The Fly/Red State

The Fly (1986)
Written by David Cronenberg and Charles Edward Pogue, directed by David Cronenberg
One of my earliest childhood memories is watching David Cronenberg's disgusting version of The Fly with some family and friends at a cabin up north when I was four or five years old, and at the film's end, running outside to throw up everything that was inside me. I have no idea why my parents let me watch it then. It was traumatizing. I worked up the courage to watch it again in high school and was able to stomach it in spite of still being made nauseous at the end. After watching it a third time a couple summers ago, and most recently one night last week, it has become one of my favorite films of all time. I'm a sucker for overdone, albeit dated, gore, and combine that with Cronenberg's psychedelic flair, and you've got some disturbingly fascinating visuals. In addition, The Fly is truly a tragic tale that pulls at the heartstrings, especially considering how much I love Jeff Goldblum, and Gena Davis (in this particular role). If you're a fan of Cronenberg's work, then I assume you've seen it and hopefully love it. If not, and you like sci-fi, 80s film style, slow pacing, and terrific, absolutely repulsive gore of the cult classic horror variety, then I highly recommend you watch The Fly.


Red State (2011)
Written and directed by Kevin Smith
I didn't know a ton about Red State going into it, aside from that it is the latest from Kevin Smith (who I am not a big fan of), and that it seemed surprisingly dark and mysterious. It turns out that it is an excellent story filmed a lot like a horror flick with blatant political and religious overtones. Three high school boys intend to explore their sexuality by setting up a visit with a woman via an advertisement. It ends up being a trap, and they end up in the hands of the local, militaristic Christian group and their creepy and batshit crazy leader Abin Cooper, who is played astoundingly by Michael Parks. The police end up getting involved, pandemonium ensues, etc. I loved everything about this film, from the plot, to the acting (especially Parks and John Goodman), and all of the minute details in between. I was enamored with the ending, which, hopefully without giving too much away (maybe sorta SPOILER ALERT), was slightly reminiscent of the Coen brothers' Burn After Reading. Red State was a true joy to watch.