The Rage (2007) User Reviews

It isn't all the Rage

[movieman_kev · 4/10 · 30 March 2008]

A crazed Russian doctor (Andrew Divoff of Wishmaster) experiments with a deadly new virus that turns people (and birds) into bloodthirsty mutants gets in hot water when the virus gets loose and starts infecting those in the surrounding area creating havoc for a group of teens who were out partying at an outdoor Mushroomhead concert in the nearby woods. Woodenly acted from an awfully stupefying script. The movie quite knowingly seems to be a homage to '80's cult films (mainly Evil Dead & Re-animator), but lacks the wit to pull it off as a good movie itself, despite the presence of otherwise talented Divoff, Erin Brown, and Reggie Bannister (the latter in more or less a cameo). May be perfectly acceptable fodder for 2:15 AM after a night of bar-hopping, but watching it unintoxicated is not really recommended.

Eye Candy: Angela Gasparec gets topless

DVD Extras: Commentary by Director/Writer Robert Kurtzman and writer John Bisson; an 80-minute Making-of featurette; photo stills gallery; 2 music videos by Mushroomhead;and Trailers for "Trailer Park Boys: the movie" & "Big bad Wolf"

The kind of movie my mom wouldn't like

[gedanielson · 5/10 · 1 March 2008]

A group of us watched The Rage, and thought it was pretty gory and pretty much fun. And you hope it would be, being directed by Robert Kurtzman of special effect house KNB. Kurtzman is the guy I just don't remember of the trio. Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero are the two I see all the time. They first worked together on George Romero's Day of the Dead. They met Kurtzman on Evil Dead II. As a company they have done make-up and special effects for many many great movies. Sadly, I didn't even recognize Kurtzman's name at the start of the movie. His being there certainly would explain the continuous gore effects. As the movie opens a crazy doctor with a wish for vengeance is experimenting on some kidnapped travelers. A poor family got caught, the doc's just killed mom, and now it's dad's turn to give his life to science. When the experiment goes wrong, doc gets infected with his own mutating rage virus. It both mutates you and makes you mad. Then you need to eat someone. Can doc get to the antidote in time to stop his head from swelling up? There's a juicy slam fest of a fight in the last half of that opening scene, as the doc and dad, both rapidly mutating, and mad, duke it out in the lab. And what a filth hole that place is, blood and corpse parts all over, and a cage filled with failed experiments who are eating a little girl. One is a midget who will wear her clothes, face and hair. Geeze! It seemed funnier in the movie. Anyway, things are going to hell in a beaker as the doc and his victim battle it out. They take their fight out doors, some vultures get in on the act and the virus is on a flight path to the rest of the world. We next meet some kids who are having a drug and sex filled night at an outdoor rave of some sort. Real band Mushroomhead is playing. Next day the kids meet up with the vultures and Reggie Bannister. You might recognize him if you're a Phantasm fan. He helps the hero in that movie, here he eats a little girl. It's okay, she was already dead. And that's only the first ten minutes or so. It's a blood bath as the kids run from one place to another, getting picked off one by one, before the leftovers wind up in the lab. It's still a mess and there's a basement that's even worse. It's not a movie for the viscous impaired, or my mom. Most of the sets and physical effects were pretty good. Lots of experience behind their creation. The vulture puppets were great, while still being puppets, and the CGI versions of them were fair to middlin'. We all agreed that the vultures were a great menace. They like people. For snacks. They're mad, and they bite real well. Most of the CGI was acceptable, and we believe that was the first CGI poop we'd seen. The acting was a mixed bag, some of our players better than others. The story had some goofy stuff in it and the dialog didn't alway keep us on the edge of our seats. But it has that fun sense of humor that made us laugh along with it. And occasionally at it. Not for everybody but certainly something most horror fans should find enjoyable.

Lots of blood, not much else

[neil-476 · 4/10 · 8 March 2010]

I apologise for going against the prevailing wisdom, but just because a film has a lot of blood and gore, that doesn't automatically make it a good film.

Yes, there is a lot of blood and gore here - a truly prodigious amount actually - but, if that is a worthwhile thing in itself, it's the only thing.

There is no plot of any consequence (not that makes sense, anyway), there is a great deal of running around and screaming and shouting, but no character development and no acting of any consequence, complete predictability from start to finish, and some really bad CGI vultures.

So if that's your thing, enjoy!

