Film
The Fly II
- Science fiction
- Horror
- Very dark
The Fly II follows Martin Brundle, the human-fly hybrid offspring from the first film, as he ages unnaturally fast while working for the corporation that employs him. It's a body-horror continuation that trades its predecessor's intimate tragedy for creature-feature spectacle and corporate conspiracy. For fans of practical effects and unapologetic sequels willing to lean into their own weirdness.
If you liked this
The Fly1986
Cronenberg's original is the essential starting point: a tragic love story wrapped in biological nightmare, with transformation sequences that still horrify. Essential context for understanding what the sequel is doing.
But Slower and more intimate than its follow-up; if you want action and spectacle, the first film may feel like foreplay before the chaos begins.

Videodrome1983
Cronenberg at his most hallucinogenic, exploring flesh warped by technology and media. Same director's obsession with the body as corrupted instrument, even more visually unhinged.
But Deliberately disorienting and dreamlike; if you need plot coherence, you'll spend the runtime frustrated rather than mesmerized.

Alien1979
Scott's creature-horror masterclass: dread, practical effects, a monster that evolves inside human bodies. The DNA of every body-invasion film that followed, including The Fly II.
But Slower-burn than you might expect; some find the first half's setup tedious compared to the action-heavy final act.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Fly II
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Street Trash1987
Both are 1989-adjacent creature transformations where the body becomes a grotesque landscape of mutation; both use practical effects as the entire vocabulary of the film, and both were made when directors believed in showing you everything.
A homeless man discovers toxic liquor that melts drinkers from the inside out—an exploitation film that's somehow also a grimy humanist story. Practical effects as fever dream, shot on a shoestring budget by a director who disappeared after this one film.
But Aggressively low-budget, deliberately ugly, and genuinely difficult to watch in patches; this isn't retro-cool, it's abrasive.

More like this (8)
Innerspace1987
Dante's gonzo sci-fi comedy about a man shrunk and injected into another man's body. Chaotic, inventive practical effects and a wild tonal jumble that somehow works.
But Relentlessly silly when you might want stakes; the comedy-horror balance lands differently for everyone.

Bad Taste1987
Jackson's debut is a gleefully grotesque low-budget masterpiece about aliens who farm humans for meat. Practical effects as art form, and a genuine cult object made on almost no money.
But The humor is aggressively stupid and the effects deliberately cheap-looking; if you need polish or restraint, this will feel like punishment.

Dead Poets Society1989
A high school horror film where the wealthy literally consume the poor. Body horror as social metaphor, creature effects that are both ridiculous and disturbingly inventive.
But The tonal whiplash between teen movie and grotesque spectacle can feel uneven; the climactic orgy of flesh is not for the queasy.

Scanners1981
Cronenberg exploring trauma and power through the body again, this time psychic warfare that explodes skulls. Taut thriller with ideas about corporate control and mutant children.
But More cerebral than visceral; long stretches of exposition and conversation before the body horror payoffs.

Night of the Creeps1986
Dekker's love letter to monster movies, where alien slugs inhabit human bodies, turning them into shambling zombies. Funny, gory, earnest, and wildly entertaining.
But Deliberately trashy; if you're looking for seriousness or craft, you're watching the wrong thing.

Tremors1990
Practical creature effects, genuine scares, absurdist humor, and a town fighting giant underground worms. An underrated gem that respects both its premise and its audience.
But Plays things relatively straight rather than exploring the body-horror territory; a creature feature more than a transgression story.

Dead Ringers1988
Cronenberg's exploration of how bodies betray identity and how others' bodies become mirrors of ourselves; the difference is that Dead Ringers makes it poetic rather than grotesque.
Cronenberg's most controlled nightmare: Jeremy Irons plays twin gynecologists whose lives and bodies begin to merge as their shared psychosis deepens. Disturbing, elegant, and utterly hypnotic—a masterpiece that uses body horror to explore identity and symbiosis.
But Slow, claustrophobic, and deeply uncomfortable; it's about the dissolution of self, which some find unbearably bleak rather than interesting.

Santa Sangre1989
1989 fellow traveler that asks the same question: what happens when two bodies or identities fuse? But answered through surrealist poetry rather than body-horror spectacle or corporate thriller.
Jodorowsky's surreal masterpiece about a man with severed arms and his son's psychic symbiosis with him, told through dreamlike cinema and practical transgression. A vision of body and soul as inseparable, gorgeous and haunting.
But Deliberately non-rational and symbolic rather than narrative; if you need plot, you'll be lost. Also exploitative and disturbing in ways that feel intentional rather than fun.

People
Cast
Eric StoltzMartin Brundle
Daphne ZunigaBeth Logan
Lee RichardsonAnton Bartok
John GetzStathis Borans
Frank C. TurnerShepard
Ann Marie LeeDr. Jainway
Garry ChalkScorby
Saffron HendersonRonnie
Harley Cross10 year old Martin- Matthew Moore4 year old Martin
- Rob RoyWiley
- Andrew RhodesHargis
Directing
- Peter TalbotAssistant Director Trainee
- Chris WalasDirector
- Peter D. MarshallFirst Assistant Director
- Jean BereziukScript Supervisor
- Richard ColemanSecond Assistant Director
- Kenna Marshall-PittmanThird Assistant Director
Writing
- George LangelaanCharacters
- Frank DarabontScreenplay
- Jim WheatScreenplay
- Ken WheatScreenplay
- Mick GarrisScreenplay
- Mick GarrisStory
Production
- Gillian RichardsonAssociate Producer
- Deborah LucchesiCasting
- Michelle AllenCasting
- Stuart CornfeldExecutive Producer
- Tracey JeffreyLocation Manager
- Mel BrooksProducer
- Steven-Charles JaffeProducer
Recommended by
Curse of the Fly, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Darkman II: The Return of Durant