15 years after the events of “The Fly,” Andre’s son does some transportation experimentation of his own.
It only took a year to do a sequel, can you imagine that happening these days?!
Apparently Vincent Price signed on after reading the first draft of the script. However, the studio demanded re-writes in order to reduce production costs. The re-writes reportedly removed much of what Price liked about the first draft.
Talking of Price, the producers decided that Vincent Price was all they needed, so they hired no other actors from the first movie. Also the script was written specifically to use the standing sets from The Fly. That’s the only problem though with this movie.
If Price was unhappy about the script changes it never shows as he once again puts in a stellar performance, a true professional. The rest of the cast also put in great performances and help the story come to life and make their characters more than one dimensional.
Edward Bernds did a fantastic job of taking over as director from the departed Kurt Neumann, he managed to keep the film’s tone true to the original and manages to continue the story without harming the franchise. That’s so easily done, as we’ve witnessed over the years.
“Return Of The Fly” is a great sequel, some even argue it’s better than the original. Personally I think they’re on par with each other.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
It has been erroneously reported that “The corpse shown on the slab in the morgue just before Max Barthold receive visit from the Fly, has six fingers (sic) in his left foot.” The left foot has only five toes, but the angle makes the ball of the foot appear as if it may be a sixth toe.
Director Edward Bernds has said that, contrary to rumors at the time, he was not hired to replace Kurt Neumann, who had directed the original The Fly (1958). Neumann had died in 1958, before this film began production, and before his death was not being considered by the producers for the director’s job.
The movie double billed with The Alligator People (1959).
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