The Fly II opens with a birth similar to the gruesome dream sequence in the original, but this time it’s for real and it’s the offspring of the original mad scientist, Seth Brundle. Will he turn out completely normal? I sure hope not…

“Are you sure this is safe?”

Seth’s son(Eric Stoltz) goes by the name of Martin which I couldn’t help think of as a Marty McFly reference. Maybe it’s accidental, but it was still distracting. Anyway he’s born with super-fast ageing and a photographic memory – just like a fly – and doesn’t begin the inevitable shift to human flyman until he reaches maturity. I guess a toddler turning into a fly isn’t very family friendly.

So young Marty the Fly is brought up in a science place under the watchful eye of a science man (Lee Richardson). When he’s old enough (5) he’s enlisted to help out in getting his father’s teleporting machine to work.

It doens’t have much to do with the original film – it’s more like a vaguely linked tribute, much like Psycho 2. It’s less Cronenberg, more Carling. If you go into this film expecting The Fly you will be disappointed. If you go into it merely expecting a fly it will over-deliver, so best aim your expectations somewhere in between.

There’s some gruesome body horror and oozing prosthetics on a par with the original, and even more fly vomit, which will please fans of fly vomit (Dan). But it lacks the tense atmosphere or well-rounded characters that make the original such an outstanding film. While the performances arne’t bad, Eric Stoltz is no Jeff Goldblum – lacking his buglike intensity. He looks not unlike Toby McGuire in this, which is ironic since his character wouldn’t last five seconds against Spider-Man.

Mystique

Fly-man