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Return of the Fly More at IMDbPro »

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39 reviews in total

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12 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Enjoyable sequel, not on par with the original, 31 December 2003
Author: squeezebox from United States

THE FLY was a fairly classy, atmospheric sci-fi movie with some horror overtones. It was fun and campy, but also somewhat disturbing in its depiction of a man losing his humanity, a theme which was explored more deeply in David Cronenberg's astonishing remake.

RETURN OF THE FLY is basically a cheap follow-up which is better than it should be. This is mostly due to the always reliable Vincent Price, who returns as the brother of the scientist who became the fly-monster in the original. Here, he desperately tries to sway his nephew from following in his father's footsteps.

The movie concentrates on the son's attempts to recreate his father's teleportation equipment with a hesitant Price helping out, then shifts gears as his other partner, a British ex-con, is discovered to be attempting to steal the research.

This leads to a few misadventures with the teleportation machine resulting in a man becoming a human guinea pig (literally), and ultimately the son becoming a fly-monster himself.

Shot in stark black and white (as opposed to the original's lush Technicolor), RETURN OF THE FLY has a sleazy, grindhouse quality to it. Whereas the original explored the horror of losing one's mind and physical being, this time it's basically just a "monster roaming the countryside" scenario, with any psychological or philisophical aspects thrown out the window in favor of cheap thrills. And while the make-up effects are somewhat improved upon, the ridiculous optical effect of the son's head on a fly's body is unintentionally funny.

Overall, however, it's entertaining enough, and above average for the B-horror movies of the era, though it may be disappointing for fans of the original.

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10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A quickie capitalizes on the popularity of the original..., 14 May 2005

Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

BRETT HALSEY is one of those handsome young actors from the '50s who never quite made it to stardom, and following the trend of other such actors, he fled to Europe where he found a niche for a decade or so in adventure films. He was certainly a competent enough actor and it's a shame Fox never groomed him for major stardom.

Nor did Fox have enough faith in this one to use technicolor (as they did for the original). As sequels go, it's just a fair job on an obviously shoestring budget--and basically, without giving any of the storyline away, it's a story of revenge.

It's all suitably photographed in low key B&W lighting that gives it the proper atmosphere. The performers are capable enough--including Halsey, Vincent Price, John Sutton and Dan Seymour--but their material is scarcely worthy of their combined talents. Fans of this sort of science fiction will no doubt find it has a certain amount of interest.

Anyone who enjoyed "The Fly" will want to see this and probably not be too critical of the shortcomings--although the special effects are not quite as harrowing as they could be.

Summing up: Okay for a viewing, but not likely to be the kind of horror flick anyone will want to revisit.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Return of the quick buck pain zone., 5 February 2009

Author: JohnRouseMerriottChard from United Kingdom

Years after his father's experiments with matter transportation resulted in terror striking his family, Philippe Delambre decides he wishes to continue his father's work and break new ground in science. Unable to get financial help from his uncle François, Phillipe turns to a shady friend for assistance, a decision that will send Philippe and those around him into utter terror!.

Much like the disastrous creatures that are born out of the family Delambre's experiments, this sequel to the 1958 adaptation of George Langelan's short story is an abomination that not only was a cash cow rush job, it's also a stain on the first pictures greatness. Unintentionally funny and wasting the obvious talents of Vincent Price {who looks bemused by what's going on most of the time}, it's a picture that really has no redeeming features, technically it's poor {the superimposed head of pretty face actor for hire, Brett Halsey, on the fly is cringe worthy} and it lacks any moments of unease to speak of. A quite disturbing sequence involving a mouse/guinea pig scores well in the sicko stakes, but by the time the "Papier Mache" headed fly goes for some emotional weight, well we no longer care what happens to it or those around it.

Some times cheese can be fun and entertaining, but bad cheese tends to stink up the place very quickly indeed, Return Of The Fly is the Stilton of stupidly bad sequel movies. 2/10

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8 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Solid Sequel!, 7 May 2006

Author: jonathon_naylor from Manitoba, Canada

This rushed sequel to 1958's classic THE FLY is actually more entertaining than the original thanks to a faster pace and a greater emphasis on action and chills.

The original fly's son, Philippe, is now a brilliant young scientist in his own right. He seeks to reconstruct the teleportation device that erroneously turned his pops into a frightening (well, silly, actually) insect man. With the project a success, a crooked assistant -- in an apparent murder attempt -- teleports Philippe along with a fly (clever writing, I must say). Like father, like son, this bug man is out to terrorize. But maybe, just maybe the man within the beast can be salvaged.

