Rabid

The second big-screen feature from Canadian horror genius David Cronenberg was this twisted well-done low budgeter.

Following a motorcycle wreck, a young woman receives skin grafts that cause her to have a murderous thrust for blood - which leads to a deadly plague.

Rabid is one nicely done little shocker. It has a clever storyline that's a unique take on the vampire/zombie genres. The makeup work is gruesomely good, the atmosphere cold and fitting, and the low-budget ambiguously well used to create a horror film that was a bit ahead of its time. In addition the cast isn't bad. Star Marylin Chambers, though better known as a porn actress, does a decent performance as the victim of the strange infection. Frank Moore is also good as Chambers' boyfriend who must save her before disaster strikes.

While granted that Rabid isn't as great as the films that Cronenberg would later unleash (The Brood, Videodrome, Dead Zone etc.) it is never the less a solid sophomore effort that well-foreshadowed the greatness Cronenberg would achieve in his later films.

*** out of ****

This is Cronenberg's disappointing follow-up to the great "Shivers." Once again, the "monster" is a disease that turns the victims into crazies. The underlying subtext that sexual appetite makes you crazy is reinforced by the casting of porn star Marilyn Chambers in the lead role (she's not bad). There are some good scares and some great grotesque images (especially the frozen twisted corpse that was used in the film's poster). But the story is by turns confusing and, until the military is brought in at the end, repetitive. It feels overlong for what it is. Cronenberg had some nice directorial touches--I like the way he uses brightly lit, underpopulated buildings as a backdrop for the horror.

Two bikers careen and crash in the Canadian countryside very close to a cosmetology clinic. The girl biker has received serious injuries and needs lots of surgery involving skin grafts. After that there is virtually no scientific or general explanation for how this young lady develops a blood-sucking mouth in her armpit, that after having bitten its victims transfers the same desire for blood; thus creating a plague in Montreal of all places. Now, the story has some obvious holes that needed to be filled and were not, but writer/director David Cronenberg can make even the most absurd stuff seem real and scary. This was his real second feature after Shivers, and he delivers the goods with some artful direction, more than ample suspense, and a pervasive mood of uneasiness in a city being besieged by a viral plague. Money constraints seem obvious as well. Whatever happened to the French detective? I found his character rather interesting.

Cronenberg made me jump from my seat more than a few times, and his style really absorbs all elements of the film even when you know what is going to happen - the shock is still there. A lot of people haven't ever been fond of Cronenberg's work, but I think that in the world of horror he is definitely one of the underestimated craftsmen. As a final note it would be remiss of me not to mention Marilyn Chambers. She does a pretty good job acting here. I found her very believable and beautiful. After all I guess there are worse ways to go then being sensuously cradled in Ms. Chambers arms as she caresses your hair and her carnivorous armpit dweller locks into your bloodstream. Perhaps. Perhaps not. I don't know - guess I'll chew on it a bit.

It's only marginally better than Cronenberg's earlier work Shivers and in some ways, it feels like a sequel to it. It takes the hyper-sexualized, extra-gory zombies that the first film utilized and expands them over a wider area. No longer just contained to an apartment complex on an island, these bad boys are free to roam around downtown Montreal. The slices of apocalyptic action near the end of the film elevate this one above the earlier film, as it's a much darker consequence to the story's identical problem. Basically all the technical aspects remain the same, from amateurish acting to dated sets to a distinctive atmosphere, and the warning against scientific tampering is still there, but the aforementioned wider scope and subtle nods to the sociopolitical environment of 1970s Montreal make this one just a bit better. Cronenberg was just warming up, though.

I really enjoy gritty, low-key horror films like this one. The story revolves around Hart (Frank Moore) and Rose (porn queen Marilyn Chambers), a young couple involved in a motorcycle accident. Rose undergoes an emergency experimental skin graft operation and emerges as a plague-spreading pseudo-vampire who extracts blood via a syringe-style growth that has developed on her body. It's an interesting, original take of vampirism, especially the aspect that her victims get sick and turn homicidal ("Rabid," I guess).

In my opinion, this is Cronenberg's best 70s movie (I enjoyed it more than THEY CAME FROM WITHIN/SHIVERS and THE BROOD, also good horror films). The story is intelligent, very well thought out and full of political and social context if you want it. The horror scenes are creepy and effective. Chambers is beautiful and has a killer body, for sure, but she also delivers a surprisingly good performance. You can tell she was savoring this non-hardcore role and probably hoped for more of the same after this, but it just wasn't in the cards for her. Too bad. The rest of the cast was acceptable.

I wish they made more films like this nowadays!