10 More Body Horror Fates Worse Than Death

10. The Fly II - Becoming A Gooey Genetic Mess

While The Fly II may not quite live up to the standards of David Cronenberg's Jeff Goldblum-starring predecessor, this Chris Walas-directed 1989 follow-up still has plenty going for it.

Here, it's Martin Brundle (Eric Stoltz) - the son of Goldblum's Seth Brundle and Geena Davis' Veronica Quaife - who takes centre-stage.

Aging rapidly due to his unique DNA make-up, Martin has the form of a 25-year-old by the time he's only five years of age. With Anton Bartok (Lee Richardson) eager to unlock the secrets of Seth Brundle, he attempts to manipulate young Martin into working out the smarts and science wizardry of his old man's work.

By the end of The Fly II, slimeball Bartok gets his comeuppance in the most gooey, ooey of ways.

With Martin having fully transformed into a humanoid fly by this point, he drags Bartok to a Telepod and undergoes a gene-swapping sequence that once again makes Martin human... but makes a total mess of Bartok.

As we see shortly before The Fly II's credits roll, Richardson's character is now a deformed monstrosity who has to be fed via a straw in a dog bowl; a fitting end for someone who earlier in the film had performed his own twisted genetic experiment on a dog.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 6th Aug 2021

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