In this version of The Fly we see a scientist who invents a matter transporter end up mixing himself with a humble house fly. This film was made in a time when monster films were very popular in Hollywood and this has all the classicly bad special effects of this time. The scientist as played by David Hedison has great intentions of using the matter transporter to rid the world of its problems. But as with many films involving powers that are almost godlike and beyond man there are concequences and his good intentions end up being the death of him.
The one thing that struck me as strange was that rather than the fly and the scientist merging into one being they both swapped their heads and a limb each. This meant that the man had the head and limb of a fly and the fly had the head and limb of the man. The reason I mention this is that I felt this idea was slightly flawed, surely if the man had the head of the fly that meant he had the brain and the reasoning of the fly too right from the get go. That's something that I can over look for now as the film was so entertaining in many ways, mainly due to its unintentional humor and although the effects were camp the spider scene at the end with the human headed fly screaming 'help me' was still quite chilling, or to quote Brandt Sponseller at classic-horror.com "It’s gut wrenching and horrific, exactly as it should be"
Athough Variety.com discribe the film as "a high-budget, beautifully and expensively mounted exploitation picture" I found it very much camp in both the acting and the bad special effects that make you want to laugh more than gasp in horror. It's funny how fifty years ago this would have been so much more shocking. Back then in 1958 the NewYork Times review stated "It does indeed contain, briefly, two of the most sickening sights one casual swatter-wielder ever beheld on the screen"
Oh how things have changed.
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