9 Sci-Fi Horror Movies That Went Too Far

7. The Fly (1986)

Hollow Man Rhona Mitra
20th Century Fox

Often leaning firmly into the realm of body horror, the iconic David Cronenberg famously has The Brood, Shivers, Rabid, Videodrome and Crash on his CV, in addition to other impressive offerings like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.

On the body horror front, it's 1986's The Fly that stands out to many as being Cronenberg's finest hour - as reflected by its status as his most commercially successful and critically acclaimed movie (as per Rotten Tomatoes).

Based loosely on George Langelaan's 1957 short story and Kurt Neumann's 1958 film of the same name, Cronenberg's The Fly was revolutionary at the time of its release. With Jeff Goldblum's Seth Brundle unwittingly turning himself into a human-fly creature, this '86 effort stunned with its effects work from Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis.

Of course, that "stunned" was often in the most grotesque of ways, with Brundle's transformation being increasingly disgusting as the picture unravels.

Where The Fly goes too far, though, is Goldbum's Brundlefly breaking down his food by vomiting on it. Speaking very much from experience - your writer having maybe watched The Fly at too young an age - the image of Brundle spewing up milky vomit really is the stuff of nightmares.

Senior Writer
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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.