The Fly

The Fly was released in 1986 and directed by David Cronenberg. Rather than simply retelling the plot, the film is worth revisiting for the characters, conflicts and ideas that give its story its identity.

Humanity, Technology and Fear emerge through what the characters face and the choices they make, giving the story more to explore beyond its immediate plot. Seth Brundle, Veronica "Ronnie" Quaife and Stathis Borans do not begin the film seeing one another clearly, and watching those first impressions break down is a big part of why The Fly still works.

Seth Brundle, a brilliant but eccentric scientist, meets Veronica "Ronnie" Quaife, a science journalist, at a press event.

He takes her back to his home and laboratory and shows her his invention: a set of "telepods" that allows instantaneous teleportation between them. That detail matters because it shapes the way the characters initially see one another.

Seth convinces Ronnie to keep the invention secret in exchange for exclusive rights to the story, and she documents his work. From there, the film can concentrate less on explaining the setup and more on what happens between the people inside it.

Although the telepods can transport inanimate objects, they mutilate live tissue, as demonstrated when a baboon is turned inside-out during an experiment.

Their first sexual encounter inspires Seth to reprogram the telepod to understand the makeup of living tissue.

After he successfully teleports a second baboon, Ronnie hurriedly leaves to confront her editor Stathis Borans about his threat, spurred by his jealousy of Seth, to publish the story without her consent.

Embittered and convinced she is rekindling her relationship with Stathis, Seth teleports himself alone, unaware that a fly has slipped inside the transmitter pod with him.

The Fly has more on its mind than the basic setup suggests. humanity sits close to the centre of the film, but it is explored through the characters rather than treated like a lesson.

our relationship with technology matters just as much. The film keeps challenging the assumptions its characters make about one another, which is where much of its emotional weight comes from.

There is also plenty here about fear and love. Those ideas overlap rather than sitting in separate boxes, which helps the movie feel like a story about people rather than a checklist of themes.

The Fly could hardly be separated from the decade that produced it. Released in 1986, it carries the attitudes, style and filmmaking rhythms of the 1980s without needing to announce them.

It also sits comfortably within the era's horror, science fiction, monster, drama, romance, body horror, science fiction horror, romantic drama, romantic horror and thriller filmmaking, even if the movie itself is more interesting than any single genre label suggests. That is part of why it still appears in conversations about 1980s movies and 1980s horror movies. The film has become tied not only to its own story but to the wider memory of what 1980s movies felt like.

Watching The Fly now means seeing both what has lasted and what unmistakably belongs to 1986.

Seth and Ronnie begin a romantic relationship. That kind of character-driven idea tends to survive changes in fashion far better than surface-level nostalgia.

Some moments inevitably land differently for a modern audience. Revisiting an older film properly means enjoying what still works without pretending every choice has aged equally well.

A large part of that staying power comes from the characters. Seth Brundle, Veronica "Ronnie" Quaife and Stathis Borans are still useful shorthand for the personalities and pressures the film explores.

The Fly has lasted because people continue to recognise something in it. Nostalgia helps, but nostalgia alone does not keep a movie in the conversation for decades.