Rabid (1977)

Too similar to Shivers, which has superior special effects and builds tension with more skill. Of the nine Cronenberg features I've seen, Rabid is easily the worst. Rabid contains a scene that denigrates Native Canadians for no point other than a cheap and lousy gag.

After a motorcycling accident with her boyfriend, Rose (played by porn actress Marilyn Chambers) is sent immediately to the hospital. While there, she is given plastic surgery, only to end up in a temporary coma. Everything changes as she wakes up one night and brutally attacks one of the doctors. It then gets worse as she, not only leaves him wounded, but also infected in some way. All hell eventually breaks loose as the infection finally spreads.First of all, I did go into this movie with high expectations. About five minutes in, I was somewhat expectations a slasher film; granted, I did watch the trailer for this, so that obviously that wasn't what I was going to get. And that slasher film, again obviously, was a different movie, so that definitely wasn't the case. What I did get was, there I say again, underwhelming. The good: Marilyn Chambers is attractive, I will admit that. And the build up of every scene is on point. I'll also admit that the makeup effects are, for the most part, spot on. The bad: the acting and the pacing, mostly the acting. While not the worst, I'm sorry but the acting was not on point at all. As for the pacing, I can't put my finger on it, but most of the scenes felt way dragged on.Let me just say that this is not the first David Cronenberg film I have seen, technically that would go the remake of The Fly. Two other films of his that I have tried to make it through were were Shivers and Scanners, two yet completely overrated other horror films. With all that said, do I recommend this one? Of course not!

An effective early effort from director David Cronenberg, RABID is a disturbing tale of a city overtaken by disease and fear. A cast of unknowns work hard to make this film seem as morally depressing and hauntingly realistic as possible, and the low, almost documentary style film making and the use of Canadian cities as a setting really work in its favour. The film deals with the subject of disease - something akin to rabies in this case - spreading through a city. It starts off with small isolated attacks but soon the city is put under martial law and the infected people are being shot on sight. Disease films are a frequent fixture in Hollywood - take OUTBREAK for example - and RABID is stylish and entertaining enough, in a low budget way, to warrant repeat viewings.Marilyn Chambers I found at first to be pretty annoying. A former porn star (as the box so proudly proclaims), she has a habit of removing her top in this film, but displays precious few acting talents. However her performance grew on me as the film progressed and she even becomes quite moving at the end of the tale; her offbeat acting style makes her in some ways quietly unforgettable. The rest of the cast have little to do, while the male lead looks strangely like Christopher Walken (who went on to star in Cronenberg's THE DEAD ZONE in 1983). However all involved turn in performances that are at the least adequate.The special effects are kept to a minimum in this film, with the 'star' of the show being a strange, pulsating tube which comes out of Chambers' armpit to suck the blood of her victims. This typical Cronenbergian image is pretty sick to watch but it's what you come to expect when you're a fan of the director. There are a few explosions and shootings to keep things moving along (the shootings are all violent scenes - the best taking place in a police station and involving a contaminated police officer and his companions all armed with shotguns - it's quick, blunt, and cuts straight to the point).The attacks on unsuspecting strangers by rabid, foaming maniacs are perpetrated throughout the film and are all handled with such style that you can't help but look forward to the next one (as sick as that may sound). All this and a downbeat ending help to make RABID a small, but nonetheless powerful, outing for Cronenberg, which is a must see for any fan of his. The film is at its best when it focuses on the spread of the disease and it does pack lots of horrifying vignettes into the running time, like the bit with the machine-gunned Santa Claus. I find that it outdoes Romero's THE CRAZIES in terms of pure effectiveness.

After a near-fatal motorbike accident, Rose (Marilyn Chambers) undergoes experimental skin-graft surgery to help her recover from the horrific wounds she had inflicted. Luckily for her, and surprising to most of her doctors, her body takes to the transplants and starts an immediate recovery. However, the surgery has left her with a strange orifice under her armpit which contains a stringer. She is soon seducing men and infecting them, leaving her victims in a shocked state and unable to remember anything. An outbreak is soon on the cards as the infected go on a biting rampage, spreading a strange disease which causing the host to turn rabid and zombie- like.Only his fourth feature, and only his second horror after Shivers (1975), this is not Canadian director David Cronenberg's finest achievement. But thankfully, a bulk Cronenberg's filmography is outstanding and Rabid is still an extremely effective little horror film. The infected are a mixture of zombies and vampires, although they aren't really either by definition, but Cronenberg uses them as well as anyone could hope for. The film is little more than a series of set-pieces, but one in particular, involving a woman on a packed trained slowly coming to the realisation that one of the infected is on board, is as good a scene depicting sheer terror and panic as I've ever seen.Of course, this being Cronenberg, undertones of psychosexuality run throughout. It's no coincidence that the orifice underneath Rose's armpit looks like a vagina, and no surprise that it attacks with a phallic stinger. Rose's sexuality is her real weapon, as it lures her victims close enough for the attack. Whether it be a fear of women or a warning about progressive plastic surgery that her character is trying to articulate, ex-porn star Marilyn Chambers handles her role extremely well. Though she is naked for the most part, she convinces as a seemingly nice girl turned sexual predator. Cronenberg would translate similar themes into better films and he would go on to develop body horror into a true art-form, but Rabid is an accomplished early effort.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com