Nearly 30 years after the classic original film, David Cronenberg remade The Fly. In the 1986 version, Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) pitches his revolutionary new invention to science journalist Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis).

Initially skeptical of Seth’s claims, Ronnie eventually takes him up on his offer and visits his lab. There she discovers that Seth has invented a device that teleports solid matter. She documents his progress and the pair also become lovers.

When Ronnie suddenly departs Seth’s residence to deal with her pushy editor – and former boyfriend – Stathis Borans (John Getz), Seth suffers from a bout of jealousy and insecurity. When he gets drunk, he decides to try out the teleporter on his own.

Initially this seems to work fine, but side effects soon occur. It turns out that a fly landed in the machine right before Seth teleported, so Brundle and insect now experience fused DNA. This changes Seth in disturbing ways.

When David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly hit screens in 1986, he created a surprisingly effective experience, one that I hadn't thought I'd like. The Fly is usually classified as a horror film, but I think that designation limits it too much.

To be certain, it contains a number of classic "scary movie" elements such as some jolts as well as more than its fair share of gross and/or creepy moments. Although The Fly features very little violence, it compensates for this with all of the disgusting - but effective - shots we find as Seth slowly mutates into another creature.

However, I think that at its heart, The Fly offers a tragedy. Actually, I know that it delivers a tragedy, as it perfectly fits the definition of that term.

A tragedy provides "a serious play or drama typically dealing with the problems of a central character, leading to an unhappy or disastrous ending brought on by fate and a tragic flaw in this character". Without providing too many of the story's details, let's just say that description nails the content of this film.

When The Fly made its rounds at our college's student union, I'd already seen it once and was eager to view it again. My friends mocked me because I'd told them how moving the film was.

They simply couldn't believe some cheesy horror flick could possess any form of emotional punch. After we all saw the film, they ridiculed me no more – not about The Fly, at least.

Goldblum’s stunning lead performance becomes a key to the film’s success. I’ve always liked his work but I don't think he's ever been better than as Seth.

Goldblum's natural twitchiness and quirky delivery suit him especially well as he transmogrifies from man to creature, and no matter how many layers of make-up cover him, he somehow manages to convey the essential humanity and spirit of the character. It's a tour de force performance, and one that would have gotten an Oscar nomination if the Academy would remove the stick that's up their collective butt.

As Ronnie, Davis also provides solid work. In some ways, she encounters the tougher role just because she exists as the one who must act as the audience's contact person.

Ronnie becomes the way we keep in touch with the story. I think most of us - even the nerdy engineers in the crowd - identify with her more closely.

Seth departs from the realm of reality too quickly for us to be able to stay with him, but Ronnie acts as the human constant in the movie as well as the one who must make the toughest decisions. Seth has no choice as to what fate will befall him, but Ronnie can select her own path. Davis keeps the character nicely grounded and avoids sentimental or sappy pitfalls.

Howard Shore's excellent score deserves special note. The music adds a lovely element of pathos and emotion to the proceedings that easily could have been dashed.

How easily? Check out the temp music used in the movie's trailer, as that cheesy synthesizer junk would have ruined the film.

Although David Cronenberg directs the film well, I must admit I wish he'd not made the movie so graphically disgusting. The goo and nastiness don't bother me, but I think they keep the picture from the wider audience it deserves.

Also, the most awkward parts of the movie revolve around gross-out scenes. Some of these stand out uncomfortably and seem ill-placed within the story's structure, so I think Cronenberg just felt like tossing out some sliminess and ignored the logical progress of the tale.

Nonetheless, even with those abrupt and awkward segments plus some weak dialogue and a few silly plot constructs - teaching the computer about the flesh indeed! - The Fly works very well. Those in search of a gory, campy horror flick will be disappointed, but anyone who'd like to see a touching, well-acted tragedy will be more than pleased with The Fly.

Although some softness crept into the image from time to time, the movie usually appeared pretty crisp and well-defined – within reason. The emphasis on dark interiors led to a certain level of muddiness, so the film didn’t often display real distinctiveness.

Nonetheless, it worked well given the limitations. Moiré effects and jagged edges no problems, and I witnessed no edge haloes.

Grain felt appropriate. No signs of print flaws manifested.

Because The Fly offered an extremely dark movie that focused on interiors, colors mostly went with a subdued mix of blues and browns. However, when allowed to be more dynamic, the hues seemed strong, and the tones felt appropriate across the board.

Black levels were dark and solid, and shadows seemed appropriate. This turned into a pretty effective reproduction of the source.

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 remix took the original Dolby Surround track and opened it up a bit. The forward soundstage remained dominant, with a nicely active environment in the front channels.

The audio integrated well and panned cleanly across the speakers. The rears offered more general support for the most part.

These speakers provided reinforcement of the score and effects, but they occasionally kicked in with more active audio during the most dramatic scenes. I even detected one or two instances in which split surrounds were used. The soundfield didn't compete with those found in more recent films, but for a picture from 1986 it worked well.

