Yesterday Sunday Crush Marilyn Chambers inspired me to re-watch “Rabid“ one of her first mainstream films.
After a motorcycle crash in the countryside, a young woman (Marilyn Chambers) and her boyfriend crash close to a plastic surgery institute. She under goes major surgery involving skin grafts and somehow develops a mouth in her armpit with some kind of needle that shoots into a victim they slowly turn into a rabid creature with their own lust for human blood. Soon the plague escapes the institute and sweeps across the nation. There is no general explanation or scientific reason for this happening.
The rather bleak horror tale is a good film, although it does suffer from a few flaws that keeps it from being much better. A lot of the attention goes to Chambers who was attempting to make a mainstream crossover after appearing in hard-core porn. I really thought she did a good job with what was asked from her as the dir
ector perfectly used her to benefit the story. Her sexuality was the best thing in the picture and I especially liked the way Cronenberg (director) used it to help spread this virus. After all, a majority of the victims were those attracted to her and it is almost like there was a STD fear lurking behind the main story.
I do wonder if this "virus" in the film has a bit more of a meaning to the director. Either way, RABID manages to be quite graphic at times in regards to the violence. There is quite a bit of puss flowing from people's mouths and there is certainly a lot of blood throughout. Cronenberg does not back off the violence but I think what is even better is the rather bleak and dark atmosphere that he manages to create. The entire film is very dark in tone and I thought the director perfectly handled this as well as some more dramatic moments (like the motorcycle crash). Chambers is good in her role but we also get nice performances by Howard Ryshpan, Joe Silver, and Frank Moore.
The one major flaw in the film is that it has a very slow pacing that really drags out the running time. I think a little quicker pace certainly would have helped things but the film is still worth watching.
My Rating
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