The Fly: Special Edition

It and THE FLY II are coming out October 4 - pushed one week.

In separate editions this time, I hope. Having to own The Fly II in order to get The Fly made me feel unclean. Cronenberg's film is one of the greatest horror films of all time. The sequel is a blight.

I'm definitely going to be adding this one to the collection as soon as I can. About time it got some SE DVD lovin'.

I'll be buying them both. The original's one of my favorite films ever, not to mention one of the best tragic love stories on film, an assertion I'll stand by till death. The sequel is very much underrated, i feel, though still not even close to living up to the original. Nevertheless, allow me to do Nick and a few other people a public service:

This could've been so much more.

I didn't think the sequel was all that bad personally. Not great by any means, but watchable.

There is no doubt that it pales in comparison to the brilliance of Cronenburg's film though.

My local Wal-Mart had both I&II on the shelf today for $13 and change.

The Fly has a black slip-cover, and the DVD cover is white with a fly on it. Simple but cool.

I went to pickup The Family Guy DVD, but for $23 they can quite frankly shove it.

You should get that looked at. Could be pneumonia.

I too picked them up for this price on Saturday night. $13.72 to be exact. I was shocked when I saw them.

The only thing worse than paying money for The Fly II would be giving money to WalMart.

Wait, are you talking about the new special edition or the two pack that has been out for awhile?

The new, separate special editions............................either no one knew the street changed again or Wal-Mart has broken it. Either way, they're both on shelves now.


I hate Wal-Mart with a passion, but that won't stop me from picking up a good movie if they street it early, especially if it's at a really good price.

Well my Wal-Mart broke the street date. I hope I can just rent The Fly SE just for a peek at the special features.
I've seen the film quite a few times, and it's a pretty sad story. I don't see me watching it enough to put it on my shelf.

You've said it already. We saw. Give it up.

I was reading a review of The Fly on dvdtown. The commentary is really good, on the doc on disc 2 is 2 hours and 40 min. long. I might pick this up after all.

While it's an excellent documentary, I still find it funny that in spite of its thoroughness, they imply that The Dead Zone was an original idea by Cronenberg.

Monkeycat!!

Or (oh shit, oh shit!) it could be the stirrings of the AVIAN FLU PANDEMIC! Sorry, the media has instructed me to fear this scourge but I simply.... cannot.... comply....

On topic:
The new edition of the movie in question is the most comprehensive non-Criterion Cronenberg release yet.

As wonderfully comprehensive this Special Edition is, I'm dumbfounded how they could have this much extra material and yet not a single word about the score.

It's the only screw up in what's otherwise a PERFECT Special Edition.

Fairly cheap, too!

Cronie compliments the score in the commentary but I agree with the sentiments proposed, Crow. What I found amazing is that I didn't miss Cronenberg in that wonderful doc (I'm especially fond of the use of classical music throughout that particular feature) since he tends to repeat stuff from interviews during commentaries anyway. This thing is seriously stacked, even with only one commentary. I even dug all the photos provided (I usually hate them). I'm reading the text features now and rekindling my love for Fox discs when they put effort into them.

i know nick just did a rant about Best Buy not having things people like us look for when we enter the vaunted halls on a tuesday. I have had this prob many a time but i figured this cant happen with The Fly special Edition. Surely with all the good press Cronenberg has been getting lately and the upcoming "holiday" they would stock up on the Fly. not to mention it was advertised as a 2 for 20 last week. Well 2 best buys later i can safely say the places have to be run by retarded monkeys. not on single copy of the Fly special edition and when u ask an employee about it they look at you like u just asked them to operate on your child. place drives me fuckin nuts sometimes

I too, was unable to enjoy The Fly: SE for $9.99 last week. I went to THREe Best Buys in one day, hoping to pick it up and not one had it. Granted it was on Friday, but really, how many people in Northeast Ohio are begging for the The Fly: SE? Can't be that many.. still.. shut out!

More than you think.

The Best Buy I work at was sold out in two days. We got another shipment that Thursday, and we're down to our last two copies today.

The movie is loved more than we realize.

course the fact that it was $10 had to help.

Yeah, The Fly is much more widely known than I ever thought. I mean, I know it was a decent sized hit when it was released, but that was almost 20 years ago. However, with everyone I've had talked to about History of Violence (I'm trying to get as many people to go as I can convince), I've had the same exchange:

"Who directed it?"

