Design
Aug 10, 2024
Beautifully Unwell: The Fly Poster Design
Some movies age with grace and others dissolve into strange little biological nightmares and somehow become cooler because of it. I’ve always loved how unapologetically gross and emotionally sincere The Fly is. Let's face it, The Fly is cute and Jeff Goldblum is actually kinda hot. Underneath all the body horror and collapsing humanity is basically just a story about obsession, ego, decay, and a man having a pretty shit week lolol. Naturally, I made a poster for it.
Category
Design
Reading Time
6 Min
Date
Romantic Horror For People With Weird Taste
What makes The Fly work isn’t just the practical effects… even though they still absolutely destroy most modern CGI (I'm bias, I appreciate the artistry).
It’s how serious the movie is about its own tragedy.
Seth Brundle isn’t a cool villain. He’s just a sleep-deprived scientist slowly turning into forbidden yogurt while insisting he’s “better than ever.” Which honestly feels spiritually adjacent to creative burnout.
The film somehow balances horror, heartbreak, and accidental comedy without ever winking at the audience too hard. That’s rare.
Designing Something That Felt Infected
For the poster, I wanted it to feel degraded. Like something recovered from a damaged CRT monitor in a lab that should’ve been shut down years ago.
The grain, the milky blues, the sickly green typography… everything needed to feel slightly creepy but still kinda cute. Those big bug eyes are undeniable.
I also leaned into scale and negative space because Cronenberg movies always feel weirdly spacious, even when someone is actively liquefying on screen.
Like I say, those giant eyes felt important. There’s something unsettling about making the viewer feel observed by whatever Brundle becomes.
“Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.”
Cult horror movies used to have personality. Real personality. Strange pacing. Gross textures. Practical effects that looked physically sticky and I dig that.
Now a days everything gets cleaned up within an inch of its life. Good ol' sterility.
The Fly still holds up and makes me giggle. That’s probably why people keep coming back to it.
Also, Jeff Goldblum saying:
“Too bad.”
when the love of his life turns him down on the rooftop (you know the scene) might literally be one of the most masculine lines ever delivered by a man actively becoming an insect.
That's all I've got. Get at me if you want a poster.
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