Forgotten Sequels: The Fly II

 A Film I covered in the very early days of the Site.  It was lost talked about in the FIRST Obama Administration, so it is due for a revisit.

This is the least forgotten, but most maligned of the Sequels to The Fly- The Fly II.

Made in 1989 and without Cronenberg's involvement, the Film is considered by many to be a cheap cash grab.  Is it though?

The Plot is in fact a direct Sequel and it involves the birth of Seth Brundle's spawn.  It grows up and is special...but is it also a monster.

There are some overlaps between this and Return of the Fly, but it's not a one-to-one situation.

To find out if this is as bad as everyone says or not, read on...

In a rehash from the last Film (since Geena Davis turned down a Cameo), we see the woman give birth to a strange insect baby.

She dies Padme-style, but the creature is soon revealed to be an infant (in a cocoon of some sort).

A few years later, the kid grows up really fast- like impossibly-so.

Martin's a Science Genius Boy and basically Young Sheldon, if he lived in a lab.
He can already outsmart most of the folks around him.

His 'childhood' is only marred by constant monitoring and seeing his pet dog turned into a monster in a failed Teleporter Test.

At Age 5, he's now Eric Stoltz.
Well, he was the original Marty McFly, so that tracks.

He doesn't sleep- due to his constant growth- and grows lonely.

He falls for Daphne Zuniga (cast by uncredited Producer Mel Brooks after she was in Spaceballs) and they work on the device some more.

He has a freakout when he learns that the dog was actually kept alive (in a matter of speaking) and he mercy-kills it.

Martin also hooks up with Zuniga...only for her to be moved away from him.
It is soon revealed- by Garry Chalk's Goresby- that they filmed it.

Eric does not take this well!

He's also beginning to mutate and soon learns that this was the plan all along.

The tests- a show.
The medicine- placebo.

Stoltz goes through a series of masks (fitting!) as his condition worsens.

We get a brief Cameo from John Getz, who was a co-worker of Goldblum's in the last Film who got maimed.

Him and his clearly fake beard help the duo keep away from the bad guys for a little bit.

Martin transforms so much that he can't escape and he cocoons up at the bad guys' lair.

He emerges as a monstrous Brundle Fly and starts killing people in his way.

This guy gets a face full of acid in an effect that only the '80s could give us.

Who wants cherry syrup?

He kills all of the bad guys, save for the guy who raised him to be an experiment.

Earlier, Martin learned that he can go in the Pod with someone and give them all of his bad genes (just go with it).

He does it to the boss, leaving him as a monster and Martin normal.
To be continued...in a 2015 Comic.

The End.

A better Film than it gets credit for.  That said, it is definitely a Film of two halves.

The first half is an interesting tale of innocence, deceit and corporate corruption.  Martin is led around and used for all that he can be.

The second half is when he becomes a full-on Monster and starts killing folks- bad ones, at least!  There's a bit of a disconnect- to say the least.

That said, they hired a guy (Chris Walas) who did Special Effects for Return of the Jedi, Piranha and Humanoids from the Deep.  Oh, and the original...Remake.
He'd only go on to Direct one other Film, an Episode of Tales from the Crypt and a Documentary...about himself.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the two disparate halves of the Film.  It scratches that gooey and gross Practical F/X itch for me.

Also, is that a young John Fitzgerald Byers from The X-Files?!?

Next up, my detour is over and my return to Bond is nigh.  I hope this one holds up as well as the last one did!  Stay tuned...

Tubi Thursday: ROB1N (2025)

What happens when you rip off a Movie whose Sequel underperformed?

Well, let's hope people still care.

This is...

In a Flashback Scene, a kid kills a bunch of people at his Birthday Party.

See- I was never that bad, Dad!

His name is Robin.

A few Decades later, an old man makes a boy robot.

Why we aren't just making Johnny 5's is anyone's guess.

His name is Rob1n.

A young man with a secret to hide has just gotten engaged.

He tells his new Fiance that he wants to make peace with his long-estranged Uncle.

They go to visit him and stay in his House.

His name is NOT Robin.

Despite clearly not being to actually move on-screen, the titular robot goes around killing people in the House, from the Staff to Cops.

Who will live?
Who will die?

Will this at least be better than a Robert the Doll Film?

To find out, stream it now.

A pretty lackluster ripoff in look and overall execution.

To be 100% fair to this Film, they don't rip off the Plot of MEGAN...much.
They rip off the Plot of different Films and just market it as a rip-off of MEGAN.

Much different!

The Acting and overall presentation of this one isn't bad.  It feels slightly more professional than many of the recent UK Horror Films I've seen.