Cobbler, stick to your trade

[kosmasp · 2/10 · 1 February 2009]

I really love the first Wishmaster movie. I even think that the second one is really good too. Both are with Andrew Divoff, who I had the pleasure of meeting personally at a convention. But more about that on a forthcoming Wishmaster review. Andrew Divoff plays a Russian scientist, that's all I'm going to say (which doesn't spoil anything), but never fully develops any of his previous screen charisma (apparent especially in the Wishmaster movies, but also in smaller roles (see Brisco County Jr. and others).

Robert Kurtzman, who also directed the first Wishmaster movie, and was part of the famous KNB-FX Group (K being his initial of course), alone was a guarantee that the movie would be good ... well at least that's what I thought ... boy was I wrong! Relying on CGI rather than on "hands-on" Special FX, which Kurtzman could've done himself (and pretty good) was one of the baddest decision he could make ... saying it looks fake, would be a disgrace to the word "fake".

The acting? Apart from the aforementioned Divoff, there's only Reggie Bannister who could work as a saving Grace. But the Phantasm star, doesn't have a chance to do so ... But then again, it's not the most original script they're working with, so I don't know, if you really can blame any of the actors (well maybe some of them at least). Of course, a movie like this does not rely on acting and or a fancy story. But as the CGI doesn't work, but against the movie, the sparse real effects, cannot elevate this experience into any level, that makes it really feel like entertainment. It's bloody alright, but you can and should expect more than that! Not to mention that the soundtrack (sounds) can and do get pretty annoying! Problem if you watch it at a theater? You can't turn the volume down, neither fast forward! But just because you can at home, doesn't mean you should try it ... I strongly recommend against that!

Of course there are movies, worse than that (quite a few actually), but this also isn't an argument and/or point that works for the movie! I really hate to say it, but stray away from this movie (I didn't even get into the video quality and other stuff)

I was giving this movie the benefit of the doubt,....

[HorrorInsideUsAll · 1/10 · 28 July 2015]

..... but after just 30 mins I had to stop watching it. I can't believe there was a $2M budget for this movie, what a waste of money. This is something you would expect to find on Syfy because zombie vultures? SERIOUSLY? SMH! I don't know how it ends and quite frankly I don't care either. It's truly laughable.

I can't believe I actually hunted and hunted for this movie to check it out and I could rant on and on about how HORRIBLE this movie is/was, but it's wasted enough of my time already. If you haven't seen this movie, DON'T bother. You would be better off punching yourself in the face for entertainment!

Only for the most die-hard trash fans

[Callash · 2/10 · 14 April 2009]

Allow me to summarize the first ten minutes or so for you: This crazed Russian guy has a couple tied down and after the woman has died a bloody death, he cracks open the skull of the man (shown on screen) and injects him with the "rage mutagen". The man transforms into a bloody killing machine, rips loose and attacks the crazed Russian guy. This one puts up a fair fight, but eventually, the creature wins and stabs the crazed Russian guy dead with a saw or something (shown on screen). Cut to a party of some town young folk in the middle of nowhere, where the decent Mushroomhead play. Cut to a couple having sex in a car. After what felt like 10 minutes (apparently, the producers insisted on a a sex scene for the film. However, while I do enjoy the occasional sex scene, this one was just sort of annoying as the setup for what follows is all too obvious), the creature bursts into the scene and splits the skull of the guy open with a saw (shown on screen). The woman crawls away in terror, but the creature catches her, plugs out her eye (shown on screen) and proceeds to eat it (shown on screen).

At that point, I stopped the movie and vowed never to look at it again. If you are not looking for the real trashiest-of-the-trashy movies, this one is not for you. I am no wimp. The gore on screen did neither freak nor gross me out. It was just so... unnecessary and annoying. Maybe I'm not far enough into this splatter/slasher stuff.

This is the type of movie you would usually find running at like 1am on the cheapest cable channel you can find in your country. And even then, heavily cut.

0,5 points for Mushroomhead. 0,5 points for the Zombie theme. I like zombies.

Bad Special Effects take interest from film

[gregsrants · 3/10 · 2 March 2008]

When I rented Robert Kurtzman's The Rage, I relatively knew what I was getting into. The DVD box art and description on the back detailed the plot summary that seemed as familiar to someone like me that watches horror films as a favorite pair of slippers.

