40 Years Later, This Iconic 5-Word Horror Quote Is More Famous Than the Academy Award-Winning Movie It Came From: A Practical Look
It has been 40 years since an Oscar-winning sci-fi horror movie featured a quote that has become even bigger than the movie itself. In 1986, David Cronenberg brought his eye for body horror to the project, and what resulted was one of the best horror remakes in movie history. Cronenberg took the classic 1958 horror movie The Fly and updated it for a new generation, removing much of the camp and adding in a truly disgusting bit of body horror that can still make audiences squirm to this day. With Jeff Goldblum in the lead, the movie then added a tagline from a quote in the film that has actually become even more notable than the movie itself.
In the movie, Goldblum’s Seth Brundle tells someone, “Don’t be afraid,” to which Geena Davis’ Veronica responds, “No. Be afraid. Be very afraid.” This became the movie’s tagline and a quote that has been used in horror over the decades since The Fly’s release.
“Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid” Has Outgrown The Fly
The Fly is a remake of a sci-fi horror movie from 1958, which itself was an adaptation of a 1957 George Langelaan short story of the same name. In the movie, Seth Brundle was an eccentric scientist who created a set of telepods that allowed teleportation from one pod to the other. He made the mistake of testing them on himself, even after initial tests killed a baboon by turning it inside out. His test seemed to go much better when he teleported himself and ended up in one piece. However, a fly got into the pod with him, and the two ended up combined on the other side. Soon, Seth began turning into a human fly creature.
When Geena Davis’ Veronica said, “Be afraid. Be very afraid,” it created a legendary quote that ended up surpassing even this incredible movie. In some interesting trivia, it was Mel Brooks who came up with the line after he heard about Seth Brundle saying, “Don’t be afraid.” According to Cronenberg, it was Brooks who said that the response should be, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” To think that the man behind Spaceballs and Blazing Saddles came up with one of the greatest quotes in horror history is mind-boggling.
Ever since The Fly came out, this quote has been heard more times than almost any other horror movie quote. It sits up there with quotes like “Here’s Johnny,” although that quote came from another source before The Shining used it. The Fly’s quote was at least original compared to that earlier quote by Jack Torrance. There are other examples, like “Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep,” “Do you like scary movies?” and “I see dead people,” but the difference is that the quote from The Fly has been used to promote other movies, while the others remain distinctly connected to their films. There are even people who use this quote, but they have no idea where it originally came from.
The Fly Remains One of the Best Horror Remakes of All Time
The original version of The Fly was released in 1958, with the legendary Vincent Price as one of the main cast members. It was a brilliantly creepy horror movie with one of the most unnerving final moments in any horror film when the fly with a human face revealed the truth to a law enforcement official looking into a possible murder. While that movie is mostly a campy cult classic, it is in no way a classic horror masterpiece. The same can’t be said for The Fly’s 1986 remake.
That was not a question when David Cronenberg signed on to helm the movie. Cronenberg was hitting on all cylinders at this point in his career, coming off four consecutive critically acclaimed movies: The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, and The Dead Zone. The movie even went on to win the Oscar for Best Makeup.
This also wasn’t an anomaly in the 1980s. There was a short period of time when Hollywood proved that remakes could not only surpass the original movies, but also stand the test of time as great horror movies on their own. It actually started in 1978 when Invasion of the Body Snatchers ended up as a better movie than even its all-time classic original from 1956. Then, there was the one-two-three punch of the 1980s, with The Thing (1982), The Fly (1986), and The Blob (1988). All three movies were remakes of classic sci-fi horror movies, and all three were better than the originals and among the best horror films of the 1980s, remakes or not.
