familiar with them. It’s also definitely also just a classic that has some great atmosphere for the time, and some pretty good special effects as well. Despite having a very small cast of 14 (mostly uncredited), it definitely managed to become a staple in horror.