Years after the terrible events of the first film, the original doctor's son wants to continue his father's work.

This bugs the avuncular Vincent Price, but Doc Jr. is adam-ant that his research will fly.

However, a wormlike lab assistant has treachery and sabotage on his mind and soon Doc Jr. becomes mutated into FLAN: half fly, half man, all terror!

Can the son do what the father couldn't and put the insect aside, or will he forget the human and become a poo-man?

A cash-in, quicky follow-up to the hugely successful The Fly, this 1959 sequel still has much to recommend it, and while the original now looks dated the follow-up exceeds expectations.

Granted it was written to re-use the sets from the first film, but remains great entertainment, with some bizarre images (a hamster with human hands, the titular monster) and genuine suspense when FLAN goes on the rampage, all well shot in shadowy Cinemascope.

The return of a game Vincent Price plus a nod to the "Help meeeeeee" gag from the original film also add to the fun.

20th Century Fox must not have had high expectations for Return of the Fly; Columbia soundman Edward L. Bends took over directing duties when The Fly's director passed away and the budget was half the original's, but the film was successful enough to be remade as The Fly II thirty years later.

A second sequel, Curse of the Fly, followed six years later, minus Vincent Price but with Burt Kwouk, best known as Cato from The Pink Panther series.

Rob Daniel