Rabid

There are director´s who have a very unique style, when it comes to making films. There are of course several director´s i could mention, but i am especially thinking about legendary director David Cronenberg. This man have made so many classics, and i would want to talk about so many titles. But i decided to pick out two films that i personally really enjoy for different reasons. Let us begin with the 1981 film known as Scanners. This film is in many ways pretty original, since this film tells the story of people who are gifted with telepathic and telekinetic powers. Scanners have influences from science fiction, action and horror films, all combined into a nice presentation. I would have to say that Scanners feels like an opera in violence, with an open mind about our abilities to use our brains in a different way than most people would do. Director David Cronenberg must have been inspired to tell this story with medical terms in his mind. If you have not seen Scanners, this is a must see if you are a fan of sci fi horror films. The next film that came to my mind is the 1977 horror film known as Rabid, one of the true classics from director David Cronenberg. Rabid tells the story of Rose ( played by actress Marilyn Chambers ) who is in a very serious motorcycle accident, and is rushed into a Surgical operation. An orifice develops underneath one of her armpits, and this orifice hides a phallic stinger that she uses to feed on people´s blood. Rabid is an odd horror film, but tells a quite original and fascinating story, that reminds me of a different kind of vampire tale. Rabid is one of those Cronenberg gems that everyone should see, since this is in many ways one of the true classics of the 70´s. If i say the name The Soska Sisters, what comes to your mind then ? For me personally, i am thinking about their film American Mary, released in 2012. This is a very good horror film, that tells the story of Mary ( played wonderful by actress Katharine Isabelle ), a medical student, who finds out how much easy money she can get through underground surgery. American Mary gives a very fascinating look into the darker world of surgery, and what consequences these procedures can cause. When i found out that The Siska Sisters would direct a remake of David Cronenberg cult film Rabid, i was very curious to see the result. Is this one of the better remakes in recent years, or is Rabid a film you might as well skip for something more original ?

Rose ( Laura Vandervoort ) is a passionate fashion designer, who loves to bring out her own unique design, is not respected by her boss Gunter ( Mackenzie Gray ), who does not see her true potential. After being turned down, and humiliated by co-workers, Rose is not seeing anything positive in her life at the moment. One day, she suffers a disfiguring accident where her face is damaged really bad. Forced to live with this disfigured face, and can´t show her face outside, she finds a clinic that helps victims such as herself. She decides to make the surgery that is suggested. The result is amazing, and this should give her a new start in her life. But something happened with Rose after surgery, and she is clearly no longer who she used to be.

Making a remake of a classic cult film is not easy. You have to be able to respect the original film, and still make the remake good enough to be enjoyed by the audience. In the case of this remake of Rabid, i would say that this is at least a good atempt to try and make a new version of Rabid. The thing is that this remake does not try and copy the original film completely, but tell the story in a different way than in the 1977 film. I think this was a good choice, because it would have been pretty boring if they made this film look excatly like the original film. Another detail i have to mention, is the brutality of several scenes. We get to see infected attacking humans for their blood and flesh, and i like the look of these scenes. It is almost like watching a zombie attack, with good looking practical effects. Did we need a remake of Rabid ? I feel divided on this subject, since there are both good remakes and bad remakes of classic films. The one good thing about this specific remake, is that people who enjoy this new version will perhaps be curious to see the old film. And that is of course good, since you should experience David Cronenberg´s cult film. When it comes to the cast, i think we do have some interesting characters here, especially the lead character Rose ( played by actress Laura Vandervoort, who some of you might recognize as the character Lisa in the sci fi TV series V ). Rose is especially interesting after her horrible accident, when you see a completely different personality inside of her growing for each day. Actor Mackenzie Gray delivers one of the most entertaining performances in this film, as the fashion designer Gunter ( reminded me of the character Serge in the Beverly Hills Cop films ). The horror elements works pretty good for the most part, and thanks to a great lead performance, Rabid manage to find a good balance to tell an interesting story, and directors Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska have clearly felt a passion in this remake as they made this film effective. If you are fed up with ordinary Christmas movies during the holidays, let Rabid guide you into a tasteful treat of effective horror elements. To be honest, if i could celebrate Christmas, it would be in a Rabid way, it does look very peaceful.

Rating: DDD