Rabid (18.)
Directed by David Cronenberg.
Starring Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver and Howard Ryshpan. Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Video. 91 mins.
At the end of his first film Shivers, after a parasite has turned the occupants of a remote high rise into sex crazed zombies, the homicidal hordes escaped in their cars into the greater Montreal area. His second isn't a sequel, but it is certainly a thematic continuation.
This time though the nature of the menace is slightly amended. After a motorbike accident Rose (Chambers) is rushed to the nearby Keloid Clinic where Dr Keloid is experimenting with new skin graft techniques. For no particular reason the techniques used on Rose results in her developing a little anus under her armpit from which, during periods of arousal, a spiked phallus emerges and pierces the nearest human flesh and turns the recipient into a frenzied killer. I mean, what are the chances of that happening? That Cronenberg sure got lucky with his medical mutations in his early films – first a parasite that doesn't just turn its hosts into killers, but sex mad killers as well, and then this. I feel his luck rather run up with his next horror film Brood, where it was just killer children.
The set up may be a nonsense but the film is a sober, relatively serious study of the remorseless spread of the infection and the speed with which society crumbles. Though the budget wasn't that much larger than Shivers, it is a far bigger film, tracking the plague from its remote country source as it moves via cars and trucks towards the nearest metropolitan area.
Physical and/or social decay, documented with cold detachment, is the Cronenberg default narrative but he doesn't quite pull it off here. He can't keep track of the scope of the story so we are never wholly sure what the situation is in the wider society. At one point it seems like martial law has been imposed and then later everybody seems to be carrying on as normal, oblivious to the problem. That underarm killer penis attachment is just too underhand a menace and the rules to its deployment or the condition it is spreading, are left hazy. The Incubation period varies due to narrative necessities.
But the film definitely has its merits. Porn star Marilyn Chambers (Behind The Green Door) is rather good in the lead role, flitting believably between innocent and wanton and it has two indelibly images, both concerning the disposal of young female corpses. One appears on the poster and the other is the film's final image which is both casual and callous and yet genuinely affecting.
After this film Cronenberg's career was at a crossroads and he made two films reflecting two different passions. One was Fast Company, a drag racing movie reflecting his status as a petrol head and the other was horror The Brood. The two contrasting sides of David Cronenberg – part Jeremy Clarkson, part Josef Mengele. Fast Company flopped, The Brood didn't and the master of body horror was established.
Extras.
Whatever you think of the films, Arrow Films really knock you out with the extras which are extensive. Around two hours of stuff plus two feature length commentaries. As with other discs of early Cronenberg films the extras are as interested in exploring the world of Canadian film making at the time as the film themselves.
2 Documentaries:
The Directors: David Cronenberg is an hour long edition of a TV series devoted to Cronenberg, made post eXistenZ when he was preparing Spider. (The exact point when he stopped being interesting in my opinion though History of Violence fans would dispute that.) It's a basic set up, working chronologically through his career, each film covered with some clips and some interviews.
The Lacerating Legacy of Cineplex.
A very entertaining 15 minutes piece about the film company that made his early features. Basically this is Canadian reviewer Kier-La Janisse talking us through their history and some of their more infamous releases. The always entertaining make up artist Joe Blasco appears to talk about himself and how he had never seen a script for Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS and what happened when he brought some clients to watch his make up work at a screening of the concentration camp exploitation film.
Two Commentaries.
One by Cronenberg himself and one by film academic William Beard who wrote a book on Cronenberg.
4 Interviews.
The longest is with the director (20 minutes) and the shortest is with make up artist Blasco (3 mins.) My favourite is with Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman who was a producer on the film and is interviewed in front of a poster of Bill Murray in Stripes. The best line though is Tabasco’s describing his work creating the distinctive skin graft on Rabid; “So, you got this penile-like situation coming out of Marilyn Chambers' armpit.”
There also a booklet featuring an article by Kier-La Janisse, an extract from the book Cronenberg on Cronenberg and an interview with Marilyn Chambers.
Review of Maps to the Stars
Cosmopolis
A dangerous Method
Antiviral
Directed by David Cronenberg.
