This film will no longer be available in Subscription from 30 March

Rabid 15 rating

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.

Horror 1976 91 mins

Director: David Cronenberg

CC

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.

Accessibility