Rabid

Remaking a movie by a guy who was talented enough to create one of the great all-time remakes is ballsy and almost bound to fail. Rabid is close to being a good remake but has too many issues for my liking.

The story: a beautiful fashion designer has a life-changing accident and is doomed to a future of ugliness, unless she undergoes an experimental operation which has unforseen side-effects for her and the city around her ...

It's a cool premise, as was with the original but the pacing is way off. It takes too long to get off the ground and then when it does, lacks focus and seems to be telling two distinct stories rather than one, whereas Cronenberg's movie has a much sharper narrative.

There are a few grisly scenes but not immensly eye-opening for something that really should have people squirming.

The lead actress is good and, on the whole, the acting is solid but let down in a few places by some support roles. The editing could be a lot slicker; some scenes just felt dragged out and irrelevant.

I think it's worth checking out if you like the original but I'd be surprised if many people hail this as a big success.

I thought it was important to watch the original. I couldn't do that beforehand, but only after I watched the Soska sisters remake. But it is different in many aspects so it wasn't too bad doing it this way (I usually like to watch an original first and then the remake if I can). The effects here obviously up the ante, but the original had some great ones too.

One of the main differences here is that we get to learn our main actress first, before the inciting incident. This may feel like time wasted or as a nice little touch. Let's go for the latter. The Soskas do have an affinity for Cronenberg and you can tell. They also assembled a nice cast overall, even though someone like CM Punk (can't recall his real name) is quite a cardboard cutout and very cliche for example. But you can tell he has fun with his litle role as is anyone else involved.

The Soskas did change enough for it to make sense to watch both movies. So if you are into horror movies, and don't mind a bit of social commentary thrown in for good measure, you could do worse

Not close to the original atmosphere and tempo, very disappointed of the works of directors since American maRY I SUGGEST to check the 70s version first.

So what did I actually watch? I really don't know. I was hoping this movie would be at least a decent remake, or a good B movie. However, at the end I was just wondering WTF it was supposed to be. It's quite different from the original, but not as good, or thoughtful or provocative (I mean, the original lead was an adult movie actress, the new one is a beautiful, established soap opera actress pretending to be ugly).

It's shot well, features good SFX and gore, but many scenes look like their from a telenovela or CW YA TV show. The acting was atrocious at times, the story too convoluted. The last 20 minutes are totally bonkers, unexpected and, in my opinion, unnecessary. But I gotta give the Soskas respect for doing their own thing. Unsuccessfully, but still, they tried. I enjoyed their first feature 'Dead Hooker in a Trunk' a lot more.

What to say about Rabid?

Frankly, I found it more comical than anything else.Its premise is pretty weak, not helped by an at times rather corny plot with often silly horror scenes.

On the upside, the acting is fine and does include appearances of well known Canadian actors.

Moderately watchable but by no means frightening or disturbing.

5/10 from me.