7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
Scientist Andre Delambre becomes obsessed with his latest creation, a matter transporter. He has varying degrees of success with it. He eventually decides to use a human subject, himself, with tragic consequences. During the transference, his atoms become merged with a fly, which was accidentally let into the machine. He winds up with the fly's head and one of it's arms and the fly winds up with Andre's head and arm. Eventually, Andre's wife, Helene discovers his secret and must make a decision whether to let him continue to live like that or to do the unthinkable and euthanize him to end his suffering...
Starring: David Hedison, Vincent Price, Patricia Owens, Herbert Marshall (I), Kathleen FreemanHorror | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Kurt Neumann's The Fly (1958) is being released with a new, exclusive extra as part of Scream Factory's five-movie box set, The Fly Collection.
My colleague Jeff Kauffman covered the Fox Studio Classics edition of The Fly in 2013. To read his synopsis and analysis of the film/disc, please click here.
Scream has reused the same background image as the Fox for the main menu (see Screenshot #10) and the lettering and popups on the menu have also been replicated. While Scream has created its own image art to put on this BD-50 disc, the MPEG-4 AVC-encoded transfer is a carbon copy of the one Jeff critiqued six years ago. Appearing in its originally projected CinemaScope ratio of 2.35:1, the encode sports an average video bitrate of 38017 kbps, which is identical to Fox's.
Scream also provides the same number of chapter markers (twenty-four in all).
Scream has supplied an English DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 track (2012 kbps, 24-bit). It's very similar to Fox's 4.0 mix, only that the bitrate is down a notch (from 2944 kbps). This is probably due to the addition of a second commentary track. Scream has dropped the Spanish, French, and German DTS 4.0 language dubs.
The only subtitling track Scream has retained is the optional English SDH for the main feature only. It eliminates the Spanish and German subs that are on the US and European BDs. There's also no optional German SDH for the recycled commentary.
Scream has transferred over the Hedison/Del Valle commentary, a biographical program on Vincent Price, featurettes, and trailer from the prior BDs. Please refer to Jeff's comments on those. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Scream did record a new commentary (see below). On the back cover, Scream lists a photo gallery but I found none. On Fox's four-DVD box set (also titled The Fly Collection but it doesn't include the 1986 remake or its sequel) from 2007, there's a pressbook gallery containing lobby cards, posters, behind-the-scenes stills, and production photos.
If you don't own Fox's 2013 BD of The Fly (1958), then you'll want to obtain it by purchasing the new US box set of The Fly Collection. Though the video transfer and audio presentation are carbon copies of that disc, Scream Factory has added a pretty informative audio commentary with Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr. If you did pick up the previous disc, you'll need to determine the value of the new track and weigh it with how much you enjoy and like the sequels as well as Cronenberg's remake and the sequel to the '86 film. A STRONG RECOMMENDATION for this disc.
San Diego Comic-Con 2013 Exclusive
1958
Fox Studio Classics
1958
Special Edition | Fox Icons
1958
2014 Comic Con Exclusive / Limited To 500 Copies
1958
(Still not reliable for this title)
1989
1959
1965
1954
Warner Archive Collection
1981
Director's Cut
1986
1986
1988
1958
1957
1957
1974
Warner Archive Collection
1951
1984
Mark of the Vampire
1957
1957
1953
1955
1980
Special Edition | The Creeping Unknown
1955