The Fly Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis Director: David Cronenberg
While there may be countless films about changes of heart or character, of the few about physical change, The Fly leaves the likes of werewolf films and the Transformers series standing.
A remake of a 1958 horror film that featured Vincent Price (though not in the lead role), this 1986 version won more lasting respect. In a nutshell, the plot involves a man who morphs into an insect but surprisingly, to those who have not seen it who think this sounds like a non-starter, it's the storytelling and character acting that make it compulsive viewing.
And it's the protagonist, physicist Seth Brundle, played by Jeff Goldblum (right), who leaves the most lasting impression.
A man obsessed by his work, Brundle still finds room to notice his attraction to journalist Veronica Quaife, played by Geena Davis. He shows her a teleportation system he has designed that can move inanimate objects from one place to another and she walks into his life as he begins to try to do the same with living things. When the latter goes ominously wrong in an attempt to re-materialise a baboon - it explodes - Brundle, with a mad scientist's gleam in his eye, continues to push the limits of his work, making himself his own subject. But unbeknown to him, a fly is trapped in a sealed chamber of the machine that breaks down his molecular structure. And then the changes begin.
Goldblum must have watched innumerable hours of fly and insect behaviour to get into character. As subtle tics and slow physical transformations occur, they are mesmerisingly acted out. They are often simultaneously humorous and cringingly repulsive - as only regurgitation and eyes that move independently of each other can be. While Goldblum's transformation induces both moments of humour and sadness, it's the fantastic dialogue, mostly from Davis' character, that grips the viewer. 'Those weird hairs that you have growing out of your back - I had them analysed. They're definitely not human...' And a horror film (and general-use) phrase was coined when she utters the words: 'Be afraid. Be very afraid.'