That said, ROB1N here is a decent, but clearly fragile animatronic.  It never moves while fully shown on screen.  Hell, it never moves while HALFWAY being shown on screen.

When your Killer Doll/Robot can't actually kill, what's the point?

It's alright, but I think my renewed look at The Outer Limits will bring better Boy Robot fare...

A Film with a few interesting Scenes and it's not a total rip-off.  That said, it isn't that interesting either- even as its own thing.

Forgotten TV: 'The Outer Limits' Ends with...a Clip Show?!?

 A Sci-Fi must-see for people who lived in the 1990s, The Outer Limits revival was huge!

It got 7 Seasons.  It was nominated for 49 Awards and won 18, including a Primetime Emmy.

All of that build-up is to then let you down for what would turn out to be the Series Finale.

Season 7 was its last and this Episode was the final one ever...

A man flies his Ship to a Base.

After a whole thing where they pretend to try and steal his ship, they reveal that he is one of 4 Candidates for an important job.

The Trials will take place using a VR device...

These Trials make up about half of the Episode's runtime.

It wouldn't be so bad, but they are all Clips from previous Episodes, like Season 4, Episode 20 (aka Nightmare)...

Or this 'Trial' which is just Season 4, Episode 3 (Hearts and Minds).

This one is actually mined for clips later, so more filler.

...or this Trial, which is just the climax of Season 5, Episode 7 (The Human Operators).

...or, lastly, the extended finale of Season 1, Episode 15 (The Voyage Home).

There is at least a vague throughline here, but still.

Our Hero is told to watch the last applicant (repeat offender here Lochlyn Munro) and shoots him.

He wakes up and learns that EVERYTHING after he sat down in the VR Helmet the first time was a simulation!

Everyone was real and was tested, but only he passed.

The twist- he's so loyal to commands that he's now going to be turned into an AI Program!

We see a quick shot or two of him being tortured virtually ('Monster', 'In the Blood' and 'Worlds Within') and he's even Eric McCormack being attacked by a space bug (Season 3, Episode 9's 'Tempest') as we fade to black.

The End.

To be fair, I have seen worse Clip Shows.  This one at least isn't just people teeing up 'memories' in silly ways.

They did build a Plot here.  The idea was sound.
You knew things would turn out bad, since the Good to Bad Endings Ratio on this Show leans towards the latter.

That said, once you realized that they were just teeing up Clips in THIS way, it was a little disappointing.

They did credit the Actors (as SAG I'm sure mandated), but were they paid again?  Did this Episode count towards their residuals?

For a Show like this to do a Clip Show isn't great.
For a Show like this to have their Finale (planned as such or otherwise) be one is just sad.

Take us away, 90s Morph Effects...

On the plus side, I've got 5 other Episodes in the 'Death and Beyond' DVD and one was already better.

Even so, what a wet fart of a finale.

Fiction vs. Fiction: Superman Returns (2006)

 Another Book to Film comparison, but with a semi-modern twist.

This time it is Superman Returns, which has a big anniversary coming up later this year.

Instead of reading the Novelization, I *listened* to the Book on CD version.

This is...

****VS****

What's the Same?

As a Novelization, they didn't change the basic Story.
This one is just about what didn't make the cut in the Film (which was still nearly 3 hours).

Makes sense?

What's Different?

The Novelization- done by famed Writer Marv Wolfman- is not limited by Budget or mortality.

As such, we get a whole Flashback Sequence to them sending Superman away.  ON TOP OF THAT, we get a Flashback within a Flashback to how Jor-El and Lara met.

Alright!

We also get to see how Superman returned to Krypton in his ship and nearly died out there, since the kryptonite core was exposed.

This cost several million dollars and was then CUT from the Film.
It's also not on the Blu-Ray I own (unlike most of the stuff I'll mention later) but is online in 2026.

In Smallville, we briefly see him and Mom together for a bit before he goes to Metropolis and she's gone until the end.
The Book features more of her and her new beau (James Karen in a Deleted Scene).  This sets up the idea that lots has changed since his absence.

No major changes for a while, save the Book leaning into the idea that Jimmy was super drunk at the Bar before Superman's big reveal.  Not sure what that added.

When Lois and Lex meet, his suspicions about her son Jason being Superman's are much more amplified in the Film.

In the Book, the bad guy is crushed by a bookcase, making it vague if Jason did it or the rocking ship did.  Lex leaves a bomb with the duo on the ship.
In the Film, he seems to push a piano across the room at 80mph and then Lex flees without leaving a bomb.

