Rabid is set in Canada & starts as Hart Read (Hart Moore) & his girlfriend Rose (Marilyn Chambers) are riding a motorbike along a country road when they spin off the road & crash as Hart looses control of the bike while trying to avoid hitting a broken down camper van. The accident is seen by patients at the nearby Keloid Clinic who raise the alarm, with the nearest hospital miles away Dr. Dan Keloid (Howard Ryshpan) decides to operate at his private clinic but uses new experimental skin grafts on Rose who has been badly injured in the crash. Rose makes a full recovery but the skin grafts have an unexpected & unwanted side-effect as a mutant growth under Rose's arm has developed & drinks human blood to survive. Rose now needs human blood to live although anyone that she drinks from then becomes infected with a rabies like disease that makes the carrier go crazy & seek human blood themselves. As the disease spreads the military place Montréal under martial law...
Also known under the title Rage this Canadian production was written & directed by David Cronenberg & Rabid was his second full length feature film after the successful yet controversial Shivers (1975), while not one of his best films Rabid is still a pretty good horror film with that added depth that Cronenberg likes to bring to his films. The sexual metaphors that Cronenberg was fond of putting into his films are clearly here with Rose seducing & enticing her victims like lovers, the round bodily orifice that the predatory organ shoots out of looks like an anus & maybe Cronenberg was thinking about the spread of sexual disease as the imagery & themes all fit together, however Rabid isn't as deep or shocking or relevant as many of his other films & the ideas that are brought up are never really explored with the same sort of perverse fascination that he does in some of his other films. Rabid just feels a bit empty as a Cronenberg film & the dialogue is also a bit dull at times & without purpose or biting social commentary that Cronenberg can excel in even though it's still probably better than many films out there. At 90 odd minutes the pace is a little slow at times but the build-up & spread of the disease is well handled which eventually leads to mass panic & martial law during the last half an hour, I also have to mention the very bleak, sudden & downbeat ending which I thought fitted the tone & style of the film perfectly as Rose was tossed away like a piece of trash. I liked Rabid, I didn't love it or think it was great Cronenberg but his films are never less than interesting.
Shot on a fairly low budget Rabid looks quite gritty & raw at times which helps the tone & feel of the film & suits the story. There's not much gore here, there are a few bites, a guy is gorily gunned down, someone gets a pneumatic drill in his leg, a doctor cuts a nurses finger off, a strip of skin is sliced from a leg & there's some blood splatter. There's a pretty cool car crash as a big lorry smashes into a car that has just fallen off a bridge & the scenes of a panic stricken city are reasonably convincing although budget issues clearly had an effect here.
Filmed in Canada the production values are a bit rough at times with library music but it's more than watchable & adds a certain grittiness to the film. The acting is alright, no-one is amazing but most of the actors here are at least competent.
Rabid is a good film, maybe a little disappointing & empty if you are familiar with Cronberg & his other films but still more than worth watching for a Vampire zombie thriller horror film.
Also known under the title Rage this Canadian production was written & directed by David Cronenberg & Rabid was his second full length feature film after the successful yet controversial Shivers (1975), while not one of his best films Rabid is still a pretty good horror film with that added depth that Cronenberg likes to bring to his films. The sexual metaphors that Cronenberg was fond of putting into his films are clearly here with Rose seducing & enticing her victims like lovers, the round bodily orifice that the predatory organ shoots out of looks like an anus & maybe Cronenberg was thinking about the spread of sexual disease as the imagery & themes all fit together, however Rabid isn't as deep or shocking or relevant as many of his other films & the ideas that are brought up are never really explored with the same sort of perverse fascination that he does in some of his other films. Rabid just feels a bit empty as a Cronenberg film & the dialogue is also a bit dull at times & without purpose or biting social commentary that Cronenberg can excel in even though it's still probably better than many films out there. At 90 odd minutes the pace is a little slow at times but the build-up & spread of the disease is well handled which eventually leads to mass panic & martial law during the last half an hour, I also have to mention the very bleak, sudden & downbeat ending which I thought fitted the tone & style of the film perfectly as Rose was tossed away like a piece of trash. I liked Rabid, I didn't love it or think it was great Cronenberg but his films are never less than interesting.
Shot on a fairly low budget Rabid looks quite gritty & raw at times which helps the tone & feel of the film & suits the story. There's not much gore here, there are a few bites, a guy is gorily gunned down, someone gets a pneumatic drill in his leg, a doctor cuts a nurses finger off, a strip of skin is sliced from a leg & there's some blood splatter. There's a pretty cool car crash as a big lorry smashes into a car that has just fallen off a bridge & the scenes of a panic stricken city are reasonably convincing although budget issues clearly had an effect here.
Filmed in Canada the production values are a bit rough at times with library music but it's more than watchable & adds a certain grittiness to the film. The acting is alright, no-one is amazing but most of the actors here are at least competent.
Rabid is a good film, maybe a little disappointing & empty if you are familiar with Cronberg & his other films but still more than worth watching for a Vampire zombie thriller horror film.