A mad scientist infects subjects with a virus that will induce rage. The human experiments go mad and morph into zombie flesh eating monsters. The contamination soon spreads outside of the laboratory when a bunch of vultures start to eat away at the rotting remains of one of the infected turning them into ravenous creatures in search of human prey.

These vultures take the spotlight for a good third of the film as they much and terrorize a group of partiers that are traveling in their RV through a dense forest. Unfortunately, it is also the weakest part of the film thanks to special effects that sometimes look CGI, sometimes look Frank Oz Muppets and sometimes look like a Ray Harryhausen nightmare. As these winged beasts of prey peck, prod and puncture their victims, you will be more prone to snicker than to scare.

When the birds are finally given a peaceful break, the remaining members of the troop find themselves in the abandoned farmhouse/laboratory where these creatures were resurrected. Unlucky for them, there are creatures around every corner (including a midget rage-induced man that I christened Mini-Rage as I poured myself another whiskey) and their survival looks about as bleak as Britney Spears' child custody case.

By the time The Rage finally came to a conclusion, I had sore cheekbones from the amount of times I yawned during the production. The premise was nothing new. The make-up effects looked like they just borrowed the rejects from The Hills Have Eyes 2 and the special effects in total were just plain awful in scenes. Although the film started off very promising with the battle between the scientist and his experiments, the segment was soon overshadowed by the ridiculousness of the dialogue the sixth-rate actors were given to work with. Too bad, for the film had all the elements to make it a better than average DVD pick up. The gore was definitely there with severed heads, intestines and ripped off limbs all being park of the directors Things-To-Do Checklist. But all the gore in the world couldn't save the film from falling into the pitfalls of providing us nothing new or interesting that would have us give the film a higher recommendation.

www.robertsreviews.com www.killerreviews.com

Wow, what to write?

[SpeedyFromTheBerks · 1/10 · 1 March 2008]

My roommate came home last night and said they had a movie for me that I might want to watch. They handed me the DVD and the cover alone made it look like something I could get into. The back seemed to verify it. Well, it turned up that I really wasn't that into yet I had to keep watching it. Why? I'm not really sure. Maybe to see what they would do next or just how bad the friggin' acting is.

The gore, there is plenty, is OK. There is some very crappy CGI. I do mean "crappy" as in one part of the film, a mutated person literally has a pipe rammed up their arse and CGI "crap" oozes out of the pipe.

The vultures in this movie could be terrifying if they actually looked, well, terrifying. Instead, the CGI does nothing for them. And the friggin' puppets of the Vultures, well, I don't even want to get started on them.

If you ever wanted to see a mutated person beat a kid to death with a stick, than this is the one for you. This scene made me say "wow". "Wow" in a "that's so stupid" kind of way. It could of been done better.

The acting, like I've mentioned before, is really bad. I mean really, really bad. It almost seems like they just plucked these people off the streets and asked them if they wanted to be in a movie. That may work for some, but it sure did fail here. Jesus, I was repeating their lines and saying them a hell of a lot better!!! Perhaps if this movie had a better tweaked story, better friggin' actors, and a bigger budget it could of been a nice splatter film. Instead, we get dished up this crapfest!!!

Crazy, cheap, bloody fun.

[BA_Harrison · 7/10 · 28 March 2008]

Fans of trashy horror rejoice, for Robert Kurtzman, the 'K' from awesome effects team KNB, has given us The Rage: a demented, dumb gore-soaked film that manages to go from simply mad in the first half, to completely insane towards the end.

Featuring terrible acting, dodgy CGI effects, and bucket-loads of cheesy gore, this film sure isn't going to be to everyone's taste, but those who dig crazy schlock horror will have a blast: Kurtzman throws in everything but the kitchen sink to guarantee an enjoyable ride for gore-hounds.

Andrew Divoff (who also starred in Kurtzman's The Wishmaster) stars as Dr. Viktor Vasilienko, a Russian scientist who decides to punish capitalist society after a money-hungry drugs conglomerate steals his cure for cancer (because their 'preventative' medicine is far more profitable than a cure), discredits him, and sends him to an insane asylum. Vasilienko eventually escapes and plots revenge, creating a virus called The Rage, which turns victims into uncontrollable bloodthirsty maniacs; only when his cancer cure is publicly acknowledged will he release the antidote.

Things go awry, however, when one of the mad scientist's test subjects escapes into the woods, dies and become vulture fodder: the birds also contract The Rage, and become airborne killers, which is not good news for a bunch of 'twenty-somethings' (including Erin Brown AKA Misty Mundae, star of many a soft-core sex flick) who are travelling through the area in their RV.

