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Rabid
Canada 2019
produced by Paul Lalonde, John Vidette, Michael Walker, Charlie Dorfman (executive), David Gilbery (executive), Larry Howard (executive), Martin Andrew Lyon (executive), Paul McGowan (executive) for Back 40 Pictures, Twisted Twins Productions, Media Finance Capital
directed by Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska
starring Laura Vandervoort, Hanneke Talbot, Ted Atherton, Benjamin Hollingsworth, Mackenzie Gray, Stephen Huszar, Stephen McHattie, Edie Inksetter, Heidi von Palleske, Tristan Risk, C.M. Punk, Greg Bryk, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, Tara Yelland, Lily Gao, A.J. Mendez, Joel Labelle, Amanda Zhou, Jesse Griffiths, Vanessa Jackson, Ava Close, Diana Diaz, Dion Karas, David Chinchilla, Lucas Meeuse, Phil Borg, Avaah Blackwell, Allison Feliciano, Hillary Daley, Daniel Chichagov, Lynn Lowry (in photographs only)
written by John Serge, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska, based on the film by David Cronenberg, music by Claude Foisy
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Rose (Laura Vandervoort) is a slightly mousey fashion designer working
for eccentric fashion mogul Gunter (Mackenzie Gray), but she's at best
mediocre, and usually the butt-end of everybody's jokes. Her best friend,
model Chelsea (Hanneke Talbot), worries about her and decides to set her
up with good-looking photographer Brad (Benjamin Hollingsworth) behind her
back, but when Chelsea finds out her "date" with Brad has
actually been fabricated, she leaves the scene in a hurry on her moped -
and is run over by a car ... and the accident leaves her face grossly
distorted, to the effect that her mouth is sewn shut to hold the pieces
together. She considers herself a monster, and even Chelsea's assertions
to the contrary can't convince her otherwise - and then she learns about a
new method of restoring skin tissue developed by one Dr. Burroughs (Ted
Atherton) that promises to make her beautiful like never before. Problem
is, the method is still in its experimental stages, is highly
controversial as it is, and might be dangerous - but Rose is ready to try
virtually everything ... and Burroughs' method works better than expected,
it not only makes her look more beautiful than ever, it also boosts her
self confidence, wit and crativity, and just like that, she becomes
Gunter's favourite designer for his forthcoming collection. And hey, she
even starts to have an actual relationship with Brad. But of course, all
of that comes with a price, as at night, Rose goes on the prowl, attacking
and biting those who feel attracted to her, from pompous soap star Dominic
(Stephen Huszar) to misogynist low-life Billy (C.M. Punk). Now that alone
is bad enough, but what's worse is she gives all these people some new
form of rabies, rabies that soon starts to spread at an alarming rate all
through town. Of course, the authorities see it best to hush things up,
but Rose knows something's very wrong - but hasn't time to worry about it
since the presentation of Gunter's new fashion line is imminent, and her
main design is about to close out the show. With rabies spreading in her
circles though, this can only mean one thing - disaster!
One of the few instances of a remake done right, and that's
basically thanks to the Soska sisters: For one, they really and intimately
understand body horror (even if they've not made a body horror film since
the groundbreaking American Mary),
they admittedly adore David Cronenberg but don't even try to ape him or
his 1977 film Rabid, but infuse the
basic story with much of their own predilections and their own dark
humour. And all the same, they don't even attempt to hide the film's a
remake, hiding many a reference to Cronenberg's work as such (including
photos of genre icon Lynn Lowry, star of Cronenberg's Shivers,
posing as pics of Dr. Burroughs deceased wife) in the film while effortly
taking the film its own way. The result is a very well-written and
put-together but above all bizarrely fun shocker that proves the Soskas as
filmmakers in their own right even if they handly a remake, a remake
that's perhaps not "better" than the original but really manages
to stand on his own, also of course thanks to a very solid cast and
fittingly grotesque effects work, especially in the finale. Totally
worth a look!
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