Curse of the Fly (1965) – Review

If 20th Century Fox’s Return of the Fly was a sequel that didn’t need to exist – the ending of the original movie didn’t exactly lend itself to a follow-up – then the existence of a third installment is even more baffling. But Hollywood has never been known for letting a nickel escape their coffers so in 1965 we not only got another sequel that didn’t need to exist, but one that didn’t make a whole lot of sense either.

Directed by Don Sharp, this film explores the themes of science gone awry and the consequences of unchecked experimentation in a more modestly budgeted manner. Set in rural Quebec, the movie starts in a rather interesting way, introducing us to the film’s protagonist, Patricia Stanley (Carole Gray), as she escapes from a mental hospital while wearing nothing more than her panties and a bra. She then runs into Martin Delambre (George Baker) who is on his way to Montreal but he quickly puts that off when a mostly naked woman crosses his path. As most would, I’m sure. After a rather whirlwind romance, which appears to be nothing more than a week of picnicking, the two get married and Martin brings her home. Unfortunately, what she doesn’t know is that Martin and his father Henri (Brian Donlevy) are engaged in radical experiments in teleportation, which have already had horrific consequences. These two have also experimented on themselves and while Henri only has a few nice radiation burns for his efforts, we learn that if Martin is not given continuous treatments he gets a rather distressing skin condition called “Instant Aging.”

“Keep them guessing with Oil of Olay.”

This is the wonderful setting that poor Patricia has found herself in – if you marry a mad scientist this has to be expected – but if you are a fan of the previous Fly movies a bit of confusion may have set in by this point. In short, Curse of the Fly has little to no connection at all with the previous two films, mainly because no Fly monster is shown and only the Delambre name and the premise of teleportation remain is carried over. In the original film, Andre Delambre was the main protagonist, wonderfully played by David Hedison, and in the Return of the Fly his son Philippe took up his father’s work in teleportation, but in this movie, we have father Henri Delambre as the son of Andre Delambre and then there are Henri’s sons. Martin and Albert (Michael Graham),  with poor Albert being the son who is stationed in England and has to man the receiving station for their teleportation experiments, while his dad and brother create monsters back home. This left me wondering if this was some alternate “Fly Universe” that had somehow stumbled into.

Is this a failed experiment or an inhabitant of the Negative Zone?

There isn’t much of a plot to Curse of the Fly, with much of the action centring around Henri trying to stay one step ahead of the cops, as well as idiot Martin hiding the fact that he’s not only a mad scientist but a bigamist as well – his wife Judith (Mary Manson) is another failed test subject that he keeps locked up in the stables with their other failures. These test subjects are all horribly disfigured and insane because they hadn’t nailed all the kinks out of the whole teleportation thing. We also have some conflict between Henri and his son Albert as he wants to get out of this mad teleportation business because he’s found a girl of his own and you certainly can’t blame him. Who wouldn’t choose going out on a date with a nice attractive English girl over spending time cleaning up the mutant messes your dad and older brother have created?

“I really should have just gone to college.”

Fleshing out the cast we have two Asian servants to the Delambre’s, Tai (Burt Kwok) and Wan (Yvette Rees). And while neither of them are hunchback, Tai is an able-bodied assistant to their experiments while Wan spends most of her time taking care of the caged failures and psychologically torturing Patricia – it’s good to have a hobby – and for the bulk of the film we have Patricia being “haunted” by Judith while both Martin and Henri tell her that she’s just imagining things. When Patricia claims to have seen a horrifyingly mutated woman playing the piano, she is told it was just a dream.  She then finds a signed photo of the woman on her night table – with a lovely note to her husband – and is once again told that she must have imagined it. I should point out that gaslighting is never a good thing but worse when it’s someone who has escaped from a mental hospital.  Early, when Patricia stumbled across the stables, where those teleportation failures were locked up, I knew things weren’t going to turn out well.

Did no one tell Patricia the story of Bluebeard?