With shonky vomiting mad-vulture puppets, a death-during-sex scene (always a winner), a killer hunchback dwarf wearing the face and hair of a little girl (and grunting silly phrases such as 'kiss the monkey'!), giant leech attacks, and CGI feces (seen as a pole is rammed into the ass of a bald, blind 'zombie' called Gor!), The Rage is sheer low-budget lunacy from a film-maker who is obviously having loads of fun entertaining us.

campy rage

[trashgang · 5/10 · 14 May 2009]

Last weekend I was at the weekend of horror convention in Germany were I saw again a copy of The Rage, signed. So it was time to watch this flick with Wishmaster Andrew Divoff. It starts of pretty well, with a lot of gore and creepy moments. For me it was the best part, when the guy disappears with the rage in his veins the movie becomes something else, it becomes one of those campy movies with the use of CGI and stop/motion. A bit too much, especially the birds, it's a bit too long of them. One time a big laugh appeared on my face, when Uncle Ben goes fishing with his children one of the kids get bored with fishing and says, i would like to go play with my Xbox, would like to play my new game, the funny part is when uncle Ben says, what about the game I bought for you, phantasm and guess what, uncle Ben is Reggie Bannister. I thought that Andrew gives a great performance but the flick isn't scary at all, that's because the killers are the birds. I also saw here that a lot of people found that the girls never were sexy, that's a fact, they always are dressed never in their nudies or underwear. Not that that is necessary but in a campy one it should have contain some more nudity. Even when Erin Brown is in it, she never get's undressed. Why her you ask, she is also known as Misty Mundae, do I need to say more...So to conclude, the movie delivers a lot of gore and blood but never is scary at all, but it never has a dull moment., It's one to watch with your friends and have a good time.

Highly entertaining gore festival.

[stormruston · 8/10 · 7 May 2008]

I am not sure why this movie is only at 4.4? Sure its the quality of the re-animator or from beyond, but those where great "B" movies. So is this and the effects with the exception of the vultures are pretty good! This movie is gruesome from start to finish and only truly tasteless once.

The sort of bad:

The vultures? Who the hell thought up those and how much was spent on them? Not much! But the juxtaposition between their violence and comical look actually added to the sur-realness of the mayhem.

The pretty good:

Plenty of gore and blood in this little gem of a "B" movie. And good scene chewing by Andrew Divoff, he is great! The rest of the cast are pretty good too. Everything about this movie is over the top and every death is a gory one.

There is a lot of entertainment to be had in this movie if you do not take it seriously, and who could? But just watch it for what it is: a classic "B" gore fest along the lines of the re-animator.

Great gore flick.

[grotesqueomnidemon1 · 7/10 · 29 February 2008]

This flick was entertaining in all of its bad a good glory.

It's basically about a Russian scientist with his lab in the woods experimenting with a rage serum in which he infects his human test subjects. One of the infected gets out and dies in the woods where upon vultures feed on the corpse and get infected as well. So then of course teens leaving a rave party are left stranded in the woods and are attacked by the blood thirsty birds.

The acting was not the greatest at all, barely passable, but not distractingly horrible.

The CGI effect were also lacking, but again effective. Mainly the CGI was for the vultures, but a couple of awful looking explosions and one decapitated corpse spewing blood was thrown in.

Where this movie really shined was in the gore effects, which were fantastic. Not only that but tons of it is present here. Also, the flick didn't take itself seriously, so a good laugh can be found at times.

I should also mention that movies about killer avians really throw me off to the point of where I'd rather not even watch one, no matter how good they may be. Without spoiling anything I would just have to say give this one a try, you'll find more than your typical "killer birds" flick.

Overall I was impressed and entertained by this B movie gore fest.

No, that would be 101 crappy horror movies that start like this.

[JoeB131 · 1/10 · 2 March 2008]

There is this one line in the film, where one of the slackers says, after the Expendable Black Guy(TM) decides to take the off road shortcut. "I know of a hundred s****y horror movies that start like that. No, that would be 101 movies, including this one.

So you have Andrew Divoff, of Wishmaster fame, working for Booze money as a mad scientist who wants to infect people with a disease and then hold the world ransom for the cure. Except that one of his test subjects escapes and is eaten by vultures, who mutate the disease.

