SYNOPSICS
Curse of the Fly (1965) is a English movie. Don Sharp has directed this movie. Brian Donlevy,George Baker,Carole Gray,Yvette Rees are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1965. Curse of the Fly (1965) is considered one of the best Drama,Horror,Mystery,Sci-Fi movie in India and around the world.
Remember that scientist that was trying to perfect a matter transportation machine but got fused with a fly when one of the little critters got into the transporter with him? Well, this story is about three of his descendants (a son, Henri Delambre, played by Brian Donlevy and two grandsons). Seems the son wants to continue and perfect the machine while his two sons want to get out of the scientist business and live "normal" lives. The oldest son, Martin, decides to take a wife (who just happens to have escaped from a mental hospital after her parents died). Martin's father is not happy with this intrusion but finally gives in because he understands him son's needs. They all try to be a happy family until humans used in botched experiments are discovered by the new bride and the police nearly discover the lab while looking for Martin's wife. Everyone tries to get out of there via the transporter but things just don't go according to plan .
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Curse of the Fly (1965) Reviews
A minor sci-fi gem
One of the best horror movies of the 50s is without a doubt the 1958 version of "The Fly", the story of a scientist who gets fused with a common fly when a experiment goes awfully wrong. Directed by Kurt Neumann and starring David Hedison and Vincent Price, "The Fly" went on to become an enormous hit thanks to its effective mix of mystery, suspense and horror. As usual, to the surprising success of "The Fly" followed the making of a sequel, "Return of the Fly", released immediately the following year and with Price reprising his role. However, the change of focus from suspense to shock and horror, together with the rushed shooting and the low-budget made "Return of the Fly" an inferior product that did nothing but give a bad reputation to the series. This reputation extended to the third and final film, 1965's "Curse of the Fly", which is often labeled unfairly as "one of the bad sequels" when actually, it is a minor jewel of science fiction. "Curse of the Fly" follows once again, Henri Delambre (Brian Donlevy), who despite having been almost destroyed by his father Teleportation machine in his youth, he has spent his life continuing his father's work. Now he has his two sons working with him, and the Delambres have finally achieved transatlantic Teleportation, with Martin Delambre (George Baker) coordinating the Canadian side and Albert Delambre (Michael Graham) the British side. However, not everything is going well for the Delambres, as after a series of disastrous failures both Martin and Albert are disenchanted with the project and are willing to start a normal life. Henri's experiments will become endangered once again when Martin marries Pat Stanley (Carole Gray), as the newly arrived bride has secrets of her own that could unleash the curse of the Delambres, the curse of the Fly. Writer Harry Spalding does a terrific job in bringing back the series to its original themes of mystery and suspense, and while he downplays horror in favor of sci-fi, the story carries an appropriate feeling of doom. Spalding's script is very respectful of the themes exposed in George Langelaan's original short story, and unlike "Return of the Fly", it recaptures the Gothic atmosphere of the original movie and manages to tie in everything exposed in the previous films and give a proper conclusion to the Delambres' saga. The addition of an element of madness to the story is really clever, and allowed director Don Sharp some chilling scenes. As the backbone of the movie, it is truly Spalding's script what separates "Curse of the Fly" from other b-movies of its time, and returns the series to its former glory, at least for a last dance. Better known for his work with Hammer Studios, director Don Sharp took the job of bringing Spalding's script to life while he was still at the top of his game. Already familiar with low-budget conditions of work, Sharp hides his monsters in the shadows and employs atmosphere and music to create the horrors of the Delambres' house, and by doing this not only his monsters become more realistic and menacing, he also returns to the series' roots by focusing the horror in the unknown and the unseen. Basil Emmott's excellent cinematography is of great importance for this, as paired with Bert Shefter's eerie score create an ominous atmosphere of dread that suits the Gothic style of the series to perfection. In many ways, "Curse of the Fly" feels like a science fiction version of those low-budget Hammer thrillers of the 60s like "Nightmare" or "Paranoiac". Being produced in the United Kingdom, "Curse of the Fly" showcases a lot of British talent in its cast, which overall means a significant improvement over "Return of the Fly". Brian Donlevy of "Quatermass" fame appears as the aging Henri Delambre, who despite all the tragedies he has lived insist in fulfilling his father's dream. Donlevy's performance as the tragic scientist is quite subtle, yet of great power. George Baker is for the most part effective, and even when at times appear a bit wooden he manages to carry the film without problems. As the troubled Pat Stanley, Carole Gray delivers probably the best performance of the film, giving a very natural performance in her role. The performances by the supporting cast are nothing special, but most make a good job with their roles. Burt Kwouk and Yvette Rees do have some quite good scenes as the Asian servants Tai and Wan. As often happens with sequels, low-budgets can really become the Achilles' heel of a movie, and "Curse of the Fly" is no