I always wanted to see RABID and at last I got a hold of a copy and just finished watching it. My opinion? Well, this is definitely "early days" for David Cronenberg, of whom I became an admirer of his 80's output (SCANNERS, THE FLY, DEAD ZONE, VIDEODROME, etc...). What attracted me to this film were basically 2 things: seeing Marilyn Chambers in a "mainstream" role, and seeing one of Cronenberg's earlier works.
RABID sets a premise expanded on future films such as SCANNERS, THE BROOD and THE FLY, where science goes berserk, although in this film we clearly see David Cronenberg acquiring the skills he became so known for in those latter day movies. Rose (M.Chambers) and his boyfriend suffer an unfortunate motorbike accident. Lucky for them, the crash takes place near a medical clinic and thus are quickly looked for. The boyfriend suffers some minor injuries, but it's Rose who suffers the most damage, to the point of going through some reconstructive surgery. Oddly enough, the surgery is performed by Dr. keloid, the owner of the medical clinic that saved the lives of the 2 young motorbike riders. Dr. Keloid uses Rose accident as an acid test for a radical new surgical procedure that uses sheets of the patient's own skin to cover badly damaged flesh. As it turns out, the procedure turns Rose into a sort of vampire, with a bizarre protruding spike coming from under her armpit as a blood sucking syringe.
The premise is interesting; Rose develops an insatiable lust for blood (and not sex, ironically enough, given the actress's porn background!) and turns the majority of the townsfolk into ravaging, rabid zombies. Unlike THE BROOD or SCANNERS, there is no clear explanation as to why Rose turns out the way she does. We only know that she went through an experimental surgical procedure, but no background is given as to why she becomes a sort of vampire. This to me, dampens the impact the movie could have had. It seems that there is no real reason for all the mayhem in the movie. For the gore audience, RABID is quite tame, although make up maestro Joe Blasco did the FX. There's very little blood per Se, compared to say, THE FLY or even SCANNERS. As for Chambers' acting, the little acting she does she's OK. I must confess that I find her extremely attractive in the movie and, had she chosen to go mainstream she would've gotten somewhere, since she did have presence. Overall, RABID is sort of a bleak movie the leaves a lot of questions unanswered and one that would benefit from a re make by a talented new director (maybe Rob Zombie???). Still, RABID manages to entertain and you could do no wrong in checking one of horror's greatest director's earlier work.
RABID sets a premise expanded on future films such as SCANNERS, THE BROOD and THE FLY, where science goes berserk, although in this film we clearly see David Cronenberg acquiring the skills he became so known for in those latter day movies. Rose (M.Chambers) and his boyfriend suffer an unfortunate motorbike accident. Lucky for them, the crash takes place near a medical clinic and thus are quickly looked for. The boyfriend suffers some minor injuries, but it's Rose who suffers the most damage, to the point of going through some reconstructive surgery. Oddly enough, the surgery is performed by Dr. keloid, the owner of the medical clinic that saved the lives of the 2 young motorbike riders. Dr. Keloid uses Rose accident as an acid test for a radical new surgical procedure that uses sheets of the patient's own skin to cover badly damaged flesh. As it turns out, the procedure turns Rose into a sort of vampire, with a bizarre protruding spike coming from under her armpit as a blood sucking syringe.
The premise is interesting; Rose develops an insatiable lust for blood (and not sex, ironically enough, given the actress's porn background!) and turns the majority of the townsfolk into ravaging, rabid zombies. Unlike THE BROOD or SCANNERS, there is no clear explanation as to why Rose turns out the way she does. We only know that she went through an experimental surgical procedure, but no background is given as to why she becomes a sort of vampire. This to me, dampens the impact the movie could have had. It seems that there is no real reason for all the mayhem in the movie. For the gore audience, RABID is quite tame, although make up maestro Joe Blasco did the FX. There's very little blood per Se, compared to say, THE FLY or even SCANNERS. As for Chambers' acting, the little acting she does she's OK. I must confess that I find her extremely attractive in the movie and, had she chosen to go mainstream she would've gotten somewhere, since she did have presence. Overall, RABID is sort of a bleak movie the leaves a lot of questions unanswered and one that would benefit from a re make by a talented new director (maybe Rob Zombie???). Still, RABID manages to entertain and you could do no wrong in checking one of horror's greatest director's earlier work.