Rabid, Rated R (presumably)
Release Date: December 13th theatrical /VOD/Blu-Ray
Directed By: Jen and Sylvia Soska
Written By: John Serge
Cast: Laura Vandervoort, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Ted Atherton
Synopsis: The quiet Rose works in women’s fashion clothing, hoping to be a designer. After a traffic accident damages her face, she gets experimental stem cell treatment, leaving her stronger and prettier than ever – but there’s a side effect.
A remake of the 1977 David Cronenberg body-horror of the same name, the Soska Sisters have been working on their version of the film for a few years now. (They actually mentioned it to me back in 2016 at Stan Lee’s Comikaze in LA. See my post about it HERE.)
Whereas Cronenberg’s film was famous for starring former porn actress Marilyn Chambers, the sisters have gone with pop-culture girl-next-door Laura Vandervoort in the starring role of Rose, disfigured in a traffic accident.
Cronenberg’s Rose became the unwitting subject of Dr. Keloid’s experimental skin grafts (which are discussed as if they are stem cells, even in 1977), and were more structural in their repair (not damaging her face at all, but some unspecified injury), but this 21st century Rose volunteers for an actual stem-cell treatment designed to allow her face to repair itself.
The treatment works, miraculously, as Vandervoort not only heals, but becomes more attractive, drawing the attention of both her fashion-designer boss, but men as well. (I don’t know who thought Vandervoort could be made unattractive in the first place, but they try…)
The practical effects are really good in this, BTW. I appreciate that, as do most hard-core horror fans.
As an aside, this version presents the medical procedure in an almost religious way, with the surgical team dressed in blood-red, stylized scrubs, and a devotional aspect to the proceding: a sacramental offering to the medical gods or some sort of ritualistic expression. Creepy as balls, truth be told.
Aside #2: the naming of some characters is awesome: Dr. Keloid returns in an homage to the original, and Dr William Burroughs (look it up) also makes an appearance.
Predictably, the treatment comes with a price, and we see the world, just as in Cronenberg’s version, succumbing to a sudden outbreak of what is described as rabies, as people begin to attack, eat and/or kill one another, as the authorities try to trace the outbreak back to its source.
I won’t give away the ending, as I’m not sure how I feel about the final bit of execution of what is a very inventive bit of story development, but, rest assured, the Soska sisters know how to handle horror, and you should all be satisfied by the end.
Well done, ladies.
My rating: 7.5/10