Need I comment on a film directed by, albeit an Oscar winner, nonetheless a makeup effects artist who gratuitously exploits, not only his production’s famed paterfamilias, David Cronenberg’s The Fly, but attempts to simultaneously remake the sequel to the original upon which his model was based (i.e. Edward Bernds’s Return of the Fly, the follow-up to Kurt Neumann’s The Fly, the latter being the mold upon which Cronenberg’s feature was initially cast) without bothering to consider whether or not there existed consequential similarities between the two charter works? Confusing enough for you? The unpleasant feeling is synonymous to viewing Chris Walas’s directorial debut, The Fly II, a film which Brian Webster of the Apollo Movie Guide, unabashedly states “[The script] is lame and predictable, the performances are unimpressive, the direction and editing are weak, and the special effects are disappointing. Those who like to argue that sequels are consistently weaker than their originals will find plenty of evidence here to support that theory.” Mr. Wester need not apologize for he is not exaggerating.
Walas’s film–who’s kidding who? Walas’s movie– definitely signals that, indeed, the old days in which each new installment in a horror franchise at least humored its audience with the attempt at presenting a new idea alongside an established horror image to be long gone. Predictably, Seth Brundle’s unborn son, Martin (Eric Stoltz), manages to see the light for day for the second round of flyness as the company who sponsored his father’s research, Bartok, raises the inevitable prodigy in hopes that he might once again revive the now-dusty teleportation vessels of his father’s creation. As the genre decrees, Martin does just and catastrophe ensues.
Aside from the production as a whole, there are two misfortunes to be found within The Fly II. One, the obviously written out (or over) segments which Frank Darabont, director of The Shawshank Redemption, contributed to the script (the only feasible reason for the artist’s name appearing on the credits of a heavy-handed, tyrannical work in which everyone is a monster–cf. “asshole”–except the monster–and, natch, the heroine) and, two, Stolz’s wasted talent when he could have been doing something, anything else (which, even if such would have involved catching a cold, would have nevertheless been more productive). Sure, the feature takes a few, albeit minor, ideas from its various source materials, but Walas does nothing of consequence (or of entertainment value) with them. Even the otherwise rational presentation of the alignment of animal and human exploitation in the realm of scientific experimentation is haphazardly dumped upon its audience before being all but abandoned prior to reappearing in the guise of an epilogue for the “for shame” sake of an all-too-cute, ironic (i.e. trite) plot inversion. Thus, should it come as a surprise that Martin, who is forced to become a circumstantial animal rights proponent during the feature, is depicted as willfully, if not wholly absentmindedly (in lieu of being a genius), teleporting kittens after the fact? And, yes, there is plenty of room to offer the idea that corporate ethics is an oxymoron as it is put on display how businesses gladly place the Almighty Dollar above all else yet, as with any argument, a poorly proffered one does more damage to the cause (and, ergo, aiding the opposition as a consequence) than if one where to have kept quiet. Apparently this is news to Walas.
In a work which somehow manages to do nothing whatsoever with the overly abundant material upon which it was founded, Chris Walas’s The Fly II has no point and, thus, it is no surprise why a trilogy never manifested itself as this common, rote, stereotypical piece of 1980s horror schlock serves one purpose and one purpose only: To be aired on late night television as a public service aide to those with insomnia. Replete with gratuitous gore and effects, false alarms, and countless “boo” moments, those suffering from apnea beware for this potentially coma-inducing movie proves that the special effects and make-up guru behind David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch, The Fly, and Scanners–as well as Roger Corman’s Humanoids from the Deep, Joe Dante’s Gremlins, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Arc, Ethan Wiley’s House II: The Second Story, Brett Leonard’s Virtuosity, and Frank Marshall’s Arachnophobia–belongs in a workshop and not behind the camera.
-Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
