The Fly Collection

"I'm saying I am an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over... and the insect is awake." 

One of the most unlikely of franchises was born from a short story published in the June 1957 issue of Playboy Magazine by author George Langelaan. Less than a year later The Fly (1958) was in theaters. With slight differences to the ending to allow for something a little happier, the film is a near-perfect adaptation hitting major plot points beat for beat. Given some elegant heft by Vincent Price in a supportive role, what could have been an easy B-movie dash off was a box office smash featuring state-of-the-art visual effects including one of the best monster heads ever made.
5/5

With The Fly a massive success, it's understandable that 20th Century Fox would want to put a sequel into motion ASAP. Sadly, rather than go big and bold, they went cheap and easy. Forgoing color for black and white and reusing already built sets, The Return of the Fly sees the son of the Fly following in his father's footsteps only to be betrayed by his evil lab partner. With a decent performance from Bret Halsey and a returning Vincent Price, the sequel isn't too bad. It's light on suspense for the first stretch of the film but it picks up its pace nicely. The giant fly head may be a tad silly, but it's still an earnest effort and would fittingly end the franchise for a few years.
3.5/5

Even with a solid "ending," no franchise is ever truly over. Somehow, someway, someone will continue on - if even to piggyback on the namesake. The Curse of the Fly is difficult to even call a sequel to The Fly let alone a continuation of The Return of the Fly. The continuity makes little sense and there isn't actually a "Fly" in the movie. While it apes the horror of teleportation-gone-wrong schtick, there's little related to it beyond mythology building. Part of the franchise but not the same animal. Curse has its moments, but cheap sets and dull pacing keeps it from any forward momentum. Some monsters do appear but it's almost too little too late to completely salvage the show. There's a reason why this film wasn't available on home video in any form until a DVD release in 2007. It's rough. Fun, but not in league with what's come before or since. 
2.5/5

Like all larva, a franchise can't stay dormant for long before it needs to emerge into an entirely new beast to survive. Enter Mel Brook's produced The Fly (1986) directed by David Cronenberg and starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Not content with being a simple retread of the original, Cronenberg and team expanded the story to encompass themes about death and relationships beyond simply being another "science-gone-wrong" parable. It's an often heart-wrenching film of body horror until the film goes full monster movie in one of the most gloriously gory and intense final acts. Over 30 years later this film still resonates and like its franchise progenitor is a genre classic. One of the rare remakes that's truly unique.
5/5

As with the original, no Fly is complete without a sequel. Behind-the-scenes production drama kept originality away and 20th Century Fox opted for predictability with The Fly II directed by Chris Walas. It's not that The Fly II is a bad movie, for an 80s horror flick, it's perfectly decent and delivers on the blood and guts by the gallon. It's just that compared to the excellence that is Cronenberg's The Fly - it's more than a little trashy. From the opening larva birth to the incredible face melt - the film is out to be an ooey-gooey creature feature, and to that extent, it succeeds. But in its generic approach, it's predictable and not always memorable while still being entertaining if you're in the mood for some grotesque stuff.
3.5/5

When I was a kid - I believe I was all of five or six-years-old - I was introduced to the original 1958 The Fly. I enjoyed it as it went along, I wasn't bored. The idea of a man hiding under a hood and keeping his arm in his pocket kept my attention. Then that iconic reveal hit and I lost it. To hear my parents tell it I screamed bloody murder before leaping over the couch and hiding. Few things scared me as a kid - that reveal stuck with me. I knew something was coming, but that fly head with those creepy eyes and wiggly mouth digits just terrified me. I still get that tinge of anticipation and dread up my spine in the buildup to that moment. 

From there I became a Fly fan. Soon my Dad rented Cronenberg's The Fly and I got to see that at an entirely too young age. So much had already happened that by the time Goldblum's BrundleFly spits on a man's foot dissolving it to the bone, the cat was pretty well out of the bag and my dad just let me go with it. My little eyes saw a lot that day - but had a ton of fun. It wasn't long after that my Dad rented The Fly II and we had a delightful time relishing the explosive parade of blood and guts together. "Your Dad can watch that with you" was a familiar phrase from my Mom growing up. I knew she didn't like horror movies and avoided them, but I think the actual hope was they'd give me nightmares and my Dad would be the one to have to calm me down. That never worked though, it just fueled my love for the science fiction and horror genres. 

The Fly Collection is a great five-film set pulling together the franchise in one big convenient package. Sure there are some franchise low-points, I still don't really get the reason The Curse of the Fly even exists at all, but the films are entertaining. Two of them are genuine science fiction classics that hold up to this day. Whichever version of The Fly you prefer, this set is a cinematic treat. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

Scream Factory delivers The Fly Collection to Blu-ray in a five-film set. Each film gets its own Region A locked BD-50 disc. Each disc is housed in its own standard sturdy Blu-ray case supported in a hard cardboard slipcase. Each disc opens to a static/animated main menu with traditional navigation options.