Curse of the Fly (1965)

I bought this film on DVD for two reasons: First, I am a fan of British horror; second, I am a big admirer of director Don Sharp. Sharp made several excellent films for Hammer, including the exquisite sub-Hitchcockian horror The Kiss of the Vampire, and later on directed the memorable remake of The 39 Steps (1978) with Robert Powell. Sharp is nothing if not a polished craftsman.



Still, for all its cult appeal, Curse of the Fly is a patchy affair. It picks up after a slow first third. It opens most bizarrely like a Russ Meyer movie, with an underwear-clad Carole Gray (whose few other films include Terence Fisher's excellent 1966 sci-fi Island of Terror) running through a forest accompanied by a rather schmaltzy main theme on piano. It transpires she is escaping from a mental asylum, and it is just her luck to bump into George Baker (later TV's Inspector Wexford in the Ruth Rendell Mysteries). He drives her to Montreal, and they fall in love. She neglects to tell him she just broke out of the psycho ward; he neglects to tell her he is engaged in highly dangerous experiments in teleportation with his father, a hammy Brian Donlevy.

There are a few great moments. My favourite was late on when Donlevy is teletransported to his (other) son in London. I won't spoil what happens, but it is quite a jarring moment.

It is certainly one of Sharp's lesser efforts, although a die-hard British horror fan won't regret having it on his DVD shelf. I'd watch it again on a rainy day.

As regards the DVD itself (R2), it's a bare-bones release, not brilliant quality, and with pretty crap sound, most noticeable in the Twentieth Century Fox fanfare before the main titles. You can snap it up for £5.99, however, so it's not all bad news.

My rating? * * * * * (2/5)