Starring Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver and Howard Ryshpan. Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Video. 91 mins.
At the end of his first film Shivers, after a parasite has turned the occupants of a remote high rise into sex crazed zombies, the homicidal hordes escaped in their cars into the greater Montreal area. His second isn't a sequel, but it is certainly a thematic continuation.
This time though the nature of the menace is slightly amended. After a motorbike accident Rose (Chambers) is rushed to the nearby Keloid Clinic where Dr Keloid is experimenting with new skin graft techniques. For no particular reason the techniques used on Rose results in her developing a little anus under her armpit from which, during periods of arousal, a spiked phallus emerges and pierces the nearest human flesh and turns the recipient into a frenzied killer. I mean, what are the chances of that happening? That Cronenberg sure got lucky with his medical mutations in his early films – first a parasite that doesn't just turn its hosts into killers, but sex mad killers as well, and then this. I feel his luck rather run up with his next horror film Brood, where it was just killer children.
The set up may be a nonsense but the film is a sober, relatively serious study of the remorseless spread of the infection and the speed with which society crumbles. Though the budget wasn't that much larger than Shivers, it is a far bigger film, tracking the plague from its remote country source as it moves via cars and trucks towards the nearest metropolitan area.
Physical and/or social decay, documented with cold detachment, is the Cronenberg default narrative but he doesn't quite pull it off here. He can't keep track of the scope of the story so we are never wholly sure what the situation is in the wider society. At one point it seems like martial law has been imposed and then later everybody seems to be carrying on as normal, oblivious to the problem. That underarm killer penis attachment is just too underhand a menace and the rules to its deployment or the condition it is spreading, are left hazy. The Incubation period varies due to narrative necessities.
But the film definitely has its merits. Porn star Marilyn Chambers (Behind The Green Door) is rather good in the lead role, flitting believably between innocent and wanton and it has two indelibly images, both concerning the disposal of young female corpses. One appears on the poster and the other is the film's final image which is both casual and callous and yet genuinely affecting.
After this film Cronenberg's career was at a crossroads and he made two films reflecting two different passions. One was Fast Company, a drag racing movie reflecting his status as a petrol head and the other was horror The Brood. The two contrasting sides of David Cronenberg – part Jeremy Clarkson, part Josef Mengele. Fast Company flopped, The Brood didn't and the master of body horror was established.
Extras.
Whatever you think of the films, Arrow Films really knock you out with the extras which are extensive. Around two hours of stuff plus two feature length commentaries. As with other discs of early Cronenberg films the extras are as interested in exploring the world of Canadian film making at the time as the film themselves.
2 Documentaries:
The Directors: David Cronenberg is an hour long edition of a TV series devoted to Cronenberg, made post eXistenZ when he was preparing Spider. (The exact point when he stopped being interesting in my opinion though History of Violence fans would dispute that.) It's a basic set up, working chronologically through his career, each film covered with some clips and some interviews.
The Lacerating Legacy of Cineplex.
A very entertaining 15 minutes piece about the film company that made his early features. Basically this is Canadian reviewer Kier-La Janisse talking us through their history and some of their more infamous releases. The always entertaining make up artist Joe Blasco appears to talk about himself and how he had never seen a script for Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS and what happened when he brought some clients to watch his make up work at a screening of the concentration camp exploitation film.
Two Commentaries.
One by Cronenberg himself and one by film academic William Beard who wrote a book on Cronenberg.
4 Interviews.
The longest is with the director (20 minutes) and the shortest is with make up artist Blasco (3 mins.) My favourite is with Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman who was a producer on the film and is interviewed in front of a poster of Bill Murray in Stripes. The best line though is Tabasco’s describing his work creating the distinctive skin graft on Rabid; “So, you got this penile-like situation coming out of Marilyn Chambers' armpit.”
There also a booklet featuring an article by Kier-La Janisse, an extract from the book Cronenberg on Cronenberg and an interview with Marilyn Chambers.
Review of Maps to the Stars
Cosmopolis
A dangerous Method
Antiviral