Halloween is the time of year when studios decide to empty their vaults of everything even remotely frightening and foist it upon a public who enjoys being scared. As I mentioned yesterday, the quality of the material ranges from legitimately good to downright excruciating, and as the years go on, we’re also finding the market flooded with the same material simply being reissued and re-reissued and re–re-reissued. Once in awhile, though, you get handed a film that’s either never been on DVD before or is almost impossible to find anymore, and that’s the case for 1/3 of Fox’s brand new set, “The Fly Collection,” which rounds up the fondly-remembered first two films in the saga of the Delambre family – “The Fly” and “Return of The Fly” – then also resurrects the oft-forgotten 3rd film, 1965’s “The Curse of the Fly.”


David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of the original film was actually a successful modernization of the tale of a scientist whose attempts to master the technology of teleportation go awry when his DNA is accidentally melded with that of a common housefly. Unfortunately, the special effects of a ’50s film obviously can’t compete with those of an ’80s film (especially not one made for the kind of budget that Cronenberg had to work with), so a lot of people tend to dismiss the original “Fly” because, oh, well, the guy’s got a big, fake-looking fly head.

Don’t be one of those people.

In fact, Kurt Neumann’s 1958 adaptation of the George Langelaan short story worked remarkably well for its era, with Neumann wisely choosing to avoid showing the aforementioned fly head for as long as possible…and, even when we do see it, it’s not the almost-cartoonish creature that you see on the cover of the DVD set, which is actually a shot from “Return of The Fly.” The head of the creature in “The Fly” actually looks comparatively realistic, and because of the emotional build-up to the reveal, we actually find ourselves not focusing on it nearly as much as we otherwise might have. “The Fly” is very much a tale like “The Phantom of the Opera,” with scientist Andre Delambre (Al Hedison) accidentally fusing himself with the fly in the process of testing his own invention, then pleading for his wife, Helene (Patricia Owens), to assist him in finding the other half of his experiment – the fly with a human head and hand, of course – before his brain gives in to the fly side of his being. Naturally, she’s horrified by his appearance, which he hides from her for the majority of the film, but even once she’s seen how he now looks, the bond of love between them proves stronger, which is why she finally agrees to his request to kill him and destroy both his head and hand beneath a metal press (yikes!) so that no-one will know what’s happened. Inevitably, we do see the fly with a human’s head and hand, and although the special effects may be laughable by today’s standards, the horrific, high-pitched shrieking of the creature as it’s being eaten by a spider – “Help meeeeeeeeeee!” – is still creepy stuff in 2007.

The common thread between “The Fly” and “Return of The Fly” is, as you may know, Vincent Price, who plays François Delambre, Andre’s brother. In “Return of The Fly,” the focus is on Andre’s son, Philippe (Brett Halsey), who has, upon his mother’s death, decided to pursue his father’s research in the field of teleportation. You may be wondering the same thing that I am – “C’mon, are you telling me that the exact same accident happens to Phillipe that happened to Andre?” – so let me clear that up right now: no, that’s not what happens. François spills the beans to Phillipe about everything his father had done in his time, including his final fate, which unsurprisingly causes Phillipe to completely freak out anytime a fly buzzes by. Well, in the process of trying to reproduce his father’s experiment, Phillipe makes a poor choice in co-conspirator by teaming with a fellow named Alan Hinds (David Frankham), who’s highly unscrupulous and wants to swipe the teleportation system out from under Phillipe’s nose upon its completion, then sell it to the highest bidder. Eventually, there’s a showdown between the two of them, where Alan knocks Phillipe out and throws him into the disintegrator end of the system…because, you know, when you teleport something, you have to disintegrate it, then reintegrate it…and leaves him just kind of hanging out in nothingness, waiting to be reintegrated. But just because he’s a complete douche and knows of Phillipe’s fear of flies, Alan makes sure to throw a fly into the disintegrator with Phillipe. I mean, seriously, how cold up is that? Anyway, no surprise here: when Phillipe is retrieved, he’s got the head and arm of a fly…and, as a bonus, a foot, too. This time, though, the head looks bulbous and a bit ridiculous, aided in no small way by the fact that Phillipe is wearing a suit and tie. The storyline itself is interesting enough, but the scenes with Phillipe as a fly are just laughable. In fact, the creepiest teleportation accident in the film isn’t his but, rather, one which occurs when Alan tries to dispose of his first victim’s body, which is blended with that of a previously-disintegrated guinea pig. The resulting guinea pig with human hands is so disconcerting that Alan immediately grinds it to death under his heel. Ugh. Anyway, in the end, Phillipe is made human once more…

…and, six years later, we continued Phillipe’s story in “Curse of The Fly,” and…well, not to offer up a spoiler here but, rather, to clarify something that would otherwise really piss you off (and no doubt had a similar effect on ’60s theatergoers), it really should be mentioned that no-one turns into a fly in this film. Not halfway, not even a little bit. The story focuses instead on the Delambre family in general, as we discover that Phillipe has, with the assistance of his two sons, managed to perfect his teleportation system at long last. There are a still a few quirks here and there, but, ultimately, it does indeed work. Mind you, it wasn’t a success from the get-go, as several of the Delambre’s former assistants can testify…or, rather, they could if their minds were intact and their bodies weren’t horribly disfigured. On the whole, “Curse of the Fly” is actually a far more interesting and compelling film than “Return of The Fly,” focusing on a scientist’s obsession with finally achieving his life’s goal, albeit with a “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs” plaque holding an honored spot on his laboratory wall.

This set includes some great special features, including audio commentary on “The Fly” with Al Hedison himself, the A&E “Biography” episode on Vincent Price, a new featurette on the three films which includes contributions from Hedison, Halsey, and several other horror film experts, and countless photos, pressbooks, posters, and the like. The original trailers for all the films are included as well, the best of which is easily the one for the first movie; there’s a shot of a Patricia Owens screaming, then Price steps out of the darkness, speaks directly to the viewer, and by providing far more dialogue from the film than actual footage, leaves one horrified but ecstatic at the thought of seeing “The Fly.”

May this entry have a similar effect on you when it comes to “The Fly Collection.”