Plot: Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), a brilliant but eccentric scientist attempts to woo investigative journalist Veronica Quaife (Genna Davis) by offering her a scoop on his latest research in the field of matter transportation, which against all the expectations of the scientific establishment have proved successful. Brundle thinks he has ironed out the last problem when he successfully transports a living creature, but when he attempts to teleport himself a fly enters one of the transmission booths, and Brundle finds he is a changed man.
The heroes: Jeff Goldblum's likable and bizarre Seth.
The antagonists: One tiny little fly.
What makes it so great? Few weeks ago Alex of "And So it Begins..." asked a question on his blog - what films make you sick? - and I'm astonished I forgot to mention this one. I'm a tough one - there is only a handful of movies that repulse me and it's never anything about blood, surgeries or beheadings, but when it comes to Cronenberg and his gross, disturbing body horror images, that's a different issue. While Naked Lunch and Videodrome I was fine with, Seth's changing, due to Oscar winning make up job is really something that always prevents me from eating long after seeing this movie. It's a great movie, probably Cronenberg's most quintessential and famous, but I can't watch it too often. Also Jeff Goldblum's performance is really mesmerizing and this movie is to "body horror" what Alien is to "space horror".
Best scene: Seth watches as his body starts to rot off, change and collapse in front of a mirror.
