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[[quoteright:275:[[TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_inline_njxegraorg1s40s2j.png]]]]

->''"You got flies."''
-->-- '''Leonard Smalls''', ''Film/RaisingArizona''

In many works, especially horror movies, the first thing that indicates something going nasty is the arrival of [[TheSwarm flies, mosquitoes, wasps, and other flying creepy crawlies]]. Bonus points are earned if they are seen entering or emerging from a sleeping protagonist's mouth, nose, or ears. Generally linked to demons and ghosts, but might just be a symptom of something more natural like decomposition.

This trope has its roots in {{Beelzebub}} being "Lord of the Flies", and other Satanic connotations. Alternatively, it may be linked to the Ten Plagues, or simply to decay and death.

Subtrope of BugsHeraldEvil. See also TheSwarm and TheWormThatWalks, when the bugs are not only an indicator of evil, but are actually used as a monster directly, {{Beelzebub}}, UncleanlinessIsNextToUngodliness, EvilSmellsBad, and SmellsOfDeath.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* ''Advertising/LouieTheFly'' from Mortein pesticide commercials brags about how unpleasant, mean, and unclean he is, all while [[TalkingPest relishing spreading filth and diseases through houses]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'': While hunting for the Bug-Eaten Rat, Josuke sees a bundle of flies around a foul smell, and quickly discovers rats that were dissolved and melted together into a blob of flesh.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'': D an G's Yo-Yo Ma utilizes MosquitoMiscreants to inject melting {{acid|attack}} into his targets.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': Just as Johnny is noticing Diego's off behavior, Gyro tells him to shut the window as hundreds of flies are pouring in from outside. Upon stepping out, Johnny and Gyro discover the flies were attracted to the mangled body of a bear that Diego had killed in his dinosaur form.
* In ''Manga/SaintSeiyaTheLostCanvas'', the Specter Nasu Veronica is heavily associated to flies, [[PestController controlling a horde of them]] to [[BeeBeeGun attack his enemies]]. He claims that the flies that descend upon a corpse do it in order to devour its soul before it can pass on to the afterlife.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Audio Plays]]
* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoJALS2E1LitefootAndSanders Litefoot and Sanders]]", a swarm of creepy crawlies gathers--including flies, cockroaches, bugs, millipedes and spiders--gathers around Sanders if he stays too long in one spot. He eventually says it is because they can sense his true nature as bringer of death.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Although DarkIsNotEvil, Black mana is associated with death and parasitism, and insects -- especially carrion eaters, such as flies -- are strongly tied to Black.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': When written by Creator/ScottSnyder, the Joker is often associated with flies to the point of almost being an {{Animal Motif|s}}. He's always got flies buzzing around him, tying into his habit of spreading disease and misery.
** ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'': Billions of Black Lantern Rings travel together through the universe. They're described by characters as sounding like swarming buzzing flies.
** ''ComicBook/SwampThing'': Flies are commonly associates with the Rot in general, and with [[BigBad Arcane]] in particular. Despite technically being part of the Red, flies are so close to the rot that they're infamously untrustworthy.
** ''ComicBook/TimDrakeRobin'': A close up of a fly crawling on a body's mouth is shown as Tim determines the victim was murdered rather than dying in an accident as those first on scene had assumed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'', one of the most basic creatures of [[ADungeonIsYou Keeper]] [[Manga/SailorMoon Mercury]]'s dungeon are giant flies. Although they're usually discarded by most other Keepers for their low combat capabilities, Ami uses them as mounts for her goblins and as occasional scouts instead; getting a better use of their abilities.
%%* ''Fanfic/{{Sleepless}}'': [[spoiler: Zippoorwhill's]] nightmares at the beginning of chapter 8.
* ''Fanfic/OSMUFanfictionFriction'': When Todd visits Basil Valentine and his two minions in an abandoned house, one of the walls is covered in flies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/BartonFink'': The titular character has a mosquito problem, in spite of everyone informing him this is impossible, as UsefulNotes/LosAngeles is a desert. Mosquitoes do, in fact, live in Southern California.