exception. While Don Sharp does a great job into hiding it during most of the movie, it is impossible not to notice that the make-up work in the movie is pretty bad and probably the worst thing in the film. Also due to budgetary constrains, the designs for the Teleportation machines look sadly poor and even anachronistic (they look like something out of a 50s film), cheapening some of the film's best scenes. Still, thanks to the high quality of Spalding's screenplay, most of those quibbles can be easily ignored as the film's story is simply captivating. The masterful direction by Don Sharp also helps in this as for the most part he manages to disguise the movie's flaws. Often dismissed as another cheesy horror from the 60s, "Curse of the Fly" is actually a fine piece of cinema that ultimately redeems the series in this the last chapter of the saga. One would have wished a better budget for this story, as the epic tragedy of "The Fly" is ended in an amazing fashion here. However, Don Sharp really made wonders with what he got (a true trademark of a Hammer alumni) and delivered a product worth of praise. While of course not as good as Neumann's classic, "Curse of the Fly" is definitely an unfairly hidden gem of science fiction. 7/10
Gothic horror with subtle humor
Curse of the Fly may well be a surprise to you, as it was to me. Expecting some typically cheap, cheesy '60s B Horror film, I instead found a film that captured my attention with a better than average storyline, good acting, interesting, if dated, theories on teleportation, and some rather subtle humor. Burt Kwouk, who played the Chinese houseboy "Kato" in the Pink Panther films to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, and who seemed to be forever perpetrating sneak attacks on Clouseau, likewise turns up in this film as a Chinese houseboy, sans the martial arts bits. This time however, Kwouk is named "Tai". Yvette Rees, who plays the Chinese house'girl', as it were, is named "Wan". Tai and Wan? Taiwan? Somebody obviously had a lot of fun writing the screenplay. The opening scene, featuring the beautiful Carole Gray as Patricia Stanley escaping from a mental institution in her underwear as the opening credits roll, is one of the oddest introductory scenes to be seen in a film of this genre. Absolutely recommended for all fans of horror, suspense, '60s b&w's, camp, and films featuring unintentional humor
An unsung masterpiece of horror
I saw this as a kid and had read that it was the worst of the series. I don't think so! This one is the scariest, weirdest, most atmospheric and most unsettling of the FLY series. I think that if this film wasn't having to be compared to the first two, it would be more highly spoken of. The scene where the heroine discovers just who (or what) is playing the piano in the middle of the night sent chills up my spine. This film has enough ghoulish imagery that really stays with you long after you've seen it (and for me it's been over 20 years). The opening escape scene is ahead of it's time with the mental patient running in slow motion with the title credits over it. Some of the mutants are very quite disturbing to look at and there are plot twists and turns applenty. Basically, no one is safe or sacred in this dark final film in the series. I could talk more but I would spoil it for those who have never seen it. It used to be on television frequently but has now disappeared. However, it's well worth the trouble of finding it. This has the mark of a truly great horror film - it will continue to live in your memory long after your initial viewing. I am wishing for a DVD of it someday. The sad part is that it is the unfavorable comparisons to the original on the part of most critics that probably keep Fox from releasing a video of it. Let's hope they wise up and preserve it on disc before the negative is destroyed. That would be an un-fitting end for CURSE OF THE FLY which is an unsung masterpiece of a horror film.
Much better than you've heard
I remember seeing the ads for this on tv back in 1965.Man did I ever want to see this flick!Too bad I had to wait over 30 years to do so.One good thing is that I really wasn't disappointed! This to me is the best of the "Fly" trilogy.A man turning into a fly via a matter transporter is a little outrageous.But turning into a gooey mutant is another thing entirely! The Delambre family (led by Brian Donlevy) is once again mucking about with transporters.The "mistakes" are kept in the stables.Radiation burns and rapid aging are the norm in this household. On the downside is the extremely low budget.Not a lot of different sets were used in this film.The make up is okay (but a sight better than the guinea pig man from Return Of The Fly). There is a very Gothic look to this flick and the cast and crew do extremely well with what they have been given.The ending is pretty much unforgettable and chilling.Excellent b&w photography.Well worth a look!
A chilling finale to a classic series!
I wasn't too impressed by "Return of the Fly", but it still fascinated me! When I learnt that there was a third one, I was quite intrigued to see it. I just watched it for the first time on DVD, and I was quite impressed on how smart the story was, and even though there is no Human-Fly monster in it (which, to be honest, is a smart approach), I thought it was more clever to base the movie around the Delambre legacy, rather than focus on the whole "man gets gene-spliced with a fly" blah blah blah! To be honest, I was expecting something REALLY dreadfully cheesy, but surprisingly, I loved it! The visuals (especially, the opening credit sequence, very well thought up!), and the originality of it is superbly done! It's got the classic horror movie style down perfectly! True its not as frightening as say... Alien, but, for its time (1960s), the mutant make up and story are very well sorted! TOTALLY UNDERRATED!