Return of the Fly (1959)

At the end of the 1958's The Fly, Phillipe Delambre, the young son of Andre Delambre, the scientist who became "The Fly," ask his uncle Francois (played by Vincent Price) about the death of his father. 

Phillipe, "Why did he die?"  They are seated outside in a beautiful green garden, along with Phillipe's mother Helene.  Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and soft music starts to swell in the background.

"Well Phillipe," begins Francois, "He died because of his work.  He was like an... like an explorer in a wild country where no one had ever been before.  He was searching for the truth.  He almost found a great truth.  But for one instant he was careless."

Phillipe responds, "That's what killed him?"

"Search for the truth is the most important work in the whole world," answers Francois, "and the most dangerous."

"I'd like that," exclaims Phillipe, "I'd like to be an explorer like him.  Well you help me, Uncle Francois?"

"Yes, Phillipe," says Francois, as he and Helene beam with pride at the child.  I guess that is supposed to be a happy ending, as the son takes something positive away from his father's horrifying death.  But seriously, his father just died by having his head and arm crushed in a metal press, to destroy the evidence that he had turned in to a hideous half-human half-fly monster.  Are you sure you want to encourage the kid to follow in his father's footsteps?

If it was me, I'd be, like, "You sure you wouldn't rather work at McDonald's, son?  You can have all the french fries you could ever want to eat!"

To which Phillipe would reply, "Gosh Uncle, that sounds great!  I'm going to work at McDonald's when I grow up!"

PROBLEM SOLVED.

The Adult Phillipe and His Uncle Vincent

But nope, that's not what happened.  Instead, in 1959's Return of The Fly,  a now adult Phillipe has decided he still wants to be an "explorer" like his old man, and reprise his dad's science experiments.  But certainly, armed with the knowledge of what happened to his father, he won't repeat his father's mistakes and transform himself in to a hideous half-fly creature, right?

Right?

Wrong.

Well, I guess it wouldn't be much of a return of "The Fly" if that happened.  So yeah, he turns in to a hideous fly creature.  In the previous film The Fly had a human body with a fly head and fly arm.  This films one-ups it by giving The Fly, Jr. a fly head, arm, AND foot.  So there's that, I guess.

Fly Foot

The 1958 film was a fairly high quality, full color production, but the sequel is much lower budget flick, filmed in black and white, and reusing the same sets and props that had been built for the original.  It's also got more of a b-movie plot involving industrial espionage, murderous criminals, an evil mortician, and shoot-outs with the police.  It does make one nice addition to the half-human, half-animal monster menagerie with a pair of half-man half-guinea pig creatures.  The man with guinea pig hands and feet really just looks silly, sort of like someone in a White Rabbit costume from a high school theater production of Alice in Wonderland.  But the reverse creature:  a guinea pig with tiny little human hands flailing around at his sides, is weirdly surreal, especially when it's horrified onlooker stomps on it, and then has to clean up the bloody mess on the floor.  That was my favorite thing in the movie, unfortunately it only occupies the screen for a few seconds.

The Guinea Pig with Human Hands

None of the original cast returns except for Vincent Price, but for a horror fan like myself, ANY film with Vincent Price in it is worth a look, so if they could only afford to bring back one actor, they made the right choice.

Vincent Price

Unlike the first film in this series, the sequel is not a classic, and I don't think it would make anyone's must-see list.  But if your like me, and you enjoy watching bad and cheesy horror movies almost as much as you like good ones, then this can still be fun diversion.  There was a third sequel "Curse of the Fly" released in 1965, which does not feature Vincent Price.  I'm almost afraid to watch that one, but I suppose if I've made it this far, I should probably keep going, so I'm probably going to watch that one next.

MORE SCREENCAPS AFTER THE BREAK...

Helene's Funeral

Phillipe and Francois Visit Andre's Destroyed Laboratory

Examining the Lab Equipment

"How do I take my coffee?  With a splash of cream, two lumps of sugar, and one live fly.  Mmmm... that's a damn fine cup of joe!"

The Sneaky British Guy Visits the Evil Mortician

The New Science Lab

The Same Science Dial From the Last Movie

Science Squiggles

Science Meters

Science Dial

The Computer

Andre Adjusts the Science Dial

Guinea Pig

X-Ray Specs

"I have brought you ze home cooked traditional French meal:  French Fries and French Toast, all covered in French's Mustard.  Bon appétit!"

Shadowy Figure Lurks

The Morgue

"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!"

Squishing the Guinea Pig With Human Hands.  Not Visible:  Human Hands.

Oh, There They Are.

Dragging the Corpse Away

"Be a good chap and die, old fellow!"

"By Jove, you're still alive, are you?  Well take that, old bean!  And that!"

"Sacrebleu!"

"I could have sworn that fly was talking to me!  But that would be crazy..."

Crazy Like a Fox!

Fly at the Window