The Fly

Play trailer

2:02

The Fly

R

Released Aug 15, 1986

1h 35m

Horror

Sci-Fi

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

75 Reviews

83%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a merger of man and insect. Initially, Brundle appears to have undergone a successful teleportation, but the fly's cells begin to take over his body. As he becomes increasingly fly-like, Brundle's girlfriend (Geena Davis) is horrified as the person she once loved deteriorates into a monster.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Buy Now

Critics Consensus

David Cronenberg combines his trademark affinity for gore and horror with strongly developed characters, making The Fly a surprisingly affecting tragedy.

Read Critics Reviews

Jay Scott

Globe and Mail

The Fly is a mass-market, horror film masterpeice that is also a work of art.

Dec 6, 2022

Full Review

Patrick Goldstein

Los Angeles Times

What makes The Fly such a stunning piece of obsessive film making is the way Cronenberg deftly allows us to identify with his monstrous creation.

Aug 4, 2013

Full Review

Carrie Rickey

Philadelphia Inquirer

Wildly imaginative, gut-wrenchingly scarifying and profoundly primal (not to mention funny), David Cronenberg's The Fly is a movie that whacks you in the solar plexus and leaves you gasping.

Rated: 4/4

Aug 4, 2013

Full Review

Howard Waldstein

CBR

Things go from bad to worse, and the climax of the film is as disgusting as it is moving.

Jul 18, 2023

Full Review

Nadine Smith

them.

“Romance” isn’t alway the first word that comes to mind when describing David Cronenberg’s nasty body horror nightmares, but The Fly is nothing if not a deeply loving film.

Oct 27, 2022

Full Review

Andy Klein

Los Angeles Reader

Cronenberg has layered the story with so many possible interpretations and resonances that one's head swims.

Aug 12, 2022

Full Review

Read all reviews

Nick K

Probably one of Cronenbergs best works.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/09/25

Full Review

Vinicius S

How could so much story be told in 95 minutes and today we have 180 minutes of complete garbage all around?

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/16/25

Full Review

Nick O

I love the original Fly, but Cronenberg blows the pants off of it with this ultra-gory, 1980’s creepfest!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/27/25

Full Review

Brent G

David Cronenberg is a sick sick man, and I mean that in the best way possible. The Brundlefly is some of the most disgusting makeup and costuming I have ever seen. The slow transformation of Seth to the Brundlefly was terrifying. The performance of Jeff Goldblum is iconic. It really is one of the greatest horror movies ever made. It’s so good, it’s easy to overlook overacting annd sometimes annoying performance of Geena Davis and the story of the creepy ex-boyfriend being framed as the hero. It’s just perfectly done body horror.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

05/20/25

Full Review

Jose A

Classic movie! 10/10 amazing film yes it can be grotesque but The Fly does a great job pulling you in emotionally, the pace is great! every single scene means something , you gradually see that the situation is getting more worse and the tension builds and builds. The music score does a good job making the movie feel more impactful, the music score just starts to sound more dark and moodier as the movie goes on. I love the ending to this movie, I was so invested in this really sad emotional story. If you haven’t watched this movie I beg you to give it a watch, it’s so good! One of the greatest movies you’ll ever watch I promise.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/07/25

Full Review

Randy C

The grotesque scenes and the desperation of the characters will make you shudder at the thought of future technology.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/02/25

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

David Cronenberg

Director

Jeff Goldblum

Seth Brundle

Geena Davis

Veronica Quaife

John Getz

Stathis Borans

Joy Boushel

Tawny

Leslie Carlson

Dr. Brent Cheevers

From Beyond

81%

70%

From Beyond

Watchlist

Lifeforce

58%

46%

Lifeforce

Watchlist

The Blob

69%

59%

The Blob

Watchlist

TRAILER

for The Blob

Hardware

46%

53%

Hardware

Watchlist

Species

42%

31%

Species

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

The Fly: Trailer 1

2:02

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a merger of man and insect. Initially, Brundle appears to have undergone a successful teleportation, but the fly's cells begin to take over his body. As he becomes increasingly fly-like, Brundle's girlfriend (Geena Davis) is horrified as the person she once loved deteriorates into a monster.

Director: David Cronenberg
Producer: Stuart Cornfeld
Screenwriter: David Cronenberg, Charles Edward Pogue
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: SLM Production Group
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 15, 1986, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 24, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $34.9M
Runtime: 1h 35m
Sound Mix: Surround

Most Popular at Home Now