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The Fly II (1989)
Starring Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson, and John Getz. Cinematography by Robin Vidgeon. Edited by Sean Barton. Produced by Steven-Charles Jaffe. Written by Mick Garris, Jim Wheat, Ken Wheat, and Frank Darabont. Directed by Chris Walas.
Set five years after the first Fly film, the sequel picks up with Veronica giving birth to Seth Brundle’s son. She dies shortly after giving birth to the hideous cocoon that will later produce her son, Martin. Martin grows up behind the walls of a laboratory and continues his father’s research on teleportation. Like a fly, his life accelerates quickly and by the age of five he looks like a fully grown man. But he soon starts showing insect-like changes similar to those that his father suffered through. Bartok, the company that owns the lab he has grown up in, eagerly waits to exploit him as he begins to morph into a fly.
The Fly saga started out as a short story in the June, 1957 issue of Playboy magazine. A year later it was made into a major motion picture. The movie was a surprise hit and two sequels, Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly, followed. In 1986 David Cronenberg remade the original film into his own twisted tale of transformation and obsession. The film did reasonably well critically and commercially so what’s the logical next step? Why, a sequel to the remake of course. The Fly II and Return of the Fly both involve the son of the scientist from their original films, but The Fly II is not an official remake of the sequel.
The Fly II was the first directorial assignment for the special effects wizard from the first Fly, Chris Walas. The gore in this film was much more abundant than its predecessor making it a bit more visually disturbing, and the creature effects were at times pretty impressive. But that’s about all this film has going for it. The story is weak, the characters are uninteresting, and it doesn’t live up to the precedent set by the first Fly remake (or the original films for that matter).
Budget: $???
Total US Gross: $20,021,322
Genre: Horror
Runtime: 105 Minutes
US Release Date: 2/10/89
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Awards: none
Tagline: Like Father, Like Son.
Quote: “Brundle stole my girl, your mother. Got her pregnant. Caused her death. Dissolved my hand and my foot with fly vomit! I had no love for the man. He bugged me.”
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