Rating: 
Summary: A CURIOSITY PIECE
Review: Not one of Cronberg's best, the film has curiosity value if only for starring a young Marylin Chambers, the world's most well know and perhaps best porn star. She shows that she could have made it as a legit actress, if only in small roles
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: 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."
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."
Rating:
Summary: Typhoid Marilyn...
Review: Rose (Marilyn Chambers) and her boyfriend Hart Read (Frank Moore) are two young motorcycle enthusiasts rolling down the open road. Little do they know, a family in a van is blocking the road around the next curve. BAM! An inevitible accident ensues. Luckily, the Kreloid plastic surgery clinic is nearby, where the doctors have been experimenting with a revolutionary new skin-graft! Rose's badly mangled body is taken there for emergency reconstructive surgery. She wakes from a coma one month later, not knowing where she is. When a male patient tries to comfort her, Rose pulls him close and skewers him with the spike under her arm! It seems that a parasite has grown there, giving Rose an undying thirst for human blood. Worse yet, her victims catch Rose's virus and within 8 hours begin foaming at the mouth, weeping yellow goo from their eyes, and attacking others to infect them with this hideous condition as well! Rose leaves the clinic after infecting her doctor, who in turn goes berserk in the operating room! Rose hunts for men to seduce, jab, drain, and abandon. She murders her way to Montreal, where the disease she carries reaches epidemic proportions. Staying with a friend, Rose slips out at night, trolling for victims to puncture. She even kills a guy in an adult theater! Instead of pleasure, his wandering hand finds a piercing death under Rose's coat! She is a virulant serial killer with an inhuman hunger. David Cronenberg (Scanners, The Brood, The Fly) has put together quite a twisted little tale of terror with RABID. Marilyn Chambers is excellent as Rose. I believe she could have been a successful horror actress. I wish she'd done more like this. If you enjoy the bizarre, the different, or the disturbing, then RABID will bubble up your flesh...
Rating:
Summary: A Troubling Horror Story...
Review: Rose recovers while in a coma in a small hospital for plastic surgery after a motorcycle accident where she has had a groundbreaking emergency operation. When Rose wakes up she finds herself having frantic desires for human blood. Unknowingly Rose infects everyone she comes in contact with as she consumes their blood with a frightening blood-borne disease that rapidly spreads among the human population. Rabid carries Cronenberg's insignia as it displays a troubling story concerning science, which offers a decent cinematic experience for those who seek horror.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst Movie Ever
Review: This movie was so bad, it wasnt even the good type of bad, like Battlefield Earth was. I picked it up at the video store because it had a neat looking cover, and was horrofied when I poped it into my VCR.
The whole thing made no sense. How did her little accident turn her into that arm pit vampire that turns people into zombies? They explain nothing, but there isnt much to explain. Its poorly written and poorly acted. Avoid this movie like you would an animal with its namesake.
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