Rabid

Rating:
Summary: Canadian Horror Film At Its Very Best..
Review: As a kid, I grew up on a steady diet of horror films-the Halloween franchise, Friday the 13th series, the films of the great Lucio Fulci. For some reason, David Cronenberg's films never connected with me-too scientifically oriented, socially conscious and intellectual. With the advent of DVD, I have had the chance to see both Shivers and Rabid again and my opinion of these has changed immensely. Rabid is now one of my favorite low-budget horror films of all time.
The story is simple enough: Rose, after a horrific motorcycle accident is subjected to experimental skin graft surgery whose main side effect is a hypodermic, phallus like appendage that sprouts from her armpit to feast on the blood of any human within grasp feeding her vampiric rage. Her victims in turn become George Romero-esque zombies that bite and thus spread the disease to others resulting in an epidemic zombie plague in the streets of Montreal.
The biggest surprise in this film is the convincing portrayal of the tortured Rose by porn queen Marilyn Chambers (Behind the Green Door). Marilyn Chambers is excellent and provides enough sexual chemistry to keep her character always interesting. It is a wonder that she never pursued mainstream films after this and instead returned to her lucrative porn career that still continues today. The rest of the actors are above average as well.
Clearly, Cronenberg is a visionary genius of the highest order foreshadowing both the AIDS crisis of the nineteen eighties and the recent SARS paranoia. Here, he absolutely makes the most of his limited budget to turn in a unique and interesting film that will enthrall genre fans.
Astute viewers will be able to see what a huge influence this film was on later horror staples like Romero's Dawn Of The Dead and the recent 28 Days Later. Truth be told, I have grown to enjoy this film even more than Dawn Of The Dead-horror fans will cry heresy, but the shorter running time of Rabid, the wonderful acting of Marilyn Chambers and the ample gore and nudity make this a worthwhile horror effort that merits repeated viewings.
The DVD itself is average: the print is quite grainy in places and the audio is crackly and suffers from static in places. Also, the aspect ratio seems off as the end credits are cut off on the left side of the screen. The DVD offers a grainy as hell, and quite comical trailer. Also, a director's commentary by Cronenberg plus a lenghty sit down interview with this talented director. Finally, bios are provided for both Cronenberg and Chambers, a great resource for Chamber's porn enthusiastic fans as most of her XXX films are listed here.
Despite the DVD's shortcomings, I highly recommend this great film, a true staple of seventies horror. Before the genre got bogged down by the self-referential and cliche humour of the late eighties and nineties, fans could always count on directors like Carpenter, Cronenberg, Craven and Hooper to offer thought provoking and challenging films.

Rating:
Summary: Rabid with Marilyn Chambers
Review: David's first pick for this movie, was Sissy Spacek, but she refused to do it. However , this movie wouldnt have fit her, this part really calls for someone sexy, not that she isnt sexy but this part required a blond bombshell. Enter Marilyn Chambers.

Marilyn plays Rose, a chick who has a bike accident and is experimented on resulting in a disease on anyone that touches her and turning them flesh eating mad . Nice plot, kinda reminds me of an aids epidemic or something like that. Now that would be scary.

You can catch this film on the Independent Film Channel during their "Indie Screams" week. (Check local listings.)

The gory. A nurse getting her finger cut off by a doctor and doctor starts eating the finger!!!

The good. Marilyn in the nude! (I wish there more of these scenes), There is also a great car crash in the movie where a car falls on the highway only to be run over by a truck. (What bad luck for the driver)

The shocking. A dept. store Santa Claus being gunned down (Accidentally).This scene probably is the most scandalous in the film, even I was suprised that something like this was written in the script. Shame on you David. :-)

The saddest. Some of the music is well done,especially the sad melodramatic music. The end is sad too, (Poor Marilyn being thrown in the trash truck after she herself is the victim of the virus she has spread). Her acting in this movie is pretty good, I was suprised.

Great funny lines like " what the fu*k are we running here a nursery." "You carry a plague youve killed hundreds of people!."

The best thing I can say is that it has some great shots of Marilyn Chambers beautiful figure. Wow!!! No wonder she makes her living off the xxx industry nowadays.

She does kinda have that Cybill Shepherd type that look that just oozes goddessness, so her presence in the film is felt.

My vote a 6 and half out of 10. Believe it or not this film cost an average of $90,000 to make, David is no cheapskate.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite Cronenberg film
Review: I first saw this film in the late 1980s on tv, and loved it. I was really excited when it came back in print and I purchased the VHS edition. The movie was even better than I had remembered! And of course unedited for tv. Marilyn Chambers gives a great performance as a woman who is subjected to experimental surgical procedures by an unethical doctor after being in a bad motorcycle accident. The result is that she develops a strange...apparatus and becomes a bit vampiric and murderous. The scenes of panic in Downtown Montreal are really priceless. I also like the performance of the actor who plays Marilyn's boyfriend. I don't know who designed the new cover to this film but it is really a travesty, the old cover was really cool. Don't let the cheesy cover scare you away from this real treat. The downbeat ending is really satisfying also. Don't miss "Rabid".

Rating:
Summary: Armpit From Hell
Review: It doesn't really matter that Marilyn Chambers isn't a fine actress. What director David Cronenberg gets from her is a subtle, almost angelic performance which makes the viewer forget that what she is hiding will change the people of Canada for the worse. The opening third of the film takes place in a plastic surgery clinic. This was a brilliant stroke of genius and way ahead of its time. Having had her eyes freshly done, a woman at the clinc witnesses (through binoculars) motorcyclist Chambers crashing her bike near the clinic. The clinic takes Chambers in and all hell breaks loose. Through skin graph surgery, Marilyn becomes RABID. Most of my friends hate this film but I love it for all that is and continues to be: Cronenberg's masterpiece! I want to remake it but I'm afraid my version would lose most of Cronenberg's low budget charm.