With decent performances from Brett Halsey and the returning Vincent Price, this 1959 outing deserves its own place on the mantle of great black and white horror entries.

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6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Following in father's footsteps., 25 February 2006

Author: lost-in-limbo from the Mad Hatter's tea party.

Phillippe the son of the infamous Dr. Delambre, who still has an air of mystery around his death, is now a young man who has taken over his father's work, which his uncle Francois wants him to forget about. Though he gets conned into backing the experiment and that's only if he can supervise the project, so it doesn't happen again. The experiment is going quite well, up until later on when Phillippe finds out his mischievous assistant has betrayed him, as he's secretly selling the idea of the teleportation device to another backer. So, to stop the word getting out, his assistant provides him with the same fate that his father had fought. Now, it's a race against time for Francois and Inspector Beecham to save Phillippe from the same aftermath of his father.

Right of the back of the original film, comes a rather quickie of a sequel that doesn't push any limits. Firstly, no way does it come close to the superior original, but as an automatic b-grade monster feature, it's provides enough rollicking fun. Well, when you got Price on show, how can you go wrong? What we get is a bland story structure that lacks an ounce of life and astuteness, though it does have a few inspired moments, but these are far and in between many inferior sequences that come off just plain ordinary with some confusing plot details. The original managed to work around the silly context, but here it tends accept it by working in laughable story turns and monster effects. Even the dialog seems more like schlock, without the savvy and witty dialog that made the first film naturally engaging. The performances are all but cold and lifeless, but with the obvious exception of Vincent Price. He just has a spellbinding presence that when the words roll of his tongue, it has a Shakespearean vibe, no matter how bad the lines were. Price's performance is definitely this film's anchor. The rest of the characters I didn't care for, as they are rather unsympathetic and foolish.

There was just more attention to fabricating unpleasant and cheap thrills, which are more out of control with a monster out for revenge hook-line. It's more violent than its predecessor too. I give it credit that it's more exciting in its basic dementia of its creation, but hell the treatment of the story and effects were laughable. That's unintentionally, though. This one seems more serious, but it's outlandishly executed in a drab fashion. But ironically everything works out in the long run with a happy ending for all… well for the good guys. Now the effects are decent, but when it came to the fly's head on the human body. Why was it that huge!? It looks stupid! Sure, it looks even more hideous, but you got to be kidding, it was funny watching the guy running along while holding onto it, so it doesn't fall off. You could easily tell the guy was having trouble with it, even so when walking! They really out did themselves on that one.

Another note was that the pacing is rather brisk, gladly. Also it does provide slight dose of suspense and atmosphere, but more so it's preoccupied in its second-rate chills and mayhem instead. The flick is shot in black and white, and it does look rather sharp and crisp in detail. Plus there's some showy photography and framework that adds a bit more creative eye to the wailing production. The story's actions on this occasion were just too ridiculous to take seriously with it getting more risible the further it goes, but it seems pretty unaware to all of that.

It's not all that bad, but the quality is replaced by big chunks of camp that's more interested in wowing us with ludicrous action, rather then the strain it has on the characters and their relationships. Still, there's b-grade fun to be had here.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
"I know something terrible happened, something even more terrible than suicide or murder", 13 October 2007

Author: bensonmum2 from Tennessee

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Following the death of his mother, Philippe Delambre (Brett Halsey) decides to continue the work his father began 15 years previous. His father's experiments in matter transference ended disastrously. Philippe promises his uncle, Francois Delambre (Vincent Price), he'll be more careful and not make the same mistake that took his father's life. But as luck would have it, Philippe is destined to the same horrible fate. Through a one in a million accident, he's turned into a half fly, half human. Though he wasn't able to help Philippe's father, maybe this time Uncle Francois can find the fly and save Philippe.

Return of the Fly is a quick and cheap follow-up to The Fly. Though there are things to enjoy, it's something of a disappointment given the original. The sequel lacks the mystery of the first movie. In this one, we are expected to just accept the whole transference process and that a man can be turned into a fly. No suspense, no atmosphere – nothing. And what about the son Philippe meeting the same fate as his father? I called it a million to one accident – well it's probably more like a trillion to one. Can't the Delambre family get some pest strips or hire an exterminator or something? The notion of a fly getting in the transference machine twice is ridiculous. There are other problems (the fly special effects and the theft subplot for example), but these are the two things that bothered me the most.

