Rabid Grannies

Rabid Grannies is a fantastic comedy/horror film from Belgium, which has been (poorly) dubbed into English and distributed by Troma. Not only does this film possess one of the best titles in cinematic history, it also boasts innovative direction, great gore effects and some wonderfully tasteless humour.

The film is based on a simple, yet very effective premise. Two old ladies invite various family members to their large estate in order to celebrate their birthday. As the family gathers for dinner, a package arrives from a disowned cousin, which the two old grannies quickly unwrap. Inside the package is a box containing an evil spirit, which takes possession of the women and turns them into blood hungry demons. From this point on, the grannies gleefully decapitate, dismember and torture their guests with a high degree of wit and originality.

Despite the obvious budgetary constraints, the gore is well done and original. Highlights include one of the grannies literally biting her rotund nephew's butt off and the scene in which the grannies lure their granddaughter to her death. All of the violence has a strong undercurrent of black humour, which thankfully is never constrained by the bounds of good taste. Examples include the fate of the cowardly priest and the throwing around of severed body parts. I highly recommend the unrated European version of the film as the Troma edition, at least in Australia, is missing a significant amount of carnage.

Rabid Grannies (literally translated "the cannibalistic grandmas") is an unusual and highly amusing horror film, which is destined to become a cult favourite. I think it is time for Emmanuel Kervyn to hurry up and make another picture. Rabid Grannies 2 would be a nice place to start.

Just because this film bears a typically Troma-like title, and features the Troma logo on the packaging, don't make the mistake of thinking it is a Troma production—because it isn't.

It is, in fact, a low-budget Belgian film that was simply picked up for distribution by the studio, and, as far as I am concerned, it is much more enjoyable than the majority of Lloyd Kaufman's own B-movie output.

In this delightfully silly and very gory romp, a group of greedy relatives gather together at the mansion of their two elderly aunts, in order to attend their birthday celebrations (and hopefully worm their way into their aunts' wills). However, when the old women open a surprise birthday present (sent by the black sheep of the family—a practitioner of the black arts), they become possessed, transform into vicious, drooling, bloodthirsty monsters, and proceed to tear their party guests limb from limb.

If you're a fan of visceral OTT slapstick horror—particularly Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy (which this film is obviously heavily influenced by) or the early work of Peter Jackson (whose similarly daft Bad Taste came out the same year)—then Rabid Grannies should be right up your alley. Director Emmanuel Kervyn spends the first thirty minutes introducing us to his raft of absurdly unlikeable characters (none of whom really deserve to survive 'til the end credits), and the next sixty dismembering them in as many inventive and silly ways as possible. It might not be Oscar winning material, but it's a whole heap of fun!

Considering the limited budget, the juicy effects on display are pretty damn good, and the film sure doesn't hold back with the nastiness: one man has his limbs hacked off, before being impaled (between the legs) on a pike; a fat guy gets stuck trying to escape, and has his ass eaten; and even a little girl gets reduced to spare parts by the demonic old dears!

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Now here's something cool! "Les mémés cannibales" ("Rabid Grannies" in English) is mostly a schlock-fest, but also poking fun at the lives of rich people. A pair of kindly old women are having their birthday party with the relatives present, but one of the presents is from a devil-worshiping nephew, and its contents turn both women into bloodthirsty monsters! Go figure!

The movie reminded me of Peter Jackson's "Braindead" (called "Dead-Alive" in the US) just a little bit, with also just a faint hit of the "Evil Dead" movies. The movie also lampoons the family's greed. For the most part, though, I think that the people making the movie just wanted to have fun and see what sorts of things they could show. The dubbing is terrible, but who cares about that? All in all, it's a very fun, disgustingly hilarious flick. Just the sort of movie for Troma to release.

I should have researched this movie on here before I watched it.Knowing it was French would have helped a lot.I spent too much time trying to figure out if the audio was dubbed and where it was filmed.Once I figured out it was dubbed, I understood why every character had a different accent.Most of the people sound like Americans trying to fake a British accent while a few sound almost French.The most confusing thing was that they were driving on the right side of the road.Do they do that in France?I assumed all of Europe would drive on the left side.Anyway, this was an above average Troma movie even though the plot doesn't make any sense.The premise is that a bunch of relatives of two rich old ladies have to go have dinner with them for reasons that are never made clear.The old ladies turn into demons and everyone just hides instead of trying to leave.This is a must see if you like or want to like Troma.

Ok I saw this film in 1990, that was over ten years ago. To this day I have a real problem even trying to watch this film. It is a little wierd but where eles can you see a movie about two old ladies that drink some wine then start eating the family. The most disturbing scean is where the little girl walks up the steps where the old woman sits in a rocking chair trying to get her to sit in her lap. That is gruesome. The film is ok and I give it a 6. But if gore is your thing watch Bad Taste, it came out the same year.