Rating:
Summary: The erratic follow up to Shivers
Review: Let's not get carried away. This film is not a masterstroke from Cronenberg nor is it entirely terrible. But the film veers from side to side and in effect there are many parts of the film which have moments of genius mixed with moments of terrible scenes.

Cronenberg himself has admitted that he had a moment of crisis while making the movie. He thought the whole film sounded ridiculous and maybe it wasn't worth it. He's got a point no matter what way your take on this film. It does border on the patently ridiculous but remember we're talking about a standard horror movie here. It's a cheap thrill'n'scare movie that most people would watch at a drive by cinema. We know there's going to be some cagey b-movie standard acting so we're not exactly taxing ourselves are we?

Ah yes which reminds me, Marilyn Chambers actually doesn't do a bad job at giving " serious acting " a go. Cronenberg jokes that he doesn't know whose idea it was to tell her that his movies were " serious " but she acts well. I've never seen any of her porn material ( and I don't really want to either ) but there are times here when her history in porn might have helped her in his role. Actually give Ivan Reitman credit here - it was a brilliant idea to get Chambers in for this film - people are definitely going to take an interest if a porno star wants to make a go at serious acting ( especially men )

There are some brilliantly shot scenes like when somebody takes a drill to a car with people in it ( that WOULD frighten people ) and the ending too which is rather chilling and is an effective ending for the film.

So all in all it's not as good as later films such as Scanners, Videodrome, Dead Ringers or even Crash ( even though I have a love hate relationship with that movie ) in it's affecting creepiness. It's best looked at as a sophomore effort from Cronenberg and while it has serious flaws in the film, it has moments of demented magic too given it's nature. And remember it's a b-movie so you shouldn't expect much

Rating:
Summary: Special Edition DVD details
Review: Plot: After a motorcycle accident, Rose (Marilyn Chambers of Behind the Green Door and oh so much more) develops an unexplained lesion and a desire for human blood. She searches out victims to satisfy her unshakable craving secondarily infecting them with a rabies-like disease.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: This DVD won't drive you mad, but the movie still chills.
Review: Rabid was Cronenberg's second feature film and a more conventional "horror movie" than his first feature Shivers (aka They Came from Within). Despite Rabid's weak script and low budget restrictions it clearly showed that Cronenberg was a writer/director with a strong vision and someone to watch for.

Rose (played unevenly by Marilyn Chambers) suffers severe wounds in a motorcycle accident. Experimental surgery turns her into a vampire of sorts that infects her victims with a incurable and fatal case of mania that resembles rabies. Rose, either fearing for her own safety or forced by a new and barely understood predatory nature (Cronenberg never explores this in any real depth), escapes from the clinic where she has been recovering from her surgery and unleashes a terrifying plague. Although it may sound silly Cronenberg treats the subject with such an icy documentary like detachment that the results are quite chilling.

Sadly the part of Rose (originally intended for Sissy Spacek) is underwritten, she has almost no dialogue and Chambers could not communicate any real emotional conflict in her performance. She becomes simply an object to move the plot forward, the secondary characters getting more development. This was a serious flaw in the movie and the primary reasons I gave it three stars and not four.

The DVD itself is pretty sad. The movie is not letterboxed, but the image is not injured too badly by this. There is a trailer that produces a chuckle when, after an impressive car wreck, the camera zooms into Rose's first victim and the narrator solemnly says "Don't worry about him he's DEAD." There is no commentary, and the biographies are pretty so so, with Corman (founder and CEO of the companies that both released Rabid back in 1976 and this re-issue) getting the most lauditory and in depth biography, despite having really nothing to do with making this movie at all.

Cronenberg fans will want this movie in their collections regardless of the movie and DVDs flaws. Fans of the genre might want to check this out to see the boundless possibilites the vampire tale does have to offer.

Rating:
Summary: early Cronenberg at his best
Review: Rabid was the second film of David Cronenberg after Shivers. Both films are very similar in theme and were the excellent start to Cronenberg's great career. With this new digitally remastered "Special Edition" Rabid, for the first time in a region 1 release, can be seen in its original aspect ratio, which is a real treat.

The film concerns a woman named Rose, played by porn star Chambers in a surprisingly great performance, who gets into a serious motorcycle accident and has radical, experimental surgery in order to save her life. She survives the accident only to find that the surgery has given her a growth. This growth also has a taste for human blood. Before too long Rose is on the prowl looking for anyone to ease her hunger. However, when she attacks her victims do not die. Instead they turn, rather quickly, into flesh craving zombies. Soon the whole city of Montreal is taken over.

The film holds up well over the years. The extreme low budget doesn't take away from the intensity of the plot. This was a film made by a director still learning the craft. Therefore, it isn't a perfect film, but the themes it deals with are pulled off well. Rabid is much more than just a horror film. It's a film about relationships and characters that don't fully have control over their actions. The viewer really feels for Rose at the end of film. Although she was responsible for the outbreak, it really wasn't her fault. She was being moved by forces from within her body that were more powerful than her mind. That is a theme that Cronenberg would return to again and again.

This new release is pretty well done. The colors aren't as bright as the UK release, but it's a good enough transfer for the price. There is also a commentary and interview with Cronenberg on the disc which are pretty interesting. This disc is worth the upgrade from the lower quality, full frame release from a few years ago. If you're a fan of Cronenberg or of good quality horror films in general, this is a must see. Even if you aren't into horror films I would recommend it. The gore is little and the plot is much more than the average scary movie. Cronenberg is after all known as the director of "the thinking man's horror film."