Add to the mix five slackers in a Winnebego, who stumble onto an infected man who just killed his niece and nephew (any movie that has to kill kids to be scary is just one step above pedophilia, IMHO). When they get out to help, they are immediately set upon by the infected vultures, who are rendered by some truly awful CGI. (The curse of CGI is that anyone thinks he is a filmmaker if he can add a few CGI images into his films.) The expendable Black guy is torn to bits, and the expendable slutty girl is eaten by giant leeches.

They stumble onto the farm that the mad scientist has been using as a base, surrounded by hundreds of abandoned cars belong to his previous victims. (Never does it occur to them to actually take one of these cars to get to safety.) After the scientist kills another of the slackers, he decides to pad out the movie with a flashback.

After a fight, they blow up the lab, (hey, you might be infected, and all the information on a cure was in there..) Again, they ignore the dozens of cars and walk back, and the movie ends with a flock of the vultures descending upon them. The end.

Adding insult to injury is a making of segment, where these fools are actually proud of their work. Sad, really.

Please don't waste your time on this garbage!

[Fairy543 · 1/10 · 30 September 2011]

OK so I love love love zombie/virus/apocalypse type scary movies so I decided to give this one a go. I wish I hadn't! I can't start watching a movie and not finish so unfortunately I watched this one to the end. Now I just want to save others from doing the same!! The acting was absolutely terrible! These guys can't have been paid much!! I'm not an actress but even I could have done a better job on this!! The 'special effects' (I use that term lightly!) were nothing short of horrendous!! The vultures in particular were ridiculous!! The writers/directors attempts at making this movie edgy and controversial by killing kids was unnecessary and more irritating than anything else. Completely pathetic! In conclusion, do not watch this movie, it's a cheap waste of time!!

Quite possibly the dumbest, cheesiest thing I have ever seen

[groveman · 1/10 · 10 March 2008]

Mind-numbingly stupid. Unbelievably horrible CGI. Elementary school acting. Moronic plot.

Opens with a gory beginning that gives the impression that you are in b-movie territory, but you have no idea at that point of the cheese which is to come. When the CGI vultures appear, they signal a rapid decline into utter stupidity. Is there a random script generator available for computers now? That would explain some things.

The delivery of the lines actually ruins a couple borderline funny jokes. The driver of the RV actually states a joke, but obviously doesn't get it, and so reads it with the wrong inflection and un-makes it a joke. Staggering.

At some points you get the sense that the movie is supposed to be funny in an Evil Dead way, but I'm not really sure about that, and if so, it completely fails at it.

2 points for the end credits, with 1 taken off for coming way too late. I shoulda had a V-8.

Terrible, But Watchably Terrible at Least

[complications123 · 4/10 · 11 June 2012]

I'm not going to go into a lot of plot details...chances are if you're reading this you've either already seen it or your decision to see it isn't going to be based on a few dozen words about plot. Basically it's a mad scientist plus zombies plus killer animals (vultures, in this case) with conventions placed accordingly.

Firstly I'm not sure why "Re-Animator" is popping up in so many reviews...this film is nothing like Re-Animator either in story or style. Well, maybe perhaps a little bit in the story department but in both cases it is but the logical end to mad scientist meets zombies. And for those of you likening this to "another B-movie" please get your understanding of a B-movie straight. The fact is most horror is B-movie crap, and if you're a fan of the genre it's likely that you've seen more B-movie horror than actual Hollywood horror. Evil Dead, Romero's first 3 movies, most franchises, all fall solidly within B-movie territory. Stuff like "The Rage" falls squarely into C- or Z-grade status, depending on how many levels you want to keep separating it into.

Now the reason I say all that is because for a B-movie this is absolutely terrible. For the plethora of Z-grade horror with slick box art that has flooded the shelves for the past few years, it is at least acceptable. The plot is at least coherent (despite some glaring plausibility errors), the script manages to mostly flow seamlessly, and the acting, while bad, is at least not unwatchably bad. The gore is abundant and often, and about 80 to 85% of it is done well, more than making up for the crappy CGI. If you're used to this sort of Z-grade stuff most of this won't detract. Things like lighting and sound, video quality, editing, and direction are all fairly competent. The one thing that really drags this movie down is the pacing. Certain scenes are far too long and/or unnecessary.