* ''Film/{{Candyman}}'' does something similar, though it substitutes bees for flies. Wherever bees swarm, the Candyman is nearby.
* In ''Film/Constantine2005'', Beeman has a fly crawl out from under his ''[[{{Squick}} eyelid]]'' as a sign of demonic attack upon him. He's later found dead with flies covering him and crawling out of his mouth.
* ''Film/DragMeToHell'' has a fly following the protagonist around for much of the film. It both enters ''and'' exits her mouth and nose, as well as [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou landing on the camera]].
* ''Film/{{Grace}}'': Flies are attracted to the UndeadChild so much that the mother puts netting over the crib and hangs fly paper all over the nursery.
* In ''Film/MirrorMirror1990'', one of the first signs of the the mirror's evil nature is a large number of flies congregating on its surface when Megan is upset about her mother flirting wit Mr. Veze. One of the flies lands in Veze's food, causing him to choke.
* ''Film/MisterFrost'': {{Downplayed|Trope}}. The titular character is {{Satan}} in a human guise and the odd fly seems attracted to him; one can be seen on his chair as his conversation with Detweiller comes to an end, and he later uses one crawling upon a window as a LiteralSurveillanceBug to overhear a conversation in the courtyard below (and once he gets the information he needs, crushes it). A later scene has him actually being ''annoyed'' by a buzzing fly and trying to catch it. (This is also, likely, an ActorAllusion: Frost is played by Creator/JeffGoldblum, and when the film was made at the turn of TheNineties his highest profile role had been in ''Film/TheFly1986'', which is ''not'' an example of this trope.)
* ''Film/{{Phenomena}}'': The PestController heroine Jennifer uses a sarcophagus fly with a particularly strong sense of smell to find the SerialKiller who is terrorizing her school. The fly leads her to the evil and its festering handiwork and that exactly makes it clearly more useful to the side of good. The thousands of flies that can be found there and contribute to the ambience are unconventionally in larval form.
* ''Film/Poltergeist1982'': The titular ghosts cause a steak to be suddenly covered with maggots.
* ''Film/{{Primal}}'': A tiny bug lands on a protagonist early on, and a swarm of them is found in a broken bottle near the campsite. The night before the real menace appears, another character gets sick and the group prepares to take her to a hospital, but it turns out more swarms have managed to eat the wheels of their minivan.
* In ''Film/RaisingArizona'', Leonard Smalls informs Nathan Arizona he has flies, but Nathan insists this is impossible, due to his office being climate controlled. Still, Leonard catches one between his fingers. They seem to be following him around.
%%* ''Literature/TheRing'': One is ''plucked out of a television image''.
* ''Film/ScaryMovie'': The second movie {{subvert|edTrope}}s this [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]] in its parody of ''Film/TheExorcist''. The priest who's been summoned to perform a HollywoodExorcism is seen in torment, praying for God's help while a growing cloud of flies buzz around him; then the camera zooms out to show that he's straining on the toilet.
* ''Film/SeeNoEvil'': Flies have made a nest inside the main antagonist's head and one always appears before he attacks.
* ''Film/TheTerminator'': As the Terminator's synthetic human guise starts to rot due to repeated damage and gunshot wounds, its skin has a noticeably waxy, corpse-like pale color, and flies are buzzing around and sitting on its face. This even draws an inquiry from a janitor, wondering if [[EvilSmellsBad the foul odor]] is coming from a dead animal's corpse. The robot responds rudely and resumes its chase against Sarah and Kyle.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/TheAmityvilleHorror'', flies swarming around during the height of winter was a sign of paranormal activities taking place.
* ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'': {{Subverted|Trope}} in "The Disciple" by David Karr Kirtley. The ObviouslyEvil professor running the "special class" can make flies buzz in formation around him, which the students regard as a sign of his formidable occult powers. When [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]] himself turns up, the protagonist realizes that ''[[PitifulWorms they]]'' are the flies to this EldritchAbomination. The professor, it turns out, doesn't have formidable powers. The whole thing is a sting operation so that Miskatonic University can get rid of potentially dangerous people.