Quality also seemed pretty good for its age. Dialogue sounded natural and crisp throughout the film, with only a few instances of mild flatness that didn't affect intelligibility.

Effects were generally clean and accurate, though they displayed slight distortion during some of the louder moments. The score seemed especially strong, as it displayed clear highs and some fairly deep lows. The soundtrack earned a positive "B+".

How did the 2019 Shout Blu-ray compare to original BD from 2007? Both displayed identical audio.

Though allegedly from the same scan, I thought the Shout Blu-ray offered improvements over the old Fox disc. In particular, it felt a bit tighter and lost the minor print flaws of its predecessor. The Shout version didn’t become a major upgrade, but I did prefer it.

The Shout release mixes old and new extras, and we find two separate audio commentaries. Originally found on a 2005 DVD, the first comes from director David Cronenberg.

The filmmaker provides a running, screen-specific chat that covers many appropriate topics. Cronenberg gets into casting, characters, and issues connected to the real-life relationship between the leads, the design of the telepod, technical subjects like motion control and visual effects, dealing with the baboon, the script and comparisons with the original story and movie, themes, and shooting in Toronto.

The biggest problem here stems from dead air. Too many gaps appear, especially given the brief length of the movie.

Nonetheless, Cronenberg offers an insightful and thoughtful take on his movie. He digs into the issues with depth and clarity. These elements overcome the pauses and help make this a solid commentary.

New to the Shout release, the second commentary features film historian William Beard. During his running, screen-specific chat, he looks at story/characters, the David Cronenberg oeuvre and how Fly fits, the “body horror” genre, symbolism and themes, and some interpretation.

Don’t expect many production notes here, as Beard focuses almost entirely into a look at those other domains. For the most part, that works fine.

The only problem stems from Beard’s tendency to make this essentially annotated narrative too much of the time. However, he brings plenty of good insights along the way.

Also found on the Fox release, the disc includes a Trivia Track. This offers info about the source story and its adaptation, various effects, cast and crew, and related subjects.

Enough text pops up to keep this one interesting, but the notes seem unobtrusive enough so that you can still watch and enjoy the movie while they run. We get a good subtitle commentary here.

Two programs show up under “Documentaries”, and Fear of the Flesh: The Making of The Fly fills two hours, 16 minutes, 26 seconds. It gives us info from actors Jeff Goldblum, John Getz, and Geena Davis, co-screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue, producer Stuart Cornfeld, original director Robert Bierman, editor Ron Sanders, cinematographer Mark Irwin, production designer Carol Spier, makeup effects/creature design Chris Walas, and visual effects supervisor Hoyt Yeatman.

“Flesh” opens with notes about the original short story, the 1958 flick and its re-adaptation. From there we go through problems getting the studio to back the project, finding a director and various ups and downs, Cronenberg’s recruitment and his crew, casting, approaches to the characters, and rehearsals/preparation.

As the program continues, it goes through cinematography and lighting, sets and props, visual effects and related techniques like motion control photography, working with the baboon, makeup, Fly-related elements/puppets and other practical effects. The final section deals with previews, editing and cut sequences, and the movie’s release.fea

Really, the only negative I can find here is the odd absence of Cronenberg. Perhaps he figured his contribution to the commentary was enough, or maybe scheduling conflicts led to his absence. Whatever the case, his failure to appear here remains surprising.

Not that we truly miss him, as “Flesh” covers the film’s creation awfully well. It goes through many aspects of the production with detail and honesty.

We see many deleted shots and alternate takes, and the participants provide excellent information. I especially like Goldblum’s notes about how he approached the role. “Flesh” turns into a very strong documentary.

“Additional Interviews” span 26 minutes, 45 seconds and include remarks from Cornfeld, Goldblum, Davis, Irwin, Getz, Walas, Bierman and Pogue. They provide many good stories and add nice notes to the package.

Most of them do belong separate from the main documentary, but don’t take that as a negative comment. They’re usually quite interesting.

Also under “Documentaries”, The Brundle Museum of Natural History also appears. In this 11-minute, 51-second piece, makeup effects/creature design Chris Walas takes us on a tour of the Fly-related materials now owned by collector Bob Burns.

He shows us the various pieces and discusses them. We also find some nice behind the scenes footage that helps educate us about the elements.

Within “Interviews”, we get five interviews new to the Shout Blu-ray. This Meshuggener Scientist runs 13 minutes, 26 seconds and involves executive producer Mel Brooks.

The filmmaker looks at his fondness for horror films and his memories of the 1958 movie as well as what brought him to work on the 1986 version and various decisions. Even in his 90s, Brooks proves sharp, funny and informative.

Beauty and the Beast goes for 22 minutes, 49 seconds. It brings info from Stuart Cornfeld.

Here we learn about the property’s development, cast and crew, and some movie specifics. Cornfeld repeats info from elsewhere at times but he still makes this a solid overview.

Next comes Casting Director Deirdre Bowen on The Fly. Unsurprisingly, Bowen becomes the subject of this 14-minute, 37-second chat.