Mostly I find the plot tolerable. However there are some strange inconsistencies within the parameters set by the film itself. How does "Uncle Ben" magically end up behind his nephew? Did I miss something about teleporting zombie things...? Also, a deadly killer bird I can get behind, but these things have this sort of psychotic malice that I find a little out there. The vultures are also almost impossible to kill which I think is another drawback; why use animals at all if they're just going to be assigned human malevolence as well as a sort of indestructability? If the enemy was going to have these qualities, I'd rather the zombies themselves be the antagonists. I find that the scientists inbetween status and ability to master the other "zombies" underdeveloped; I find this relationship to be convenient for the film and not something that really gels with what these creatures are supposed to be.

One thing that ultra low-budget horror is good for is pushing a taboo here and there. In the case of the The Rage we have 2; the killing of children and an utterly tasteless "zombie defecation," the latter of which was totally unnecessary. There's a ton of gore here and it kicks in from the start and continues fairly steadily. Obviously the bulk of the shoe string budget went to the creation of entrails and body parts, and I'm OK with that; most of it looks really good and genuinely disgusting. The film stumbles a bit with it's CGI, another hallmark of Z-grade film. Explosions look totally stupid, fake birds fly around with the finesse of an 8 year old with Photoshop, and in a couple of instances the CGI spewing of blood looks as awful as always, only even worse here because the scenes are brightly lit. The vulture puppets, while slightly comical, were a bit gruesome and evil looking, and although the weird choppy/fuzzy edit montage thing is beat to death in The Rage in does serve to enhance some of the puppet-on-human action that would look utterly terrible otherwise.

The pacing of this film is quite poor and the single most difficult obstacle when actually trying to watch this. The beginning is done well although I did grow a little weary of going back and forth between the scientist and the guy begging for his life. It just kind of went on and on. The party/rave scene was blessedly short, as usually this type of scene wears on and on in horror movies. There's a bit too much of running from the vultures, and it really drags during the sequence in the corn field where it would seem the same 5 or 6 shots are edited together over and over. The ending is more gratuitous than most, with multiple sort of mini-climaxes, however this also gets tiring as we do little more than watch the 2 leads run from one room to another only to encounter some LAST last ditch effort from the dwarf zombie.

If it's movies like Final Destination and Scream that rock your world, hell even if Evil Dead II or Dead Alive are your favorite movies ever, then this probably won't be your cup of tea. However, if you've been suckered by slick box art before yet still keep coming back for more, then you might dig this. I would say it'd be a decent intro for those interested in Z-grade horror, but then again that's implying that it's territory worth introducing oneself to.

Diabolical!

[jhmoondance · 1/10 · 3 March 2022]

Well.......this had everything for a B-movie including gruesome gore n plenty of blood n guts not to mention way over the top ham acting n overly zealous screaming girls n puppet vultures n zombies!

The acting was outrageous n over the top.

The ending was preposterous n daft.

I only recommend this movie if you like creature features n a silly story.

Shame it only takes one thing to ruin it all

[soulcrisis28 · 5/10 · 17 July 2021]

So, let me start by saying the special fx are pretty good in this movie. No, not the low budget CGI, it was crappy as to be expected for what you got from low budget CGI at the time this movie was made. No, the actual made props and masks and what have you were all really pretty good.

It's also a real shame when a good, credited actor is stuck forced to be in a movie with other garbage actors. Andrew Divoff is a good credited actor, he did the wishmaster movies, or some of them at least, I can't remember if he did them all. Anywho, he did great as the main bad guy, the rest of them? I've seen high schoolers act in high school plays better than they did. Not one of them a saving grace and "Kat" was the worst. Especially when she was attacking or killing a monster and "going off" ranting while doing it. It was so fake and not believable, just awful.

If you can tolerate the bad acting and bad low budget CGI it's an ok watch for the SFX and blood and what have you. Up to you.

P. S. Oh, almost forgot, if you're a mushroomhead fan, then you're not allowed to skip it, sorry lol just watch and you'll see.

Somewhere above average?

