1989
Chris Walas
Chris Walas
A few months after the conclusion of the ‘The Fly’ (1986),
the son of Seth Brundle, the original human-fly hybrid, is born. Sadly, his
mother Veronica, dies in childbirth and infant Martin is given over to Bartok
Industries, the corporation that was originally funding Seth’s telepod research.
Martin (Eric Stoltz) begins growing at an accelerated rate and is an adult at
age 5. Realizing that Bartok intends to let him mutate completely, he tries to
escape with his new found friend, Beth (Daphne Zuniga). Bartok agents find
Martin completely enclosed in a huge amber cocoon, and bring him back, unaware
of the horror they are about to unleash in their complex.
I have fond memories of going to a midnight showing of this
with my dad and a very enthusiastic audience. It’s a gleefully gross monster
movie that serves as interesting counterpoint to the far more thoughtful and personal
terror of Cronenberg’s 'The Fly.’ It’s not a perfect movie and it ventures a little
too far into silliness but the effects are fantastic. The Martin Fly has a lot
of personality and there is a fun visceral enjoyment in watching it take
revenge on people so villainous they border on cartoonish. The final scene with
the head of Bartok, Anton Bartok (Lee Richardson) actually comes across as
quite chilling.
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