Rabid

David Cronenberg continues his "body horror" theme with 1977's RABID, a film that lifts several ideas from his subsequent SHIVERS.  Namely, that medical science is not to be blindly trusted and that we are also, distilled to our essences, a race of primal urge animals who know only to survive.  In the '70s and '80s, Cronenberg fashioned these ideas in a series of sometimes exploitative, often quite disturbing motion pictures that appealed to gore audiences but also won over the more cerebral among us, despite some in your face exploitation elements.

Viewers only familiar with the director's later films may have difficulty at holding back chuckles with this and some of the other early efforts.   The sometimes embarrassing acting, the over the top makeup effects.  The music in RABID is also distressingly rote and predictable for such a movie.  When Cronenberg met up with composer Howard Shore, things improved dramatically in that department.

The plot: A young couple suffer a terrible motorcycle accident near the Keloid Clinic for Plastic Surgery.   Hart (Frank More) and Rose (Marilyn Chambers) are shuttled to the center for treatment.  Rose's injuries are far more serious, with burns causing much damage to her skin.  Dr. Keloid (Howard Ryshpan) tries a new procedure - one that utilizes morphogenetic skin grafts in an effort to replace lost tissue and epidermis.  The procedure is previously untested.   Needless to say, complications ensue.

Rose eventually recovers but now has an insatiable thirst for human blood.  Mimicking what we observed in SHIVERS, a phallic looking organ (which is located on Rose's underarm and eminates from an invagination) attacks many unfortunates, leading them to become zombie like and seeking more victims.   Rose leaves the hospital, trying to reunite with Hart, and infecting many sleazy would be suitors along the way.  Soon, an epidemic of rabid savages brings Quebec to its knees.  The government exercises attempts at control, revealing disorganization on a grand scale.

RABID surprised me for its restraint.  With his second "major" motion picture, Cronenberg was already maturing, not just going for blood and guts. His film is nowhere nearly as excessive as I would've imagined.   There's no actual sex, only implications and themes of it.  The film has a very different reputation, especially with a lead actress whose previous work was in pornographic films like BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR, but is less interested in being graphic than waxing intellectual.  Cronenberg's films always thoughtfully consider the medical, political, financial, and social dynamics.  RABID may be rehashing much of the plotline of SHIVERS, but it finds its own eerie rhythm and potent statements to make.

Cronenberg also even finds some emotional weight in this thriller, mainly via the tragedy of seeing loved ones transformed into drooling bloodsuckers.  Rose's journey is not without some salty tears.

The director again embraces and cautiously dismantles scientific methodology.  I found it interesting that a character explains how a certain vaccine is powerless against the infected.  Perhaps artificial vaccinations are not only ineffective but more harmful? Sound like any latter day controversy to you? That Rose herself, the carrier, may also contain the antidote to the crisis should give you plenty to uh, feast on.