For Underarm Freshness
Rabid (1977), written and directed by David Cronenberg, is one of the funniest horror films I've seen. It bears some resemblances to his earlier Shivers in that there's a plague turning ordinary people into flesh-rending zombies. Shivers, though, benefits from a premise made plausible by the filmmaker's attempt to create a science fiction scenario based on biological experimentation. In Rabid, there's no explanation given to account for why Rose (Marilyn Chambers), a motorcycle accident victim needing plastic surgery and skin grafts, develops a puckered orifice in her left armpit, concealing an extensible stinger that seeks out human bodies from which to extract blood in a parody of sexual assault.
Yes, this may be Cronenberg's most bizarre film.
Because of that, it's quite entertaining. From the opening shot of Rose seated on her boyfriend's motorcycle, waiting for him, with a sad-looking farm structure in the background, the film looks good, with stylish camera angles, editing, and out in the world cinematography, cameras mounted inside traveling cars and 1976 Canadian backgrounds throughout. Already, Cronenberg had developed a unique visual style characterized by a clinical use of his camera. Physicians or scientists often play a major role in his films; his own direction has a scientific vibe. He seems like a filmmaker who started out in college studying microbiology or physics, but got sidetracked somehow into making movies.
His obsession with problems of the flesh can be experienced in Rabid. For one thing, his casting in the lead role of Marilyn Chambers, a 1970s pornstar, thus, someone used to showing skin, points to a willingness to work with an actress who must've been controversial for mainstream film. He reportedly wanted Sissy Spacek, fresh from Carrie, to play Rose. She no doubt would've been excellent in the role, but Cronenberg settled for Chambers, who wanted to break into mainstream films. The latter does a good job overall. She certainly doesn't lack onscreen charisma. Her best moments involve her physical scenes, such as when she writhes on a bathroom floor wearing just her underwear, sick with the need to feed on blood, but not yet understanding what's going on with herself.
The film's lack of explanation for her strange malady struck me as simultaneously bold and awkward. Let's say that Rhett Butler, played by Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind, is not just an arms dealer but he's also a vampire. Okay, where did that come from? If the makers of that Hollywood classic hadn't explained Butler's vampirism, it would've seemed out of place.
Maybe I missed a key detail early on in Rabid? The plastic surgeon, Dr. Keloid, is kind of weird and his institute in the middle of nowhere has lots of strange patients wanting, mostly, vanity surgery. Whatever the case, the spreading madness as seen in Shivers (which is confined mostly to one apartment complex) enters Montreal, leading to hundreds of infections and deaths inflicted by patrols of state police encountering the infected with shoot to kill orders. Martial law takes over, all caused by this one woman with a stinger in her armpit.
I haven't seen Marilyn Chambers' porn films, but I suspect that Rabid is one of the more interesting movies she was in.
Vic Neptune
Rabid (1977), written and directed by David Cronenberg, is one of the funniest horror films I've seen. It bears some resemblances to his earlier Shivers in that there's a plague turning ordinary people into flesh-rending zombies. Shivers, though, benefits from a premise made plausible by the filmmaker's attempt to create a science fiction scenario based on biological experimentation. In Rabid, there's no explanation given to account for why Rose (Marilyn Chambers), a motorcycle accident victim needing plastic surgery and skin grafts, develops a puckered orifice in her left armpit, concealing an extensible stinger that seeks out human bodies from which to extract blood in a parody of sexual assault.
Yes, this may be Cronenberg's most bizarre film.
Because of that, it's quite entertaining. From the opening shot of Rose seated on her boyfriend's motorcycle, waiting for him, with a sad-looking farm structure in the background, the film looks good, with stylish camera angles, editing, and out in the world cinematography, cameras mounted inside traveling cars and 1976 Canadian backgrounds throughout. Already, Cronenberg had developed a unique visual style characterized by a clinical use of his camera. Physicians or scientists often play a major role in his films; his own direction has a scientific vibe. He seems like a filmmaker who started out in college studying microbiology or physics, but got sidetracked somehow into making movies.
His obsession with problems of the flesh can be experienced in Rabid. For one thing, his casting in the lead role of Marilyn Chambers, a 1970s pornstar, thus, someone used to showing skin, points to a willingness to work with an actress who must've been controversial for mainstream film. He reportedly wanted Sissy Spacek, fresh from Carrie, to play Rose. She no doubt would've been excellent in the role, but Cronenberg settled for Chambers, who wanted to break into mainstream films. The latter does a good job overall. She certainly doesn't lack onscreen charisma. Her best moments involve her physical scenes, such as when she writhes on a bathroom floor wearing just her underwear, sick with the need to feed on blood, but not yet understanding what's going on with herself.
The film's lack of explanation for her strange malady struck me as simultaneously bold and awkward. Let's say that Rhett Butler, played by Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind, is not just an arms dealer but he's also a vampire. Okay, where did that come from? If the makers of that Hollywood classic hadn't explained Butler's vampirism, it would've seemed out of place.
Maybe I missed a key detail early on in Rabid? The plastic surgeon, Dr. Keloid, is kind of weird and his institute in the middle of nowhere has lots of strange patients wanting, mostly, vanity surgery. Whatever the case, the spreading madness as seen in Shivers (which is confined mostly to one apartment complex) enters Montreal, leading to hundreds of infections and deaths inflicted by patrols of state police encountering the infected with shoot to kill orders. Martial law takes over, all caused by this one woman with a stinger in her armpit.
I haven't seen Marilyn Chambers' porn films, but I suspect that Rabid is one of the more interesting movies she was in.
Vic Neptune
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