Product Details

• Actors: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, George Chuvalo, Michael Copeman, Leslie Carlson
• Format: Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Dubbed: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: October 4, 2005
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009X768W
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,343 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Fly (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of the science fiction classic about a scientist who accidentally swaps body parts with a fly is both smart and terrifying: an allegory for the awful processes of slow death and a monster movie with a tragic spin. Jeff Goldblum gives a masterful performance as a sweet, nerdy scientist whose romance with a writer (Geena Davis) makes him more fully alive. Next thing you know, a tiny oversight in an experiment causes him to transmogrify, gradually, into something more like an insect than a human. This is Cronenberg (Scanners, Videodrome) country, so expect The Fly to be a gross-out, but in the way that disease corrupts the body and can make a loved one unrecognizable on every level. This is one of Cronenberg's best films, and certainly one of the important movies of the 1980s. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Seth Brundle, a brilliant but eccentric scientist attempts to woo investigative journalist Veronica Quaife by offering her a scoop on his latest research in the field of matter transportation, which against all the expectations of the scientific establishment have proved successful. Up to a point. Brundle thinks he has ironed out the last problem when he successfully transports a living creature, but when he attempts to teleport himself a fly enters one of the transmission booths, and Brundle finds he is a changed man.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 77 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Decent showing on Blu-Ray January 10, 2008

By Stephen M. Lerch TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you're looking for review of the film itself, look elsewhere. As I've done previously I wish to focus on the quality of the picture and audio and leave the writing of the film review for those better suited to it.

This movie is encoded on Blu-Ray using the AVC codec and is brought in using 1080p that most expect from Blu-Ray. The video itself is less than stellar in terms of presentation. Let me qualify this. This is likely the best the movie has EVER looked for home presentation, but it's not a visually impressive movie no matter how it's presented. There is some film grain but there is plenty of detail to be seen. It's just that the movie has no "pizazz" to it so to speak. There are no blemishes on the film and no weird compression artifacts at all. This is as it should be for an HD release.

The audio is DTS-HD lossless. The problem is that there really isn't much that requires any directionality here. It's mostly dialog driven with not much else going on in the sound field. The thing is, 5.1 audio in a movie like this really isn't needed and I'm glad that Fox didn't try to dress the audio up needlessly. I may sound like a broken record but this is also likely the best The Fly has sounded in the home market.

The extras, as seems to be the case on many releases of films that already have DVD editions packed with extras, are all in standard definition. There are some Blu-Ray exclusive extras that aren't particularly noteworthy. The first is pop-up trivia during the film (you can turn this on and off) with fun production facts and so on. The other is a very boring and annoying "game" called "Flyswatter." You have this slow moving fly flying around the screen with some scenes from the movie playing in the background and the objective is to swat the fly with an even slower moving flyswatter. It's time wasting and really adds nothing of value to the disc.

If you already have the special edition SD release, given the video and audio doesn't really stand out too much in the HD front, you may want to think twice about picking up the Blu-Ray edition of The Fly. If you don't own it and want a definitive edition with all the previous extras and the best possible audio and video, look no further.

For a back catalog release with limited appeal, I do think the MSRP is a little on the high side however.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fly, you fools! November 23, 2006

By Terrence Aybar VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

As usual, I've titled my review with a crummy pun. I have no excuse and neither did I have to reference the Lord of the Rings in doing so but it was the first thing that came to mind so... my apologies.

I'm a bit late in singing the praises of this DVD since it came out last year already but as of late, I've been watching this film a lot because of how well produced this DVD is. They really did a good job with this disc and they finally gave the film the treatment it deserves. The picture is nice and clear and the 5.1 mixes (Dolby Digital and DTS) are pretty sweet. So what that translates to is that what was disgusting before in this film is made to be utterly revolting now. Vomiting never looked and sounded so clear before now, especially as it eats through the flesh of a poor guy's hand and foot!

This disc is loaded with special features and if they release this down the road with more stuff, I won't believe it. You get a Cronenberg commentary which is nice because his commentaries are always an enjoyable and informative listen. There are great featurettes, interesting deleted scenes, scripts, texts, pictures and a fantastic, lengthy making-of documentary which is worth the price of the disc alone. If I had to complain, I would've liked to see something said about Howard Shore's music for the film but they really don't make any mention of it. It's a very minor complaint and nothing that hurts the disc overall.

The Fly is a pretty nasty film and I think on that we can all agree on that. Few movies are as revolting as this one, that's for sure. But underneath the viscera, you have a very intelligent, thoughtful and genuinely moving film that has great performances by Jeff Goldblum in the title role, Geena Davis and John Getz. I really appreciate this film and I'm glad that they took the time to produce this edition to properly compliment it. Highly recommended, especially if you're a fan or even if you haven't seen this film at all.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Scary, funny, and thought-provoking -- what more could you ask for from a film? April 14, 2008

By Nathan Andersen TOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

A scientist on the verge of a technical breakthrough, is stymied by his failure to understand the body in other than intellectual terms. His affair with the reporter who enters his life to document his discoveries awakens him to the power of the flesh -- but the flesh is nothing if not unpredictable and irrational and a "fly in the ointment" changes the outcome of a pivotal experiment, leading to disastrous concequences. The Fly represents a perfect blend of Cronenberg's b-horror sensibility and his obsession with the overlap between man and machine, flesh and technology. It takes what might have been a fairly campy remake of a fairly campy horror film and elevates it to a whole new level, giving it an intriguing science fiction premise and a horrific conclusion. Jeff Goldblum gives a brilliant performance, among his best, as a cerebral scientist who is gradually overcome by the flesh in the form of libidinal urges. The special effects are just right -- not enough to overwhelm the story, but sufficiently convincing to horrify. I saw this with a large group very recently, many of whom had never seen it before, and there were uncomfortable laughs and gasps in all the right places. What is even better, as we talked about the film afterwards there was a lot to say. The Fly is right up there with Alien and Blade Runner and Total Recall and the Thing as one of the very best genre films of the 1980s (or of any decade for that matter -- I can't think of anything in the 90s, except for the Matrix, and maybe Pan's Labyrinth in this decade, that matches these in terms of the combination of both thrills and intellectual excitement).