David Cronenberg’s deleted ‘Monkey-Cat’ scene that was too brutal for audiences
Popularly known as one of the greatest body horror movies of all time, the 1986 remake The Fly, directed by David Cronenberg, is a frightening and stomach-churning odyssey. Originally a 1958 science-fiction horror starring Al Hedison and Patricia Owens, Cronenberg really managed to make the new screenplay stand tall and separate from the original. The Fly, to this day, remains a true staple of classic, 20th-century horror.
While it is sold as a horror classic, Cronenberg manages to develop several layers to this story through the main character, Dr Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), and his love interest, journalist ‘Ronnie’ Quaife (Geena Davis). Cronenberg fuses body horror, suspense, romance, sympathy and tragedy seamlessly in this film. He took a lot of inspiration from Kafka’s Metamorphosis, as well as the original 1958 film, and created a claustrophobic and disturbing 96 minutes of a man slowly losing his sanity from his pursuit of passion.
Although the premise seems frightening enough, there is still one terrifying deleted scene that even Cronenberg thought was a little too graphic for audiences.
Dr Seth Brundle is on the verge of inventing teleportation between the two ‘telepods’ he keeps in his laboratory. After a party one evening, he shows his near-breakthrough to Ronnie, and he can’t keep his excitement to himself. However, his boastful showcase goes horribly wrong when he attempts to teleport himself because a common house fly has accidentally gotten inside one of the machines. As a result of this, Brundle begins his devastating, skin-crawling transformation to half-man, half-fly over several agonising days.
It’s clear from the introduction that Cronenberg expects you to care about Dr Seth Brundle. He doesn’t write Brundle as some crazy Dr Frankenstein, but instead, he focuses on him being a quirky, driven scientist on the verge of a breakthrough. Because of this, Brundle is entirely sympathetic and is loveable to the audience throughout.
Though, in this six-minute deleted scene, you don’t quite feel so sympathetic to Brundle. Jeff Goldblum’s Brundle is in a mad panic as his condition deteriorates his body to almost a point of no return. At this point in the film, you barely begin to recognise Goldblum behind the special effects makeup and his grotesque appearance. He is playing in his lab, simply trying to force out the latest scientific breakthrough in his deranged mind, one that will restore his looks and halt the process of turning him into a monster. This race against the clock, combined with his rage and frantic state, hooks the audience and has us on the edges of our seats.
Whilst experimenting further with the ‘telepods’, he attempts to fuse together a monkey and a cat. This hideous horror hybrid attacks him in a fit of rage, and he beats it to death with a lead pipe. Not really the quirky scientist anymore, is he?
In the documentary about the making of the movie Fear of the Flesh: The Making of The Fly, producer Stuart Cornfield explains that Brundle so carelessly fusing together the cat and monkey for another wild experiment – only to eventually bludgeon it to death – halts the character development. The movie is strong when you follow Brundle on this journey and the transformation he is suffering through. If the audience begins to think negatively about the soul and character of Brundle, as opposed to just his physical appearance, you don’t get the level of investment for the payoff to really work. After the bad test screening in Toronto, this scene was left on the cutting room floor, and it’s probably for the best.
