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Eric Stoltz (Mask, Some Kind of Wonderful) stars in the sequel to 1986’s The Fly, playing the genetically-altered son of Seth Brundle, the scientist who accidentally turned himself into a giant fly in the first movie. Stoltz’s character, Martin, shares some of his father’s mutated DNA, growing at an advanced rate under the guardianship of Bartok Industries, the corporation that funded Brundle’s research. The CEO of Bartok (Lee Richardson) keeps a watchful eye on Martin, lying to him to earn his trust. But when Martin reaches adolescence and his dormant ‘fly DNA’ becomes activated, his mortifying transformation begins and Bartok prepares to exploit it.

As unnecessary sequels go, The Fly II is far, far better than it has any right to be. It may not be quite as nuanced or psychologically complex as the first film, but it makes up for it by embracing the story’s old-fashioned creature feature roots. The screenplay, co-written by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist), gives director Chris Walas (who won an Oscar for effects work on the first film) the opportunity to create a memorably grotesque monster and some grisly death scenes in the final act.

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.

The film doesn’t delve as meaningfully into its theme of fathers and sons as it could have, and the performances don’t measure up to Jeff Goldblum’s or Geena Davis’s from the first film, but if you set David Cronenberg’s 1986 film aside and judge The Fly II on its own merits, you may be surprised. It’s one of the most entertaining monster movies of the ’80s or ’90s.

Spaceballs‘s Daphne Zuniga co-stars as Stoltz’s love interest and John Getz reprises his role from the ’86 film. With a wonderfully melancholy score by Christopher Young.