[lucius_420 · 7/10 · 28 February 2008]

Seriously demented. Love it! I think those were maybe giant mutated zombie leeches cause they came out of the water? When she pulled it off and looked at it, that totally made me think of the leeches from the movie Slither. Kind of similar to that film in the way that there are different types of threats. The mad doctor was probably the best actor, he was great. His character seemed the most developed also, he had the most background story -complete with flashbacks! Decent cinema-tech. Cool gore. Zombie vultures that throw peoples heads around. Igor and Frankenstein's Monster. The main heroes seemed to have either had a very bad script or a director who thought it was alright for them to say "Come on, we have to keep going" so many times that I lost count, but the good parts of the movie made up for the super cheesy lines. It seemed that most of the budget for this movie was spent on the gore and computer animated effects? Lots of blood. I recommend this movie! The part where the uncle sees the little girl all messed up and then you see him take out his nephew with a large branch was up to snuff as far as horrific goes I think. Who wouldn't be creeped out by the kid scene? There were definitely a few shout outs to more than a few horror films and classics.

Divoff Shines Once Again

[danthewrestlingmanorigin · 9/10 · 4 March 2008]

This is definitely Andrew Divoff's finest work in the genre in over a decade since Wishmaster. He really chews the scenery like a champ and is a blast to watch. Kurtzman also redeemed himself for his disappointing effort from last year Buried Alive. Rage did have a few flaws though but first I'll highlight the strong points. For one this film keeps the action moving from the very first gruesome scene to the last. The gore and makeup effects are top notch with the botched medical experiments and mutated vultures literally disemboweling people and sending limbs flying left and right. I won't ruin the specifics but if you dig blood this film delivers. Nothing is taken too seriously in this film although Divoff's back story really added some surprising layers to the typical mad scientist role. Erin Brown (Misty Mundae) is really starting to show she's good for more than just T and A in skin flicks. Although a return to that genre wouldn't be un welcomed LOL. Erin has has some cool moments in this including going postal on a perverted transvestite dwarf mutant......Yes you read that right. On the negative side less than convincing CGI mostly with the vultures. It certainly didn't ruin the movie by any means but there were a few shots that didn't look to great. All in all a must see in my opinion. Get the unrated DVD.

Uneven horror film

[TdSmth5 · 6/10 · 19 May 2008]

A mad Russian scientist works on a potion to infest humans with uncontrollable rage and making them look rather sick and deformed. Of course, things go wrong in the lab and he is himself infected. The disease ends up spreading to vultures feasting on the corpses of the infected and in turn, vulture vomit (!?) infects humans. Things start out quite gory.

Next we meet a bunch of dope-head teenagers partying and driving around the woods in their RV. They eventually are attacked and pursued by our vicious CGI vultures. This part of the movie is the weakest. There is very little character development of these kids, not even the lovely Erin Brown (aka Misty) can save this. While CGI allows these vultures to be quite brutal, the effect is too obvious, and GCI gore is not convincing, not to mention that they are nearly indestructible. And frankly watching kids running around and being attacked by some birds is just not entertaining at all.

Eventually the kids reach the cabin of our scientist who by now is nearly fully transformed into a rage creature and still working but now with some very creepy and fun sidekicks. We've seen plenty of freaky humanoids recently, but these fellows are pretty weird. This immediately reinvigorates the movie from the lackluster RV part. We find out why the scientist is doing what he is doing, and it's a good story, actually, something I haven't seen anywhere else.

The Rage obviously could have been much better without the vulture element. It could have been a great monster/slasher film with rage creatures on the lose and terrorizing teens. More nudity was needed, the real gore is great, the CGI not so much. The acting could use improvement except for the actor in the role of the scientist who is the only interesting character in the film. It is almost as if the cabin sequences were made at a different time by a different director.

A good effort, that has some weaknesses but it's still campy and fun. A sequel with more budget would be great.

Enough worthwhile scenes to get a horror enthusiasts attention

[kevin_robbins · 4/10 · 5 September 2023]

The Rage (2007) is a movie that I recently watched on Prime. The storyline follows a scientist (Andrew Divoff, aka The Wishmaster) who has captured some test subjects in the woods for a new serum for super soldiers, one that makes people go insane and eat and destroy everything. When a subject escapes, dies and is eaten by some vultures...no one in the woods are safe.

This movie is directed by Robert Kurtzman (The Wishmaster) and stars Andrew Divoff (Wishmaster), Erin Brown (The Lord of the G-Strings), Sean Serino (Glory Road), Christopher Allen Nelson (Halloween, 2018) and Louie Kurtzman (Black Friday).

It's too bad the CGI was hit or miss and the vultures in this were so bad...because there's a lot to like about this movie. The storyline is a bit of a ripoff of 28 Days Later and the dialogue and acting are pretty bad. However, the horror elements outside of the use of CGI are entertaining. The gore and eating scenes are awesome. The effects to create the infected skin and wounds were top notch. The blood looks authentic and like actual blood. The blood splatter is excellent. Almost all of the scenes in the woods laboratory are great. Andrew Divoff delivers a solid performance too.

