I don't know if I've been thoroughly scared by a film since I was a kid. I remember having to be comforted by an adult after having seen the severed hand and rampaging carnivorous plants stories in Hammer's "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors". The plant story capitalized on an image or situation that has a kind of primal resonance for me, namely, the idea of being trapped in a house by some form of danger outside which cuts you off from the rest of the world. Zombie movies have the same potential, but it seems as though too many entries in this genre dilute what should be a devastating experience with lame humor or tired plot conventions. I think Cronenberg's remake of The Fly is the only film in recent memory that has disturbed me enough to give me the shakes after the movie was over. Cronenberg was able to establish a palpable sense of genuine foreboding and disaster early on in the film, the inexorable unfolding of which leads to the deterioration, physically and mentally, of the protagonist, Seth Brundle. While the physical details of Brundle's transformation are disturbing, especially the poignant biophysical transformation of Brundle's digestive system, it is the volitional use of those transformed properties against humans that completes the horror of the film. ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]