THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980)

"Can you cure me?"

"No."

Joseph Merrick has always been a fascinating individual to me.  And David Lynch has always been an artistic hero of mine, so it should come as no surprise that I really like THE ELEPHANT MAN.  Yeah, it's about as historically accurate as SURF II, but who cares?  It's still a great film that transports the viewer into a thought-provoking world of freaks, dark corners, peaks and lows of human behavior, and explores the definition of what it is to be a human being.

After the surrealist opening, we see London Hospital surgeon Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) walking through a carnival.  There have been rumors about a certain freak show attraction known as "The Elephant Man" (played by John Hurt).  He has a grossly enlarged head, thick lumpy skin on his back, an enlarged right arm, a twisted skeleton, and numerous other things physically wrong with him.  The two eventually meet (Hopkins' face in that scene is so sublime that it brought a tear to my eye) and soon "The Elephant Man", whose real name is Joseph Merrick, moves into the London Hospital as a permanent guest.  It is there that the good doctor discovers that inside this monstrous body there is intelligence.  He's emotionally scarred from the abuse and ridicule he's endured, but once he begins to open up Merrick turns out to be a very kind and wonderful man.  Not an animal, a man.  

Writer/director/sound designer David Lynch might be known for his more surrealist works, but THE ELEPHANT MAN is, for the most part, a very straight-forward and skillfully told story.  And the B&W photography is absolutely perfect!  Outside of the actors ages, it's almost impossible to tell when this film was even made!  And speaking of actors...John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins are tremendous in this film!

Overall, THE ELEPHANT MAN is kind of a downer of a movie, but it's still a remarkable achievement and worthy of your time.  Recommended.

Interesting side note: It's rumored that Producer Mel Brooks deliberately went uncredited because he feared that his name in the credits would be a distraction from the serious nature of the film.

THE FLY (1986)

"Be afraid. Be very afraid."

Super smart Jeff Goldblum is a loner scientist who secretly creates a working matter transporter. It works fine on inanimate objects and even smaller animals, but he's never tried it on a human. One night after getting all butthurt over his girlfriend, he strips down completely asshole naked and successfully transports himself...and a house fly that accidentally got inside the pod. That's probably why you should put your matter transporter in a Class 1 clean room and not your poorly lit loft.

Even worse is the computer controlling the transporter is so stupid that instead of Goldblum simply absorbing the fly it...genetically splices his DNA and the fly's. Stupid computer! At first, he doesn't realize what's happening and thinks that his new found super strength and ability to hop all around the place like a acrobat is just a positive benefit of being recreated in the transporter. Soon though he starts to think differently, like when he has to vomit acid on his food before slurping it up and when his ears fall off. Throughout all of this, the world's most dedicated girlfriend sticks by him and tries to help him, but he turns into a complete asshole and she eventually bails. He's not happy about that.

For 1986 the special effects are very impressive, especially the slow Goldblum/fly transformation.  That fly looked dope as fuck! The story though...it's a little bit too simplistic.  I'm not sure what else I wanted, but just more.  I really really liked the middle of the film when Goldblum was first starting to transform and going out on the town and acting like an asshole.  I definitely wish that section was longer.  As it is though, THE FLY is a great remake and 100% worth watching.  Steady pace, fantastic special effects, a Slayer jacket, a Motorhead jacket, weaponized vomit, extremely brief nudity, solid acting, David Cronenberg sighting, Mel Brooks as an uncredited Producer, the two main characters both saying "Cheeseburger." while flashing their fingers outward.

Even though this version was an updated remake of the 1958 original I'd like to see yet another remake / reboot that takes the story even further!

Original - The Fly (1958)
Original Part 2 - Return of the Fly (1959)
Original Part 3 - Curse of the Fly (1965)
Part 2 - The Fly II (1989)