The Book is also more explicit about Superman's accrued injuries on Lex's new Island.  I guess they did more since you don't get the proper visual...maybe?

In contrast, the Film really milks the whole drama of Did Superman Die way more than the Book does.  It feels like 5-10 minutes in the Film.

Thoughts

Both versions of the Story are good.  The Book has the habit- as Books tend to do- to stop and expand on random things all the time.

A quick shot of Perry White in the Film, for example, has a flashback that probably took up a page or two in the Book.
It's not a bad thing- it's just a thing.

The Film certainly paints a great visual, but feels like a weird mix of rushed and dragging.  It would make the Whiplash guy go mad!

Original Lois and Jimmy with new Clark and his Wife.

Which Is Better?
The Film

It's a closer match than I was expecting, but the Film's added visual/audio elevates the material.  That and it has less filler (as good as said filler is).

Shudder Day: The Last Video Store (2023)

 A stupid cold won't keep me from Reviewing Films!

Since literally nobody has posted a Review for this on Shudder's site yet, I might as well be the first to talk about...

We see an unknown man putting some tapes in a bag at his home.

Later, we see a woman returning said tapes to a Video Store run and operated by a single guy.

In spite of her apathy, he shows her the Films she returned...

...but why the strange look?

Because she also brought back this strange tape and the tape player starts freaking out...

The tape in his machine has the strange effect of bringing one of the creatures from a tape to life!

This can't end well!

The duo survive the first challenge.

The Owner insists that they can only get by with the power of friendship!

He might be right.

Is this legally distinct parody going to be the end of them?

To find out, stream it now.

A Film that was clearly made with passion, but certainly not without its issues.

This Film is the culmination of a few ideas and previous projects- a 2019 Short, a 2016 Short and a 2015 Show- and it shows.

The idea- a cursed tape brings Movie Characters to life- is good.  You can do plenty with that one!

For better or worse, this one feels like a Low-Budget Horror Comedy.  All of the good parts- like the quirky charm- and bad parts- singular location- are on display here.

If they aren't for you, this one won't change your mind.

I did also appreciate all of the Poster cameos, from Manborg to The Visitor to Psycho Goreman.

I think that there was enough good here to make it worth a watch for me personally.  It had some misdirection and Plot twists that I didn't necessarily see coming.

If you're the right guy for this one, give it a look.  Don't be nervous.

A Film that makes the most of its small Budget with some good moments.  This one is definitely still too quirky for many people though.

Shudder Day: Bodycam (2025)

 After a busy weekend of work, I didn't watch a Shudder Film until the middle of the week.

As such, here's a Saturday Review before a proper one.

This one is from a Director whose last Film I really enjoyed.
Will this one be as good?

Two Cops are called in on a Domestic Disturbance.

The whole Film will be shot from the POV of their bodycams...and car cameras.

(There may be a few cheats).

The duo split up and their radios suddenly don't work.

That's odd.

The veteran Cop is confronted by a strange man in front of a hole dug into the floor (almost a well) and makes the split second decision to kill him.

He wants to get his partner on the same page.

They will cover this up.

The younger guy- Jackson- reluctantly agrees, but weird stuff starts to happen when they film a symbol found outside.

One of the drug addicts they ran across outside talks about The Under Man.

They ignore him.

As they try to leave the Scene, more of them form a barrier and threaten our duo.

They took something from 'him' and it must be repaid.

No, it's not Bill Oberst Jr.  I checked.

They try to deal with the footage, but that doesn't work out.

They try to get Jackson's Mom to help, but that's a no go.

They soon find out that the Under Man is more real than they could have imagined!

Is the truth to hard to handle?

What is the reality behind this strange force/being?

To find out, stream it.

A Film that has a tough gimmick to nail, but it kind of works.

Having a Film that is (almost entirely) Filmed by stationary, mounted cameras is sure hard to do.  You really need your Actors to almost act as Cinematographers.

The Film really forces you to live in the shared experience of these two men.  It is quite immersive.

That said, the Film's attempt at doing a slow burn effect doesn't quite work.  They give you a crazy setup and slowly explain it all.

It has a few good tricks- like the possessed people or the words on walls messing with the cameras- and really makes the most of them.  At a certain point, however, you've seen them all a few times.

I just wish that were more tricks on display here.  It gets a bit repetitive.

The end game here generally worked for me, even if it was a bit expected.

It's not the best Movie I've seen by this Director, but it is worth a look...

A Film that has a gimmick and fully commits to this.  My only gripe is that the Film only has a few tricks and repeats them many times over.