David Cronenberg is a filmmaker who knows how to properly employ gore. He is a master of body horror, a sub-genre focusing on the degeneration of the physical human form. Gore serves an artful purpose; the breakdown of the human body -- wrought by mutilation, mutation, disease or anything else -- is closely scrutinized for the purpose of creating fear in the viewer.
One of the classic examples of well-implemented gore in a Cronenberg film is "The Fly," a 1986 remake of Kurt Neumann same-titled effort from 1958. Jeff Goldblum plays Seth Brundle, a sort of mad scientist who metamorphoses into a humanoid fly after an experiment with a teleporter goes horribly wrong. It is a slow transformation, with Brundle shedding his humanity along with various body parts.
The word now is that Cronenberg is in talks with Fox to write and possibly direct a "reboot" of the 80s remake, according to an update from Steven Zeitchik on The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog.
This is a surprising turn, considering that the filmmaker told MTV a couple of years ago that that he's wary of remakes. "I've heard of remakes of everything from 'The Brood,' to 'The Fly,' to you name it. There's such a desire to have some kind of comfort level amongst producers, and if it's a known property [that helps]. That's one of the reasons, for example, that graphic novels are getting made into movies: They can see it. It's there. They can hold it in their hands. It maybe has a pre-sold audience, up to a certain point. So I guess it's inevitable that they'd be trolling for remakes."
I'd really like to believe that the change of heart is spurred by Cronenberg's belief that there's a new "Fly" story to be told to modern audiences, one with themes and ideas that simply weren't present in the earlier effort. The director has enjoyed a lot of success in recent years thanks to "Eastern Promises" and "A History of Violence," so it's hard to imagine that he'd jump on "The Fly" again simply for a paycheck.
I remain unconvinced that a "Fly" reboot is necessary, though I'd much rather see the original director take it on -- especially someone of Cronenberg's caliber -- as opposed to new blood.
Do you think Cronenberg has got the right idea in considering this return to "The Fly"? What more do you think he could bring to the story to make it relevant for modern audiences? Or is this a classic that's better left untouched?
Comments