The Fly (1986) - Quotes

Beyond Imagination's Limits and Fears

Taglines: (from movie trailer) There is a limit, even to the imagination... a point where our greatest creations meet our deepest fears. You are about to go beyond that limit.

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Lab Experiment Leads to Disaster

Taglines: Something went wrong in the lab today. Very wrong.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Transformation Leads to Unforeseen Horror

Taglines: Half man, half insect... total terror.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Embrace Your Fears and Doubts

Taglines: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

A Struggle for Humanity and Connection

Seth: Help me. Help me be human.

Veronica: How?

Seth: [indicating the appropriate telepods; starts the countdown] Well, I go there, and you go there. We come apart, and then we come together there. You, me and the baby. Together.

Veronica: No...

Seth: We'll be the ultimate family. A family of three, joined together in one body. More human than I am alone.

Veronica: No!!

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Awakening from a Dream of Humanity

Seth: [Veronica shakes her head; groans] You have to leave now, and never come back here. Have you ever heard of insect politics? Neither have I. Insects don't have politics. They're very brutal. No compassion, no compromise. We can't trust the insect. I'd like to become the first insect politician. Y'see, I'd like to, but...I'm afraid...

Veronica: I don't know what you're trying to say!

Seth: I'm saying... I'm saying I-I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man, and loved it. But now the dream is over...and the insect is awake.

Veronica: No, no, Seth...

Seth: I'm saying...I'll hurt you if you stay.

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Struggling with a transformative experience

Seth: I seem to be stricken by a disease with a purpose, wouldn't you say? Maybe not such a bad disease after all.

Veronica: I can't stay here.

Seth: [jumps down onto floor] No, no, no! Why not? Why can't you?

Veronica: I can't take it... It's too much.

Seth: What's there to take? The disease has just revealed its purpose. We don't have to worry about contagion anymore, I know what the disease wants.

Veronica: Turned into what?

Seth: What do you think, a fly? Am I becoming a hundred-and-eighty-five pound fly? No, I'm becoming something that's never existed before. I'm becoming... Brundlefly. Don't you think that's worth a Nobel Prize or two?

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Unidentified Hairs Prompt Disturbing Discovery

Veronica: Those weird hairs growing out of your back, I took them to a lab. I had them analyzed.

Seth: The hairs? The hairs? Oh. Yeah, that’s a strange thing to do.

Veronica: Not as strange as the results. The guy at the lab had trouble identifying them. He finally came to the conclusion that they were definitely not human.

Seth: [points upwards] Oh, very good.

Veronica: Not human, Seth. In fact, very likely insect hairs.

Seth: [scared; in denial] That's silly, that's ridiculous--

Veronica: Look, now there's more. Look at your face... Something happened when you went through, Seth. You've got to get some help, I think you must be sick--

Seth: [exploding] YOU'RE JEALOUS!! I've become free, I've been released and you can't stand it! You'll do anything to bring me down! Come here, does this look sick? Does this look like a sick man to you?

Veronica: No, stop it!

Seth: Know any sick man who can do that?!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Exploring Thoughts in a Distorted Reality

Veronica: [recording him with a camera] We've gotta do this, Seth. Talk to the tape. Get in the habit. The world will want to know what you're thinking--

Seth: [angrily] FUCK" is what I'm thinking!

Veronica: Good... The world will want to know that... What else? Why didn't it work?

Seth: [more calmly] I think it turned the baboon inside-out.

Veronica: Why?

Seth: It can't cope with the flesh. It only seems to work on inanimate objects; nothing that's living. Must be my fault.

Veronica: Why?

Seth: [is silent for a moment] Computers are dumb. They only know what you tell them. I must not know enough about the flesh myself. I'm gonna have to learn. I don't wanna talk now.

Embracing Change and Loss of Relevance

Seth Brundle: [Adding his teeth to a collection of lost body parts; Notices Veronica] You're relics. Yes, you are. Vestigial, archaeological, redundant. Artifacts of a bygone era. Of historical interest only. You've missed some good moments. Is that why you're here? To catch up? My teeth have begun to fall out. The medicine cabinet is now the Brundle Museum of Natural History. You wanna see what else is in it?

The Transformation of Brundlefly's Eating Habits

Seth Brundle: [Being filmed by Veronica] How does Brundlefly eat? Well, he found out, the hard and painful way, that he eats very much the way a fly eats. His teeth are now useless, because although he can chew up solid foods, he can't digest them. Solid food hurts. So like a fly, Brundlefly breaks down solids with a corrosive enzyme, playfully called "vomit drop". He regurgitates on his food, it liquefies, and then he sucks it back up. Ready for a demonstration, kids? Here goes...

Transformation through Unintended Consequences

Seth Brundle: [To Veronica; Smiles] I was not pure. The teleporter insists on inner purity; I was not pure. A fly...got into the transmitter pod with me that first time when I was alone. The computer got...confused, there weren't supposed to be two separate genetic patterns, and it decided to, erm...splice us together. It mated us, me and the fly. We hadn't even been properly introduced. My...teleporter turned into a gene-splicer. And a very good one. Now I'm not Seth Brundle anymore. I'm the offspring of...Brundle and housefly.

Exploring Fear and Transformation Beyond the Flesh

Seth Brundle: [To Veronica; [w:Pierian Spring|Drink deep or taste not the plasma spring] You're afraid to dive into the plasma pool, aren't you? You're afraid to be destroyed and recreated, aren't you? I'll bet you think that you woke me up about the flesh, don't you? But you only know society's straight line about the flesh. You can't penetrate beyond society's sick, gray fear of the flesh! ], see what I'm saying? And I'm not just talking about sex and penetration, I'm talking about penetration beyond the veil of the flesh! A deep, penetrating dive into the plasma pool!

The Empowering Illusion of Teleportation

Seth Brundle: [To Veronica] I will say now, however subjectively, that human teleportation, molecular decimation, breakdown and reformation is inherently purging. It makes a man a king. From the moment I walked out of the pod, I felt like a million bucks... I mean, what an accomplishment! But what have I really done? All I've done is say to the world: "Let's go! Move! Catch me if you can!

Confusion and Jealousy in Relationships

Seth Brundle: [Talking to his surviving baboon, while drinking; As the baboon swats at a fly] Residue" means old boyfriend, doesn't it? Stathis Borans is her old boyfriend. "From the desk of Stathis Borans" - how about "Under the desk of Stathis Borans"? She's working for her old boyfriend. Now she runs out late at night to see him. What is this, the Ronnie game?! I'm catching on, I'm catching on... I didn't mean to kill your brother. But he didn't die in vain, if that's of any comfort. And, as the General said, "There's nothing I'd ask you to do that I wouldn't do myself, boys." ...Hey, you're all right. From looking at you, I can tell you're okay. What are we waiting for? Let's do it.