Oh, but it's not all bad. The acting is okay. I've never been much of a fan of Brett Halsey, but here he's actually good. Vincent Price is always enjoyable even when, as here, he doesn't have much of anything to do. Also, the scenes of the fly stalking his prey in the funeral home are effective. I'll admit that I jumped every time he popped out of the shadows. Finally, despite the movie's problems and shortcomings, it's still fairly fun. As I've written any number of times now, entertainment is the most important thing when it comes to a movie for me. And while I wasn't bowled over or anything by Return of the Fly, I still had a decent time with it.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Return Misses The Mark, 7 November 2003

Author: jcholguin (jcholguin@lycos.com) from los angeles

I was not sure what to expect as all of the plans and equipment were destroyed in the first movie but leave it up to screen writers to force a plot from the ashes. Philippe Delambre has grown up and refuses to listen to his uncle, Francois Delambre "Vincent Price" from the first feature. Uncle tries to stop Philippe from following the experiments that killed Andre Delambre and lead to the death of Helene Delambre, Philippe's mother. The boy has become a hard headed and stubborn man that blackmails Francois into funding the experiments of "matter transfer." Philippe's friend, a fellow scientist Alan Hinds plays the part of murderer and traitor. Because of Alan's greed, Philippe ends up becoming what his father did, a "fly-man" but very different, this monster seeks out and kills. That is what sets this film as different, the first film had love as a motive of the lone killing whereas this film, revenge is the centerpiece. There is certainly more action in this film but it lacks the sympathy the first one displays. Still, to watch both films in order is a worthwhile adventure.

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6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
It's quite hilarious, which, you know, wasn't probably the intention, 22 April 2005
Author: Brevity from Finland

While the fly "makeup" is as ridiculous as in the original, it's got nothing on the guinea pig paws. Add in obvious, under-lining music, delayed reactions, a clumsy fly-man, some overacting, action reminiscent of the old "Batman" series, "help me, help me" revisited, some fly-staring, 50s special effects - the "disintegrator-integrator" machine of the old beep-beep type (you can imagine the sounds), not to mention the creatures themselves, is amusing as anything - and some rodent-squelching, and you got yourself laughs aplenty.

The editing is really messy and ugly; there's much dead air in between, even though the film barely runs for 80 minutes! The camera-work is awkward as well.

The cliché-filled dialogue is often amusing, intentionally or not, with some of the highlights being the "if I tell you, it'll haunt you for the rest of your life" exchange, the whole bad guy routine and "the murderous brain of the fly". The what?

I don't think this was done tongue-in-cheek. It's basically the same story as in the original, which makes it seem redundant, but hey, it's mostly entertaining, so I guess that evens it out. Notice how I used the word "mostly".

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Works Well As Light Entertainment, As Long As It's Not Compared With the Original, 6 September 2005
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio

This is the kind of sequel that can be rather enjoyable as long as you don't hold it up to the standard of the original. It does bear the signs of a movie that was conceived primarily to capitalize on the popularity of its predecessor, and as a result it is hardly as carefully constructed. But as light entertainment, it works well enough.

The first part of the movie connects things up pretty efficiently with the original story, and it's kind of fun to go back to André's wrecked lab, which looks just as it should. Brett Halsey plays André's son Philippe, who is determined to follow in his father's footsteps. While the setup could have led in a number of different directions, the story that actually follows puts an emphasis on action, and it uses the special visual effects rather more freely than in the original "Fly".

From a scientific viewpoint, the whole premise of both movies is far-fetched at best, but in the original, you rarely thought about it because the story was so tightly constructed. In the sequel, the implausibility of the whole thing is harder to ignore. It doesn't detract that much from the entertainment value, but it is a noticeable difference from the first movie.

Except for Vincent Price, the cast is new, but solid. While the production might have a couple of rough edges this time, most of it still looks good enough. Overall, with the right expectations this is a generally entertaining light feature.

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3 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Terrible...Sullies the good name of "The Fly"., 9 May 2006

Author: theshadow908 from London, Ontario

In this sequel to The Fly, Andre Delambre's son is grown up and takes over his father's experiments, much to the chagrin of his Uncle Francois, once again played by Vincent Price. As you may well have guessed, the same thing happens all over again, and Phillipe Delambre's head and arm are swapped with a fly. Isn't that a funny coincidence, that the same thing happens again to the son of the original guy? What are the chances? The Return of the Fly quite simply doesn't have the same emotional depth or the same quality of plot at all. The Fly in this film is a giant lumbering idiot that just attacks people for no reason at all. They even add a stupid moment in the film where a man goes through the teleportation pod with a gerbil and comes out with gerbil paws. What's the point? To use up special effects.

The direction, plot, and acting are terrible this time around, and it doesn't have the same feel as the original. It was also a big mistake to make this film in black and white after the original film was done is full colour. Ridiculous.

3/10

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