Help Me, Help Me: The Most Famous Shriek in Horror

In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, we buzz straight into The Fly (1958), the cautionary tale about what happens when science moves faster than common sense. David Hedison plays André Delambre, a brilliant scientist who builds a teleportation device but forgets to check the passenger list before stepping inside. One fly later, and we’re dealing with a man sporting the worst lab accident since Dr. Jekyll misplaced his prescription.

I’ll guide you through the tragic unraveling: the experiment gone wrong, the desperate attempts to reverse it, and the increasingly awkward domestic scenes where André hides his new bug head behind a black cloth like the world’s creepiest beekeeper. His wife Helene, played by Patricia Owens, gamely tries to hold things together while Vincent Price, as André’s brother, mostly wanders in to look distraught and lend his velvet voice to the exposition.

Of course, it all builds to that moment: a tiny fly caught in a spider web, squeaking “Help me! Help me!” in what may be the most simultaneously terrifying and ridiculous line in horror history.

It’s science, tragedy, and insecticide all rolled into one — a film where the moral is simple: always close the screen door before teleporting.