#ClassicHorror Movie Favorites – The Fly & Return of the Fly #PromoteHorror

I never realized until watching it again recently that The Fly (1958) was in color, for whatever reason my memory of it is in black and white. Either way, it has to be one of the strangest movies ever made.

Patricia Owens’s portrayal of Hélène Delambre is hysterical to mysterious to psychotic. She’s killed her husband but won’t go into the details why. No one understands her obsession with flies and being upset when someone kills one.

I can always tell when a movie Vincent Price is in isn’t an American International Picture; I feel like he’s holding back his dramatics. Then again, he was a supporting actor in The Fly, so what more could he do with the little screen time? The costuming is amazing, and the way it’s revealed gives the extra wow factor when we finally see the creature that André Delambre had become.

I wonder why they filmed Return of the Fly (1959) in black and white. This one jumps into the future, and Philippe Delambre is now an adult. With both of his parents now dead, he wants answers and implores of his uncle to tell him the truth of what had happened; reluctantly, he agrees. This chapter in The Fly series is a little more dramatic than the original.

As far as sequels go, Return of the Fly has more frightening aspects than its predecessor, though remaining more Sci Fi than horror. I don’t care, I love these movies, they have a strange, twisty feel to them that appeals to me. I like the Fly costume better, too, it’s scarier than the original. I find it interesting that it’s the same combination as the first, head and one arm.

As a unit, I give The Fly and Return of the Fly 3.5 out of 5 Stars