Bowen talks about how she came to the project as well as her work on it. Bowen delivers a mix of insights.

David’s Eyes spans 25 minutes, 24 seconds. It features Mark Irwin.

The cinematographer discusses his start in films, aspects of his career and his efforts on Fly. Expect a pretty solid chat.

Finally, A Tragic Opera lasts nine minutes, 16 seconds. It gives us a conversation with composer Howard Shore.

We hear about Shore’s score. He gives us a positive overview.

Fans will be excited to check out the disc’s collection of six Deleted/Extended Scenes. Actually, we can watch only three true deleted scenes. We get “Second Interview” (one minute, 44 seconds), “Monkey-Cat” (six minutes, 59 seconds), and “Butterfly Baby/Alternate Ending” (two minutes, 27 seconds).

We can check out “Brundlefly Vs. Bag Lady” only as a script segment. “Monkey-Cat” also offers a look at its storyboards and its script segment.

In addition, we find two extended scenes: “Reconciliation” (two minutes, five seconds) and “The Poetry of the Steak” (three minutes, 46 seconds).

Of all these elements, “Monkey-Cat” stands as the most infamous. It merits its gruesome reputation and would have been an interesting addition to the final film, if not a very productive one, as it really feels too over the top even for The Fly.

“Butterfly” offers a wholly silly potential finale. It seems unclear if it intends to represent reality or a dream, but it would’ve finished the film on a goofy note.

Some of the other bits just mildly flesh out existing scenes. Nonetheless, interesting material shows up in this collection.

Under the Film Tests banner we get a few different elements. These include “Opening Title Treatments” (1:52), “Pod Lighting and Effects” (2:02), “Brundlefly Makeup” (2:13), “Exploding Space Bug” (0:50) and “Cronenfly” (0:52).

All of this adds up to a mildly interesting set of pieces, but I can’t say any of them are terribly fascinating. “Cronenfly” offers amusement, at least.

Within “Written Works”, we find a mix of text features. First comes George Langelaan’s Original Short Story.

I can’t say I think it’s very good, but it’s cool to see, especially because it bears so little resemblance to this film’s story. The pair share only a few concepts.

For a look at the initial approach to the remake, we go to Charles Edward Pogue’s Original Screenplay. It presents many of the basics found in the final film but changes quite a few things.

Seth is “Geoff” and he’s married to “Barb”. There’s a lot of interaction with the company that finances him, elements that are totally non-existent in the movie. “Geoff” has a buddy who mediates between him and his surly boss, and he also gains a stray cat as a lab pal.

This draft reflects a few influences from the original short story. It also doesn’t make “Geoff” into the same tragic figure Seth becomes.

This take falls much more squarely into the realm of standard horror picture. As with the short story, it’s a lot of fun to read this sucker and compare it to the finished flick.

Speaking of which, the disc also presents David Cronenberg’s Rewrite. As one might expect, it strongly resembles the final film.

Some variations occur such as an alternate close, but it features many more similarities than differences. This makes it less compelling than the other two pieces, but I still think it’s interesting to give it a look.

“Written Works” ends with an article from the November 1986 Cinefex as well as two compositions that appeared in American Cinematographer. All are quite interesting, though I like the Cinefex article the best.

Although that magazine obviously focuses most strongly on visual effects, their stories also tend to offer lots of general notes about the films’ creations. That makes the article more than just a look at technical issues.

Within “Promotional Materials”, we get two trailers for The Fly, two more for The Fly II, and one each for the 1958 Fly and 1959’s Return of the Fly. We also find three TV Spots for the 1986 film.

A 1986 Promotional Featurette runs six minutes, 58 seconds. It included remarks from Cornfeld, Cronenberg, Goldblum, Walas, and Davis as they cover some basics of the story, characters and effects.

This doesn’t substitute for the “Flesh” documentary, of course, but it’s much better than the average EPK program. It includes good shots from the set and is an efficient use of time.

Also under “Promotional Materials”, we get a four-minute, 21-second 1986 David Cronenberg Profile that presents info about the director from Davis, Goldblum, and Cronenberg himself. It echoes the EPK featurette in that it’s surprisingly meaty and without too much fluff

In the same vein, we get some Still Galleries. This area breaks down into “One Sheet and Lobby Cards” (15 frames), “Publicity” (44), “Behind the Scenes” (146), “Concept Art” (114) and “Effects” (134 photos across four domains).

All of these are quite useful and interesting. However, they never got rescanned after the old DVD so they appear as very small images, and that harms their impact.

The Fly knocked me for a loop when I saw it theatrically in 1986, and it continues to be an excellent movie. A moving tragedy, it remains deep and involving. The Blu-ray offers generally good picture with strong audio and an excellent collection of extras. This turns into a fine release for a great film.

Note that this version of The Fly comes only as part of a five-film “Fly Collection”. It also includes 1958’s The Fly, 1959’s Return of the Fly, 1965’s Curse of the Fly and 1989’s Fly II.