"David Cronenberg."

"Who?"

"Ever see Scanners?"

"What?"

"Ever see The Fly?"

"Holy shit, I love that movie!"

So yeah, I'll be picking this up at the (shockingly low price) of $13.99 at Wal-Mordor come next paycheck (yes, Wal-Mart is evil. No, I do not have any other option in the town I live in. Deal.)

Dealing.

My store sold out early in the release week as well. Currently we've got it but are sold out of the sequel. Go figure. And since there wasn't any other flick worth picking up I didn't already have for that 2 for $20 deal, it wasn't ten bucks for me, but who's complaining?

I picked this up a couple of days ago and finally had some time to watch the feature. I haven't seen this movie since I watched it on television when I was a kid. The ending left me pretty scarred for life back then, so I've always been afraid to check it out now that I'm a "grown up."

Really, I think that this film is genius. You've all probably have read essays about how this movie is about disease and aging, and the basic horrors of human mortality. So, read them again, because there's nothing I can really add to that, except to say that the film is incredibly well-written, acted, and directed.

But you already knew that, too.

Excellent DVD.

I think the deleted scenes are the best arguement for test screenings. The alternate ending would have been the most jarring and ridiculous ending ever.

Completely agreed....although, the version they show in the documentary minus crappy CG butterfly baby, with just Geena Davis, sleeping alone, but showing that she kept Seth's baby....I actually kinda like that.

But, who cares, the film's perfect as is.

Crow,
I think if the film had ended with a shot of Ronnie pregnant, the assumption would have been that it was a typical horror ending meant to invoke a sequel. Ending with a slow fade out on Ronnie crying was absolutely perfect.

Personally, I was hoping that the sequel would have been trashy Tawny's kid, as she had no idea what could be happening to her baby.

Agreed on both counts. But putting aside the sequel hinting, I like that alternate ending as a sort of "I still loved Seth" sort of statement than anything else.

I dunno, I like the idea of the butterfly baby. The execution is kinda cheesey as presented, but there's something thematically beautiful about the final image (the animation was bad, but they did say all they could recover was a bad VHS workprint for it). Maybe it was Shore's music that made me like it, but it would've been a more emotional ending, plus it would've spared us Fly II. I still prefer the abrubt ending that was used in the final cut, though.

I'm having double feature horror marathon all week long with my 13 year old cousin. All the essentials he had never seen before. Last night was Carpenter's The Thing and Creepshow. Tonight it was An American Werewolf in London and The Fly. Two films that climax with the same abrupt ending shot. That of grieving lovers crying over the dead bodies of their significant other.

Watching The Fly tonight for what has to be the hundredth time, I realized something that I can't believe I hadn't noticed during previous viewings. On the Particle Magazine cover Stathis sends Veronica...



...Seth is wearing the jacket Veronica was buying for him in the previous scene when she and Stathis get into the argument in the clothing store. Stathis even sarcastically comments on how good it will look on Seth.

There are two options to go with here:

A: The illustration was made from a covertly taken snap of Seth after she bought the jacket. But c'mon, the guy's mostly a recluse at that point. He's immersed in his work while cooking synthetic steaks and writing magic flesh programs to purposely drive his computer insane. And it is just too posed of a cover illustration to be painted from a candid spy photo.

B: Stathis stood over the illustrator, frothing at the mouth as he described that fucking jacket in minute detail to the increasingly disturbed artist. The same jacket that motherfucker was probably wearing right now as he does god knows what to her in that filthy warehouse he calls lab/home. He has a baboon. Does the baboon watch them fuck? Of course it does. Filthy fucker.

How many versions of the jacket did the artist have to paint before they got it right? I imagine the smug smile on his face as he mailed it. "Ha! I told her it would look good on him."


I go with B. Stathis, you dick.

Wow. I think you dug up a four year old thread just to talk about that jacket.

You're damn right I did. And I did it at 3 in the morning.

Stathis is a fucking stalker who deserved to have hit shotgunnin' hand puked off.

And yet, unlike the preview audiences, I could have totally bought the deleted epilogue with Stathis and Veronica in bed together. I'm glad it's not there. But I could buy it.

I bring this up often, but if you haven't listened to the commentary track on this, you should. It really highlights Cronenberg's effortless brilliance.