[8]

As unnecessary sequels go, The Fly II is far, far better than it has any right to be. I think the fact that Shawshank Redemption director Frank Darabont co-wrote the screenplay has something to do with it. The film is more of a standard monster movie than Cronenberg’s 1986 version, especially after the mid-point, where director Chris Walas (who won an Oscar for effects work on the first film) allows the sequel to morph into a an all-out, balls-to-the-wall, kick-ass creature feature. And I loves me some creature features.

But The Fly II doesn’t completely shy away from the material’s psychological underpinnings, either. In fact, there are a couple of scenes in this movie that will haunt me for the rest of my days. It’s bad enough when a botched experiment leaves a dog mangled and deformed, but how about when Eric Stoltz later discovers his old pet is still alive, living in a dungeon, barely able to lick food out of its bowl. It’s heartbreaking to watch the dog, which looks like living road kill, start to wag its tail and whimper upon sight of its old human friend. And even more heartbreaking when Stoltz ends its pain.

Christopher Young delivers another of his sublime melancholy scores, and Lee Richardson is good as the dark father figure of the film’s gothic narrative. With Daphne Zuniga (Spaceballs).