Rabid
6.6 /10 1 Votes
67% Rotten Tomatoes Initial DVD release October 24, 2000 Duration Language English | 6.4/10 IMDb Director David Cronenberg Producer John Dunning Country Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Release date April 8, 1977 Cast Marilyn Chambers (Rose), Frank Moore (Hart Read), Joe Silver (Murray Cypher), Howard Ryshpan (Dr. Dan Keloid), Patricia Gage (Dr. Roxanne Keloid), Susan Roman (Mindy Kent)Similar movies Bloody Moon , Mad Max: Fury Road , John Wick , The Purge: Anarchy , Knock Knock , A Serbian Film Tagline Pray it doesn't happen to you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Surgery leaves a Montreal motorcyclist (Marilyn Chambers) with a bloodsucking appendage in her armpit.
Contents
Rabid is a 1977 Canadian drama horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg. It features Marilyn Chambers in the lead role, supported by Howard Ryshpan, Joe Silver and Robert A. Silverman.
Chambers plays a woman who, after being injured in a motorcycle accident and undergoing a surgical operation, develops an orifice under one of her armpits. The orifice hides a phallic stinger that she uses to feed on peoples blood. Those she feeds upon become infected, whose bite spreads the disease.
After undergoing radical surgery for injuries from a motorcycle accident, a young woman (former adult film star Marilyn Chambers) develops a strange phallic growth on her body and a thirst for human blood the only nourishment that will now sustain her.
Plot
A critically injured woman, victim of a motorcycle accident, is taken to the plastic surgery clinic of Doctor Dan Keloid, where some of her intact tissue is treated to become morphogenetically neutral. The tissue is grafted to fire-damaged areas of her body in the hope that it will differentiate and replace the damaged skin and organs.
The womans body unexpectedly accepts the transplants, developing an orifice under an armpit, within which hides a phallic stinger. She uses it to feed on the blood of other people and afterwards erasing their memories of the incident.
It soon is apparent that every victim whom she infects transforms into a rabid zombie whose bite spreads the disease. This eventually causes the city to fall into chaos.
Production
Cronenberg stated that he wanted to cast Sissy Spacek in the film lead, but the studio vetoed his choice because of her accent. Spaceks film Carrie was released during this films production and proved to be a massive hit (and a movie poster for the film appears when the main character walks by a movie theater). The director says that the idea of casting Chambers came from producer Ivan Reitman, who had heard that Chambers was looking for a mainstream role. Reitman felt that it would be easier to market the film in different territories if the well-known porn star portrayed the main character. Cronenberg stated that Chambers put in a lot of hard work on the film and that he was impressed with her. Cronenberg further states he had not seen Chambers most well-known film, Behind the Green Door, prior to casting her.
Release
Rabid was released theatrically in the United States by New World Pictures in 1977. It was given a home video release on VHS cassette by Warner Home Video in 1983. The film was later re-released on DVD by New Concorde Home Entertainment in 2000. The DVD itself was re-released again in a Special Edition version by E1 Entertainment in 2004. All home video releases have since gone out of print. The film was released on dual format Blu-ray Disc/DVD by Arrow Video in the UK in February 16, 2015.
Reception
The film has had mostly mixed reviews and received a rating of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes.
References
Rabid WikipediaRabid IMDbRabid Rotten TomatoesRabid themoviedb.org