If that isn’t enough “plot” enough for you, well, we also have police Inspector Ronet (Jeremy Wilkin) and the headmistress of the asylum, Madame Fournier (Rachel Kempson), tracing Patricia to the Delambre estate and trying to drag her back to the nuthouse.  The police involvement then leads to the discovery that asshat Martin is already married and that his wife is one of the disfigured people locked up in the stables – when confronted by Ronet about his marriage to another woman he and his dad toss out some bullshit about her running off and Martin getting a Mexican divorce – but with the police becoming such a nuisance Henri’s decides to clean up shop, which entails the murdering of the two other failed experiments – who were former assistants of Henri’s and are now the aforementioned mutants locked up in the stables along with Judith. And despite Martin’s limp protests that this is all kinds of wrong, his father overrules him by stating “We’re scientists, we have to do things we hate, even sicken us.” Seriously, we can’t wait to see this man die.

Justice for Judith!

Stray Observations:

• Bra and panties are certainly a strange choice of wardrobe for an escape from a mental asylum, but I’m sure all the young boys in the audience were thrilled.
• When our heroine checks in at a local hotel with Martin she registers under her own name, possibly she doesn’t understand how the whole “fugitive” thing works.
• This third instalment may stray from plot elements introduced in the previous entries but it does continue the tradition of taking place in Quebec while having hardly anybody speak with a French accent.
• The Asian servant Tai is portrayed by Chinese actor Burt Kwok but the other Asian servant, Wan, is played by Welsh actress Yvette Rees in very unfortunate “yellow face” make-up. Are we to believe that the filmmakers couldn’t find one Asian actress for this supporting role?
• Wan has a definite Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca vibe to her as she basically gaslights poor Patricia by releasing the “previous” Mrs. Delambre from her cell and placing her photograph next to Patricia’s bed.
• A photograph said to be Andre Delambre after becoming The Fly is, in fact, a shot of the character Philippe from Return of the Fly. Also, the fact that no one took a photo of The Fly, in either of those films, calls into question the very existence of this picture.

“We had to get a man with a fly head in this movie somehow.”

While this third instalment in the “Fly” science fiction horror film series attempts to continue the story of the Delambre family’s genetic experiments gone awry, it ultimately falls short of the standards set by its predecessors. One of the primary issues with Curse of the Fly is its departure from the iconic premise of the previous two films. Instead of focusing on the consequences of teleportation technology, the film takes a different path by exploring Delambre’s messed-up family and the gaslighting of a mentally distraught woman. This significant shift in focus diminishes the core identity of the series, leaving us without the intriguing exploration of the consequences of scientific hubris that characterized the first two films, instead, we get a couple of mad scientists acting like complete dicks.

I think putting your wife in a telapod is grounds for divorce.

The characters in Curse of the Fly are not as well-developed or memorable as those in the original film, the absence of David Hedison, who portrayed the protagonist in the 1958 original is keenly felt, and these new characters fail to elicit the same level of empathy or interest. The lack of a compelling lead character makes it difficult for us to become emotionally invested in the story, which is a crucial element in any horror film. We have a cast of mostly forgettable and one-dimensional figures whose actions often feel contrived, and their decisions lack any real sense of logic or coherence. This lack of character depth severely hampers our ability to invest emotionally in the film. The character of Patricia Stanley could have worked as an interesting lead but actress Carole Gray wasn’t given much to do within this ridiculous plot, other than scream and faint, which is a shame as she’s the only remotely likable character in the film.

“There was a young lady who married a fly, perhaps she’ll die.”

Another glaring issue with this sequel is its lack of a compelling narrative. Unlike its predecessor, which skilfully balanced science fiction with genuine emotional depth, this instalment seems to rely on shock value and visual effects rather than a well-constructed plot. The storyline feels disjointed and haphazardly put together, leaving viewers struggling to engage with the characters or care about their fates. Furthermore, the special effects and makeup in Curse of the Fly are a mixed bag and the transformation scenes, which were a highlight of the original film, lack the same impact in this instalment. The creature designs are also less than impressive, and the makeup effects are underwhelming when compared to the groundbreaking work done in the 1958 version. While it’s important to consider the limitations of the era in which the film was made, there were certainly other films of the time that managed to create more convincing visual effects.

Beware, mad science at work.

In conclusion, Curse of the Fly is a disappointing follow-up to the first two films in the series and while it tries to continue exploring themes of science gone awry, it ultimately falls short in terms of character development, pacing and special effects. It is a mediocre entry in the franchise that is best approached by die-hard fans looking to complete their experience rather than by those seeking a satisfying continuation of the story.