The Fly's Seth Brundle (David Cronenberg. A loose remake of the 1958 film of the same name, Cronenberg's The Fly used groundbreaking special effects techniques to craft one of the most unsettling tales of body horror ever put to screen.
At the start of The Fly, Seth Brundle is not at all an evil man. He's simply a brilliant scientist looking for a way to change the world, in his case via the invention of teleportation. Seth creates two "telepods," which first enables the transportation of objects from one pod to another, then later living creatures. Unfortunately, one night an angry Seth decides to make himself the first human to travel through the telepods, and while he at first seems to survive intact, it later turns out that a wayward house fly was absorbed into his DNA.
Before long, Seth begins to deteriorate, as he transforms from a man into a man/fly hybrid creature. As this happens, Seth loses his mind, eventually deciding to use the telepods to merge himself with girlfriend Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) and their unborn child. Veronica puts a stop to Seth's rampage with a shotgun, leading to a very sad end for all involved. However, 1989 sequel The Fly 2 proved that with enough time, Seth could've survived.
The Fly 2 Centers on Martin Brundle, Seth & Veronica's Son
While neither Goldblum or Davis opted to appear in The Fly 2, the sequel connects to the original by focusing on Martin Brundle (Eric Stoltz), the son of Seth and Veronica, who sadly dies while giving birth. Due to his conception taking place after Seth's trip through the telepods, Martin's DNA is altered, and he ages at a rapid rate. By his fifth birthday, Martin has the appearance of a fully grown man, and his dad's high intellect. However, Martin begins to transform into his own human/fly hybrid, and his time draws short.
The Fly 2: Martin Brundle Manages to Reverse His Transformation
Martin is able to devise a way to cure himself: by stepping inside one telepod with a normal human subject, his mutated genes will be swapped for healthy ones. The only problem is that the other person won't survive the procedure intact, and come out the other side horribly disfigured. Martin decides not to do it, that is until corporate villain Bartok (Lee Richardson) is exposed as planning to use the telepods for evil, leading Martin's now monstrous self to use Bartok to activate the cure. Martin is saved, and Bartok emerges beyond repair.
Not only is this a happy ending, it proves that the gene-swapping cure could've theoretically worked on Seth, had he thought of it in time, and been willing to sacrifice the life of another to do it. Of course, that would be an ethical sticking point for anyone, and if Seth had survived, one wonders if he could've lived with himself once back to his logical mind. It's also unlikely Veronica would've been willing to go along with such a plan. Still, The Fly 2 makes it clear that BrundleFly wasn't as much of a lost cause as he appeared.
