Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast · James Payne

The Fly (1957) & The Fly (1986): When Science Turns to Horror

·1 hr 24 min·5 clips

The famous ending lands on a tiny white-headed fly with a human plea: 'help me.'

The pair start with a simple question: how do you feel about flies? That opens into a running joke about spiders as allies, since flies come off as the bigger household menace. The conversation stays physical and practical. They talk about fly tape, electric swats, drain flies, and the stubborn fact that flies are hard to get rid of once they move into a house. From there, they turn to the films. Journey Through Sci-Fi looks at The Fly from 1958 and the 1986 remake as part of its mad-science series, using both versions to show how the same premise can land differently across eras. The original gets the most attention. The hosts work through its ending, especially the stretch where Andre's fate is already sealed but the film still squeezes tension out of the search for evidence and the race to reach the spider web in time. That final image matters. They linger on the infamous moment when the tiny fly is revealed with the human head and a desperate cry for help, balancing the scene's silliness against the creepiness that still hangs on. The remake stays in the mix too. Even when the talk goes wide, the show keeps tying the newer version back to the same core questions about transformation and how science fiction slips into horror. The banter helps. James and Matt sound like two fans thinking aloud, correcting themselves, circling back, and letting the conversation drift from plot mechanics into genre history. What you get is a warm, lightly scrappy rewatch conversation that knows when to laugh at the absurdity and when to notice the dread underneath it. It is especially good company for horror people. Listeners who like classic creature features, remake comparisons, and a show that can turn fly talk into a small genre argument will get the most out of it.

As heard by us

A fly-sized premise that opens into a sharp, disgust-fueled discussion of horror and the original's ending.

The episode makes The Fly feel like a sturdy double feature, setting the 1958 original beside the 1986 remake and using both to think through mad-science horror, from flies and spiders to the ordinary feeling of disgust.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a fly-soaked compare-and-contrast between the 1958 original and the 1986 remake.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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