Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) is a scientist working on a secret project that he says will change the world. At a press event he meets Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis). Veronica is a journalist who works for Particle Magazine. He talks her into going back to his laboratory in a seedy part of town to see what he is working on. He shows her two large containers that he calls “telepods”. Seth then offers to show Veronica how it works. He asks her for a personal item. She gives him one of her stockings. Seth puts the stocking in one of the pods and teleports it to the second pod.
Veronica gets excited and starts recording their conversation intending on writing a story about Seth’s invention. Seth panics not wanting her to tell anyone about the telpods yet. Veronica rushes to her boss, Stathis Borans (John Getz) to let him hear the tape. He tells her that Seth was conning her. Veronica is not buying it and plans on taking the story to another magazine. Seth tells her that he still has work to do on the invention. He convinces her to keep the story a secret, and he would give her exclusive access to his research and progress and give her enough for a full-fledged book and not just a story. According to Seth, the telepods can only transport inanimate objects. He needs time to refine the process so that people can be teleported. She agrees. As Veronica documents Seth’s progress, they begin a sexual relationship.
Seth tries teleporting a baboon with disastrous results. He then tries to transport a steak from one pod to another to figure out what the problem is. Eventually he realizes that when the telepod transports something alive, the computer is creating its interpretation of what a steak is. Seth continues working on fixing the problem. The next time he tries to transport a baboon, he is successful. He tells Veronica that he needs to send the baboon to be thoroughly checked before he can send a human through.
Veronica’s old boss and former lover, Stathis, becomes jealous of all the time Veronica is spending with Seth. He threatens to out Seth and his research. Veronica goes to talk to him. Seth thinks she is still seeing Stathis. He gets drunk and becomes jealous. He then decides to teleport himself to prove he can. While the experiment is successful, there is a serious problem with it. During the time when Seth was being transported from pod one; a fly had gotten into the pod. Not sure what to do, the computer combined the DNA of Seth and the fly and fused them together into pod 2. Day by day, part by part, Seth is slowly turning into a fly.
“The Fly” was released in 1986 and was directed by David Cronenberg. It is an American science fiction horror film with body horror elements. The film is a re-make of the 1958 film “The Fly” and is loosely based the 1957 short story by George Langelaan. In 1989, a sequel titled “The Fly II”, directed by Walas, was released. The original 1958 film spawned two sequels “Return of the Fly” 1959 and “Curse of the Fly” 1965.
Director Cronenberg has a cameo as an OB/GYN. The baboon’s name was Typhoon. Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis were dating at the time. They were married from 1987 to 1991. Goldblum suggested Davis for the part of Veronica. The Fly vomit was made from honey, eggs, and milk. The film earned an Academy Award for Best Makeup. The melting eyeballs were condoms filled with KY jelly and shredded rubber.