* "Father Hugh and the Deadly Scythe": The eponymous priest decides which of three suspects killed a man with a scythe by observing which scythe a group of flies, described by Father Hugh as the creatures of {{Beelzebub}}, choose to settle upon. The murderer confesses in terror before he remembers that [[SubvertedTrope flies are attracted to fresh blood, which they would find on a murder weapon]].
* "Literature/{{Flies}}": One character is always being followed by flies. Another investigates why and discovers that [[spoiler:the first is essentially {{Beelzebub}} in human form]].
* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'': The title itself is a reference to Ba'alzevuv, or {{Beelzebub}}; a swarm of them show up during Simon's symbolic showdown with the pig's head.
* "The Sanctuary" has flies show up as a manifestation of Satanic influences, with particularly grotesque results for Satanists who attempt to recant.
* ''Literature/SwanSong'': The Man with the Scarlet Eye sends flies out to search for Sister and the glass ring and report back to him. They do.
* In the second book of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', there's a... [[MindScrew memorable]] scene in an empty village, where the main character is nearly overwhelmed by a multiplying swarm of flies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/AmericanGods2017'': Played with with Laura Moon, who is persistently accompanied by flies due to her being a reanimated corpse (although the show also uses the motif in flashbacks to when she was alive, which serves to foreshadow her fate and also indicate that during life she was more or less dead inside -- after being reanimated she finds a sense of purpose). She's not evil, exactly, but she's not especially good, either.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'': In "[[Recap/BreakingBadS3E6Sunset Sunset]]", a tribal police officer is sent to do a welfare check on a woman who isn't answering her daughter's calls. When he gets there, no one answers, but then he hears the buzzing of flies, follows the sound, and finds said woman dead under a tarp, covered in flies. The Cousins are revealed to have killed her and taken over her house. The police officer gets back to his truck to call for backup, but the Cousins proceed to kill him before it can arrive.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent Heaven Sent]]", the Doctor is stalked through a shifting castle by "the Veil" -- what appears to be a walking corpse swathed in rags and surrounded by flies. It reflects one of his earliest nightmares: when he was young, he was at the funeral of an old woman. They covered her up but couldn't keep the flies away.
* ''Series/PainkillerJane'': The team investigates an alleged haunted house in "Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself". Jane finds a room that is inexplicably swarming with flies right before having visions of a corpse in a mirror, and of her dead mother in a recreation of her old bedroom.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': One of the [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]], [[{{Plaguemaster}} Pestilence]], is surrounded by flies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* ''Music/AliceInChains'': The music video to "I Stay Away" shows the gory chaos caused at a traveling carnival by a malicious boy who frees flies he has trapped in a jar.
* ''Music/MarilynManson'': Flies are a big theme within the Triptych, the band's three biggest albums, which are concept albums linked together to form a single story. In Holy Wood, flies are used to symbolize those who profit off of death (particularly sensationalist journalists), while in Antichrist Superstar, the resident [[WoobieDestroyerofWorlds tortured, self-destructive antihero]] undergoes a metamorphosis similar to that of a fly, with his first form being a bloated, featureless humanoid worm and his following form having what appear to be insectoid wings.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* {{Beelzebub}} in demonology is called Lord of the Flies and gets depicted as a fly sometimes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'': One of the symbols of the Pulp-era Satanic conspiracy group the Order of the Seven is a scarlet housefly.
* ''TabletopGame/MiddleEarthRolePlaying'': Mordor is home to large, biting insects known as Morgai Flies or Orcflies, which swarm throughout the dark land, sucking blood and spreading disease.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': When the archdevil [[{{Beelzebub}} Baalzebul]] demanded of {{Asmodeus}} that he should rule multitudes, his arrogance was shattered, and he was [[TheWormThatWalks remade out of millions of biting flies]]. His worship involves covering yourself with a mix of rotting fruit, spoiled meat, and anything else that will attract flies and staying perfectly still as they swarm over you. Successfully performing this ritual grants abilities like summoning swarms of bloodsucking flies and forcing foes to hallucinate swarms of flies and maggots eating them alive. Baalzebul himself is just as bad as you'd expect an archdevil to be, but his most horrific feat was maiming a god of healing before stringing their near-lifeless body up in his throne room to feast on for eternity.
* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': The Baali clan of demonologists had a specific sect called the Avatars of the Swarm. These are especially notable for breeding thousands of ghouled flies within them and using [[BodyHorror living humans]] as farms. They embrace by [[BizarreAlienBiology force feeding humans handfuls of flies, bloated with their blood]]. Nasty.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', and ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'', flies are associated with the Chaos God Nurgle. In fact, one of the symbols of Nurgle is actually a stylized fly. When the Plague Marines of Nurgle invade a world, the interior of their ships gets filled with [[TheSwarm millions of flies]] that are released when they land. Even when they use teleportation, enough flies are carried with them to blot out the sun. The Beast of Nurgle, a disgusting aberration that looks like a monstrous slug and acts like an over-excited and love-filled puppy, becomes the horrible Rot Fly when it grows disillusioned, saddened, spiteful, and all around bitchy, after which it is returned to Nurgle's Gardens and lies in the muck to mope. Nurgle's fattest flies cocoon it, and it metamorphoses into the embodiment of hatred against life's unfairness. The Plaguebearers that ride them push them into greater heights of revenge.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': The Nui-Rama are huge flies with claws and stings. The influence of Infected Kanohi turns them into deadly foes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Anchorhead}}'' opens with "a fly buzzing around here somewhere." [[spoiler: [[BookEnds This is also how it ends]], and the ending implies that it isn't really over at all.]]
* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'': Stratos summons and creates flies from his body that attack friend or foe. He can even ''turn into'' flies.
* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'', flies are a very common enemy, and several other monsters ''vomit'' flies or otherwise summon them. However, with certain items you can spawn your own allied flies which can be very powerful in the right circumstances.
* ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite'': AGodIsYou, and if your [[BondCreatures totem animal]] falls to the bottom of the KarmaMeter, it gains a cloud of flies that follow it around along with other [[CharacterModelKarmaMeter physical deformities]]. In the sequel, flies also start showing up in your territory if you go Evil, in contrast to fireflies and butterflies if you become Good.
%%* ''VideoGame/BugFables'': [[spoiler: [[BigBad The Wasp King]] is a fly in the guise of a wasp, making him an example of this trope.]] There are also the Mothfly enemies as well as the [[spoiler: False Monarch MiniBoss]].%%Just saying "is an example of this trope" is not context.
* ''Videogame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' and ''Videogame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair'' has Beelzebub, a zombie giant sealed inside Dracula's castle that become the host of dog-sized flies.
* ''VideoGame/CliveBarkersJericho'': The enemies killed dissolve into swarms of flies and in the endgame you have to beat a DualBoss by destroying hives of flies to turn off their shields.
* ''Videogame/DungeonKeeper'' lets you recruit giant flies and fireflies as evil minions to add to your EvilOverlord [[ADungeonIsYou dungeon]].
* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'': A sound akin to the buzzing of a [[TheSwarm swarm of flies]] is used to represent great evil or madness in the soundtrack.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'': If the player-character falls to the evil end of the KarmaMeter, he'll be surrounded by a swarm of flies, in addition to [[CharacterModelKarmaMeter gaining]] {{horns|ofVillainy}} and {{red eyes|TakeWarning}}.
* ''VideoGame/GodHand'': Belze transforms into a huge fly-like being with his face situated between the eyes for his boss fight.
* ''VideoGame/KeroBlaster'': As Nanao's possession worsens with each subsequent cutscene, she becomes surrounded by more and more flies in addition to suffering from BodyHorror. They even serve as attack animals in [[spoiler: Nanao's boss fight]].
* ''VideoGame/LakeviewValley'': As the player commits more and more murders, the number of flies around the town also goes up. The reason for this isn't clear until later: the villain is a [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant fly-monster]] who you may or may not have been unwittingly helping all week. The flies are his {{Soul Jar}}s, and the only way to stop him for good is to kill all of them.
* ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor'': Morgai Flies are a strain of carrion fly [[TheCorruption tainted by Sauron's evil]]. They are horrendously voracious and have [[MarkOfTheBeast the sigil of the flaming eye]] on their backs. You use their nests as booby traps by shooting them down on Orcs, which they then viciously attack.
* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'':
** Drahmin of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance'' fame was once a human conqueror, but his life of evil caused him to end up in the Netherrealm upon death, where he became an eternally rotting Oni. This explains the constant swarm of flies around him. He can even weaponize them as a special move.
** ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' introduces D'Vorah, member of the Kytinn, a race of BeePeople. Appropriately enough, she speaks with a buzz that adds reverb to her voice and makes her [[EvilSoundsRaspy come across as raspy]].
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' Beelzebub is a demonic fly the size of a tank wearing a skull necklace and holding a skull scepter, just in case the evil part was too subtle. In some games he has the SignatureMove Death Flies: guaranteed instant death against anything not immune to death, massive NonElemental damage otherwise.
* ''VideoGame/TheSims'' uses flies as an indicator that something is dirty. They're actually hard to see, but when you're trying to figure out exactly what needs to be cleaned, you can hear their buzz.
* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'': Inverted with the "[[SpotTheImposter That's My Merlee]]" quiz show, where the real Merlee has flies buzzing around her (like when you first meet her in person) while Mimi has none. Justified since Merlee was hiding in the toilet.
* One of the antagonists of ''VideoGame/Wick2020'' are demonic flies called Legions, who can be found buzzing around some parts of the cathedral. They will chase and attack Wick if they spot his flame, causing him to lose wax with each hit.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal|2019}}'': In Episode 9, the morning after the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Night Feeder]]'s rampages, the torn remains are covered in swarms of flies.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Actually has a reasonable justification IRL- human corpses are a massive breeding ground for flies, especially when not buried or preserved. As such, serial killers and the like ''have'' been caught by people noticing the suspicious increase in flies in a short time. Flies might not herald demons, but they can easily herald murder.
* Although [[NonMaliciousMonster never done with malevolent intent]], some flies' tendency to burrow both in the bodies of living creatures ([[http://www.snopes.com/photos/medical/maggots.asp warning]], [[http://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f149/maggots-ear-canal-30588/ massive]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_OyfUtA4Jo&feature=related amounts]] of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9wtVJJOghQ Squick]]) as well as dead ones, especially in third-world countries, as well as their ability to spread disease, makes their association with evil by human cultures {{justified|Trope}}. {{Subverted|Trope}} by specially bred (i.e., laboratory-bred, thus sterile) maggots, which are often used as a last line of defense against wounds infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria, they would only eat dead flesh but leave healthy tissue alone. DoNotTryThisAtHome: this only applies to the maggots of some species; others are much less discriminate in their dining habits and will happily snack on either living or dead tissue, and there are even some that ''only'' eat living tissue.
* There is a type of cheese called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu casu marzu]]'' that contains maggots ''on purpose'', made in the Sardinia region of Italy. It is produced by leaving ordinary pecorino (a type of sheep's milk cheese) outdoors once it's fully matured, in hopes of attracting a specific type of fly to lay eggs in the cheese. The larvae are then allowed to hatch, and to feast on the cheese, breaking down some of its fats and proteins. Sometimes the larvae are eaten along with the cheese, and sometimes they are removed immediately before consumption.[[note]]There ''are'' a few other types of cheese that allow cheese flies to lay their eggs in it during production, but casu marzu is the only type where the maggots are allowed to hatch and go nuts on the cheese, and certainly the only one that comes to the table crawling with maggots as a matter of course.[[/note]] Because of the dangers inherent in eating cheese so far gone that maggots are nesting in it, the cheese is ''illegal'' in most of the EU, including the region where it is produced. Some traditional cheesemakers in Sardinia are trying to get an exception made for it, on the grounds that it is a traditional food of the region, but thus far, they have not been successful.
[[/folder]]
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