Fly Classic Collection [DVD] [1966] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

The box-set includes five movies apanning over 30 years from the first "The Fly" (1958) to "The Fly II" (1989) in slim-line cases. I watched each of them in date order as opposed to the way the box was designed which gives priority to the two more modern films.
I have always loved The Fly (1958), filmed in Terror-Color and starring Vincent Price and Al Hedison (better known as David Hedison), although the effects may appear comical to modern audiences the tale is very faithful to its original source, a creepy short story by George Langelaan. It has a memorable opening sequence as a scientist's wife is accused of his grisly murder. His experiment with a teleportation device goes horribly wrong; using himself as a test subject a fly enters the device at the same time thereby fusing their atoms. As a result the scientist ends up with the head and arm of a giant fly, whilst his body parts have shrunk and become part of the fly. His family and friends try to catch the fly in an effort to reverse the transformation before he loses his mind, although we already know it will end in tragedy the last scene is pretty effective. It also features the same memorable death-ray sound effect used in War of The Worlds.
The Return of the Fly (1959) sees the scientist's son repeatng the experiment, against Vincent Price's advice. The film has several twists on the original including a dodgy lab assistant who goes to extreme lengths to cover his tracks, industrial espionage and a literal "guinea pig".
Curse of The Fly (1965) is the least well known of the three early movies. It has a memorable opening sequence as a woman, wearing only her lingerie, escapes from a home into the path of the third generation of the Delambre family who are still involved in matter transportation experiments. Once again there are some pretty decent twists on the original tale here, including the survivors of previous failed experiments. The film's end credits finish with the question "Is this the end?"
It was for 21 years until David Cronenberg resurrected the story, using new characters and then state of the art effects to make a truly grisly creature that scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) transforms into. The effects are still pretty effective today as slowly the fly DNA starts to change Seth physically and mentally. Although not all the acting is top notch the scenes between Goldblum and Geena Davis do stand out as does the downbeat tragic ending, which left obvious scope for a sequel. Features a short, 9 minute, making of style documentary and some very brief cast interviews as extraa.
The Fly II directed by Chris Walas, who also did the special effects, has Eric Stoltz as Martin Brundle, the son of Seth. Martin has aged very rapidly because of the DNA he inherited from his father and uses his intellect to try and find a cure to stop the ageing process, soon he starts to notice side-effects as his body starts to transform. Also features Daphne Zuniga and Lee Richardson as the main villain of the piece, the last part of the movie where the transformed Martin Seth gets revenge on his tormentors has some pretty decent effects, especially the cage lift scene. It also features a very short making of documentary and some cast interviews.
Although not as extensive as the Ultimate Collector's Edition The Fly: Ultimate Collectors' Edition Box Set [DVD] which has 2 disc version of The Fly (1986) and The Fly II which were loaded with extras this is a pretty good collection for fans like me who love to collect full horror movie series. On the plus side it's a lot sturdier than its more illustrious rival box-set so will last a lot longer.

NB: Amazon have once again very unhelpfully put reviews of completely different editions with similar titles together. This review refers to the US NTSC DVD release, and not the UK set.

Not to be confused with The Fly Ultimate Collection, which offers all five Fly films even if the original trilogy only has trailers as extras, this NTSC collection of the first three films gives them a rather better showcase, with an audio commentary with co-star David Hedison on the original and a few more extra features. The 1958 original feels a lot like a short story padded out to feature length, though it is interesting that it's one of the few movies where the creature never kills anyone. The Fly itself or even the infamous "Help me! Help me!" moment aren't the funniest - that honor goes to the cat's interdimensional mewing - but on the balance it's more good good than bad good.

The quickie sequel Return of the Fly loses the color but retains the CinemaScope, with the Son of the Fly carrying on where dad left off only to fall foul of a treacherous assistant who's into the odd bit of industrial espionage inbetween murders: this time the giant bug does kill, but as Arnie would later say, they were all bad. It's disposable but certainly a lot more enjoyable than the very belated 1965 Curse of the Fly, shot on the cheap with England standing in for Canada. Don Sharp offers a striking opening shot of broken glass and there's a delightfully twisted logic in having the heroine, who escapes from a mental asylum in her underwear, being the sanest person in the film, but it's a fly-free zone. Instead Brian Donlevy and son George Baker are still tinkering with that Disintegrator Integrator teleportation device with fatal consequences, and more than a hint of Jane Eyre in the mad mutant wife kept locked up in the outhouses. There's a neat bit of poetic justice at the end, but it's not surprising it's the rarest of the series.

Extras include an A&E documentary on Vincent Price, a short retrospective featurette on the original film, newsreel footage and stills and poster galleries - certainly nowhere near as much attention as the Cronenberg film and its sequel received on DVD, but still better than the barebones UK releases.

One of the reasons I purchased this collection was based on the extra
features detailed in the Amazon Review.I was disappointed to find that
there was no Vincent Price profile or extra Flytrap documentary.Amazon
have clearly confused their review with another Fly Collection entitled
The Fly Classic Collection.
Shame..Try to get it right Amazon..