Overall, this isn't a good movie, but there's enough worthwhile scenes to get a horror enthusiasts attention. I would score this a 4/10 and only recommend it to horror diehard fans.

Low budget gory mad scientist horror film.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 11 May 2010]

The Rage starts as mad Russian scientist Dr. Viktor Vasilienko (Andrew Divoff) tries to perfect the antidote to the 'rage' serum he has developed, a serum that turns the infected into a raging cannibalistic zombified lunatic. Dr. Vasilienko remains unsuccessful in his attempts & during an experiment one of his infected test subjects escape into the nearby woods where it eventually dies but several Vultures then descend on the body & begin to eat the flesh which in turn infects them with the rage virus. After a midnight rave five friends decide to take a shortcut while driving home & accidentally run a man down, getting out to check the teens are attacked by the rotting corpse of the man & by the infected Vultures, while trying to fend off flesh eating zombies & infected Vultures the teen have to somehow reach safety but the woods are crawling with the infected...

Directed by former special make-up effects man Robert Kurtzman this gory mad scientist zombie film feels a bit like The Night of the Living Dead (1969) mixed with Re-Animator (1985) & to be fair to it I quite liked it for what it was, sure it has it's problems & faults but it does deliver the goods. I suppose what The Rage has going for it is that it's 90 odd none stop minutes of zombies, gore & carnage that never lets up, The Rage feels like it was made by horror fans who purposely just jam packed the thing with gory set-pieces, mutilations & an outrageous plot that makes little sense. As a Russian scientist who developed a cure for cancer Vasilienko was thrown in prison, tortured & abused so he developed a serum to hold the world to ransom but unluckily for him he didn't have a proper antidote when it infected local animals including the Vultures & it's never explained how he comes back to life after being stabbed to death in the opening sequence. Then five teens are thrown into the action as they become lost & isolated in some woods & face flesh eating problems from the sky as the Vultures attack & on the ground as various zombies show up including a transvestite midget zombie. The Rage never lets up, it's full on carnage from the first minute right through to the last that won't let you catch a breath but I suppose that helps to disguise the lack of a story & the cheapness of it. If your looking for blood drenched gore & a film that doesn't take itself too seriously then The Rage is something worth checking out.

Where the film really falters is the technical side of things, some of the CGI computer effects for the Vultures are really poor & the quick fire editing gets annoying too although maybe that's there to hide some of the cheap effects work. I wasn't impressed with the soundtrack either & as a whole it does look cheap & cartoonish at times which is a shame as it's got loads of gore in it. People's heads are cut open revealing their brains, people are stabbed, shot, mangled, decapitated, their eyes are ripped-out, there's intestine eating & flesh ripping, people are hung on butchers hooks, there's rotting zombies, arms are pulled off & heads sliced in half as well as even more that I probably forgot about. The Rage never lets up & the majority of the effects are thankfully practical on-set make-up ones but as I said the CGI is bad when it appears.

The IMDb says The rage had a budget of about $2,000,000 which I don't believe for a second, there's no way a film this cheap & rushed looking cost that much but at least the makers decided to put every penny of the budget on screen which is more than can be said for some. The acting sucks, no seriously the acting here is really bad especially by the teen leads which again slightly hurts the film overall.

The rage is a great old school blood drenched mad scientist zombie horror film that could have been a modern classic if not for some really bad CGI & really bad acting throughout. Still, if your a fan of gore then The Rage delivers in spades & the pace is so quick it barely gives you a second to think about the lack of plot. I liked it as a fun blood splattered horror film, I really did & can forgive some roughness around the edges as it tries to please the fans.

Classic Gore-Horror

[daijen222 · 10/10 · 22 March 2008]

Man, I love classic horror. Add monstrous, blood-soaked gore, and I am hooked.

This flick has it all!

A thorough mix of modern cinema and old-time thrill, this is my kind of movie. It's scary, violent, and sometimes vile! If you want a warm body pressed against you in the dark, this is the movie to watch. Pick your favorite partner, make a cool drink, pop some popcorn, and get ready for business.

It's a fun, bloody, classic ride from zero to one thousand in no seconds flat!

Kudos to Robert Kurtzman and Compmany.