Return of the Fly (1959)

"I know something terrible happened, something even more terrible than suicide or murder", 13 October 2007

Following the death of his mother, Philippe Delambre (Brett Halsey) decides to continue the work his father began 15 years previous. His father's experiments in matter transference ended disastrously. Philippe promises his uncle, Francois Delambre (Vincent Price), he'll be more careful and not make the same mistake that took his father's life. But as luck would have it, Philippe is destined to the same horrible fate. Through a one in a million accident, he's turned into a half fly, half human. Though he wasn't able to help Philippe's father, maybe this time Uncle Francois can find the fly and save Philippe.

Return of the Fly is a quick and cheap follow-up to The Fly. Though there are things to enjoy, it's something of a disappointment given the original. The sequel lacks the mystery of the first movie. In this one, we are expected to just accept the whole transference process and that a man can be turned into a fly. No suspense, no atmosphere – nothing. And what about the son Philippe meeting the same fate as his father? I called it a million to one accident – well it's probably more like a trillion to one. Can't the Delambre family get some pest strips or hire an exterminator or something? The notion of a fly getting in the transference machine twice is ridiculous. There are other problems (the fly special effects and the theft subplot for example), but these are the two things that bothered me the most.

Oh, but it's not all bad. The acting is okay. I've never been much of a fan of Brett Halsey, but here he's actually good. Vincent Price is always enjoyable even when, as here, he doesn't have much of anything to do. Also, the scenes of the fly stalking his prey in the funeral home are effective. I'll admit that I jumped every time he popped out of the shadows. Finally, despite the movie's problems and shortcomings, it's still fairly fun. As I've written any number of times now, entertainment is the most important thing when it comes to a movie for me. And while I wasn't bowled over or anything by Return of the Fly, I still had a decent time with it.

5/10