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Rabid
David Cronenberg’s classic outbreak horror introduces us to a young woman (Marilyn Chambers) who hungers for human blood after an experimental plastic surgery goes wrong.
Director: David Cronenberg
Overview
David Cronenberg’s preoccupation with the notion of 'body horror' is developed further in this early cult favourite from the acclaimed filmmaker. After a motorcycle crash, Rose (Marilyn Chambers) receives some experimental plastic surgery with the unfortunate side effect that she awakens with a hunger for human blood. Her bloodlust kickstarts a terrifying epidemic, as each person she infects transforms into a crazed, homicidal zombie. Things quickly spiral out of control - with gruesome consequences. Continuing the body-horror trajectory Cronenberg initiated in his earlier Shivers (1975) , Rabid is both a horrifying allegory and a frenzied thrill-ride.
An important example of cult Canadian cinema as much as an auteur-driven genre film, Rabid finds Cronenberg developing his ideas around horrors that come from within, and is prime example of the director's signature fusion of decay, dread, and terror.
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