Rabid 1977

Being a David Cronenberg fan, I was really looking forward to seeing ‘Rabid.’ Granted I’ve left it a bit late, watching it after pretty much all his other films. And perhaps that was the wrong way to do it. Basically, I preferred his other stuff. Although that’s not to say that Rabid isn’t without its shades of goodness.It’s a zombie film. Nothing new there these days, but, in the seventies, the undead were still a rarity. Okay, so the purists will shout how these ‘zombies’ aren’t really zombies, but, like with films such as ’28 Days Later’ the principal is the same, i.e. you get bitten, you turn into one. Here, a young woman suffers a horrific motorcycle accident and, during the experimental surgery to save her, she contracts a disease (much like rabies) which makes her hungry to bite people (albeit with a weird extra spike protruding from her – you’ll have to watch the film to see what I mean by that, as it’s a little hard to describe!).Basically, it’s a slow burner. Don’t expect any ‘Dawn of the Dead’ type action sequences to move it along. The first half was actually a little too slow for my liking, but I am glad I stuck with it, as the true ‘horror’ of the situation is cranked up in the second act. You actually get some pretty hard hitting scenes that are quite bleak and nasty if you’re prepared to wait for them, as the authorities find the disease pretty hard to contain.All performances are functional. None of the actors really stand out too much. You’ll have to remember that it was the seventies when this was made, so ‘attractiveness’ wasn’t high up on the list of requisites for male acting leads. The actress at the centre of it all – if you believe the trivia surrounding the film – was picked due to her good looks over other actresses deemed better at their trade, but lacking in the ‘bombshell’ qualities.So, if you’re looking for a slow-burning blast-from-the-past with a decent amount of gore and creepiness in the latter stages, give this a go. Personally, I preferred Cronenberg’s Shivers, Videodrome, Scanners and The Fly, but I didn’t regret at least seeing Rabid.

A woman severely injured in a motorbike accident is given a new procedure to save her life, whilst doing so it makes her become blood hungry and anyone she attacks also becomes a blood hungry killer.Slick David Cronenberg 1977 horror thriller. The film begins quite slow with the accident and subsequent hospital sequences, which does take up a large part of the opening of the film, after this though when Rose goes on what can only be described as s "hunger" spree the film's pace picks up with the tension and suspense mounting up. The scenes of the gathering (not sure what to call them) mutants are excellently filmed and actually very tense and exciting, the last third of the picture contains arguably some of Cronenberg's best work, he does a sterling job in the chair building to crescendo that doesn't disappoint. Adult Film star Marilyn Chambers is excellent in the lead role, conveying exactly what she needed to, how she didn't do more "mainstream" work is a real shame, all of the cast do a fine job, Howard Ryshpan as the doctor has a couple of very good scare scenes. The effects are good and for such a low budget much better than you might think and the soundtrack is OK but the same piece of music plays over & over throughout the film and is a little annoying but never detracts from the film.One of two David Cronenberg films on the Section 3 nasty list (the other being Scanners) and it is far better than that grimy tag might lead you to believe. Whilst probably not a film for all tastes, it's nowhere near as gory as the earlier Shivers but it certainly has its moments, a key 70's horror classic.

After a motorcycle crash, Rose, played by Marilyn Chambers, riding pillion, is taken to a nearby clinic, which is doing research in plastic surgery. After an operation for a skin graft, she develops a thirst for blood. Blood being her only food. One by one, she feeds off her victims who in turn develops rabies, and goes on to infect others, resulting in a widespread epidemic.There have been some negative reviews about other versions of this film. This is a brand new transfer, and is presented on blu ray for the first time. The colour grading has been redone, and the review on bluray.com criticizes the colours in some scenes. I did not find any major problems with any of the colours in any scenes. There is some grain evident in the transfer particularly at the beginning, but I suspect that this is how it looked when originally released to cinemas, so no problem. Arrow have provided a reversible sleeve, which has the artwork for the original poster. (Which is better than the new commissioned artwork). This version also comes with a dvd copy.Picture Quality is good, with natural flesh tones, from a clean print. The original aspect ratio of this film is 1.85:1. This blu ray transfer is in 1.78:1, which is the equivalent to a 16x9 tv screen, and an almost identical ratio to 1.85:1 so there is almost no picture loss, if any. The sound is in the original mono.This is the best this film is ever going to look, so if you are a fan of David Cronenburg, or just want this film, buy this version.FOOTNOTE: This review is for Arrow's blu ray release, not prism's dvd release, as Amazon has put it under.