Summary: One of David Cronenberg’s earliest films, Rabid depicts the effects of disease and hysteria that usually accompany these types of horror films. A young woman (Marilyn Chambers) suffers a motorcycle accident with her boyfriend. Both of them are taken to a nearby clinic where a egotistical surgeon decides to try his experimental treatment on the woman. This “treatment” causes her to have an insatiable lust for blood and it spreads to the unfortunate victims. The plot of the film revolves around Rose who seems to be aware of the monstrous disease she carries, but she has no control over its machinations.
What I Like: This film is brimming with psycho-sexual interpretations, but I think it is more interesting to view this as an effective metaphor for how our massive consumerist culture has made it more convenient for diseases to propagate and incubate in peace; it mutates the traditional psycho-sexual themes and adds the biological consequences of sexually transmitted diseases. There are cool zombie-like attacks as the victims of Rose’s disease suffer their transformation into hungry ghouls. I often wondered while watching this film if it inspired the excellent zombie flick “28 Days Later” as that film has many references to the reality of epidemics and dangerous infected human zombies.
Negatives: Other than cheesy screams which I really don’t mind, I take this film as one of Cronenberg’s forays into the theme of body horror. His later films build upon this thematic element which is how he achieved such titles like “Baron of Blood” and “King of Venereal Horror.” This film is interesting to watch in order to see the development of his obsession.
Verdict: Watch it especially if you love his other films or if you are looking for a different type of horror that isn’t full of jump scares.
Cinehorde Review 