A New Generation of Terror!
In this 1989 sequel to David Cronenberg's popular grotesque remake of the 1958 classic, the problems wrought by Seth Brundle's telepods are far from over. Veronica Quaife (now played by Saffron Henderson) dies giving birth to Seth's son, Martin. As it turns out, Martin was conceived by Veronica and Seth after Seth's accident with the telepod, so Martin has fly genes just like his dad.
Bartok Science Industries, who funded Seth's work and were mentioned in the previous film, take custody of baby Martin after Veronica's death. They also acquire the two surviving telepods. Martin is raised by uncaring and callous Bartok employees, completely isolated from the rest of the world, as Bartok CEO Anton Bartok takes a "wait and see" stance on whether Martin will turn into a mutant fly creature like his father. In the meantime, they experiment with the telepods using a dog, with predictable results.
Once he's a grown man, Martin is allowed more freedom around the facility so he can fix the malfunctioning telepods. His willingness to cooperate wanes after he finds out about the dog, though. He meets staffer Beth Logan and falls in love with her but a meddling Bartok puts the kibosh on their budding romance, though, by reassigning her to another building. At around this time Martin discovers he is indeed beginning to metamorphose into a fly monster like Seth, and his already thin patience with his hosts finally snaps after he learns Bartok wanted him to transform all along, so that they could experiment on him.
Soon, Martin will complete his transformation, and when he does, nobody at Bartok Industries will be safe! Let the acid-spitting, blood-n-guts mutant fly rampage begin!
This two-disc collector's edition DVD is chock full of extras (some would argue more extras than a mediocre sequel deserves!). First up is a commentary by director Chris Walas, who did the first film's special effects, and historian Bob Burns. They don't so much discuss the film as they do just talk about whatever comes to mind (it ranges from scene specific to general), but are engaging to listen to.
On the second disc is an hour-long documentary narrated by Leonard Nimoy discussing the origins of the 1958 movie, the short story it was based on, and its two sequels The Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly and the development of Cronenberg's film as well as this sequel. It's quite fascinating and nice to see that all of the movies, even the subpar sequels, are given equal attention. The third documentary is about the actual making of The Fly II and is much shorter, but just as interesting. There's also a deleted scene and an unused alternate ending. Neither are particularly interesting.
While certainly not as meaningful and thematic as its predecessor, The Fly II is still a thoroughly enjoyable monster movie and the continuity it keeps with The Fly is commendable. A solid cast and some great, gruesome, gooey special effects make this a winner in the 80's horror genre. Special mention go to the disturbing scenes of a poor security guard having his face melted off, a guy getting his head crushed in a descending elevator, and of course the sad fate of that dog that went through the telepod. What a tearjerker that was. And I don't even like dogs!Read full review
