Kalevet

Rabies

Israel 2010
produced by
Tami Leon, Chilik Michaeli, Avraham Pirchi, Julia Schifter for United Channel Movies
directed by Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado
starring Lior Ashkenazi, Danny Geva, Ania Bukstein, Menashe Noy, Ran Danker, Henry David, Ofer Shechter, Liat Harlev, Yael Grobglas, Efrat Boimold, Yaron Motola
written by Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado, music by Haim Frank Ilfman, visual effects by Dani Cohen, Guy Raz

review by
Mike Haberfelner

There is a maniac (Yaron Motola) loose in the woods, and he has trapped teenage runaway Tali (Liat Harlev) in a cage and lured her brother/lover Ofer (Henry David) into a beartrap. The maniac is everything but terribly effective though, so when a short time later he is shot with a tranquilizer gun by a forest ranger (Menashe Noy) a short time later, he can't do much more than drag himself off to safety and sleep it off.

But that's only the beginning of the story, because Ofer manages to free himself from the beartrap - only to get run over by a quartet of tennis players. More dead than alive, Ofer still manages to get the two male tennis players (Ran Danker, Ofer Schechter) to come with him and save his sister, while the female tennis players (Ania Bukstein, Yael Grobglas) call the cops - but the two cops that do arrive on scene are wannabe rapist and womanhater Yuval (Danny Geva) and his partner Danny (Lior Ashkenazi), who's on the phone most of the time to try and win back his wife who has just left him. The whole situation eventually ends in Yuval being murdered, one of the girls being blown up by a freak landmine, and the other being run over by Danny's car but not before she has shot him multiple times ...

The male tennisplayers meanwhile thought it would be a good idea to engage in mortal combat - with each other -, and Ofer ultimately kills the forest ranger who has just saved Tali, mistaking him for the psychopath, just to then die in a forest fire together with his sister.

And the psychopath, you might ask?

When he has slept it off, he just makes it to the next road to hitch a ride back to town ...

The start of this film is only mildly promising: The typical cast of characters is introduced and thrown into a typical slasher situation. Sure, the dialogue's pretty well-written and funny, but not out of the ordinary. But as soon as the psychopath is out of the picture and the killing starts, the film turns from a run-of-the-mill genre pic into a violent and macabre comedy that seemingly can't stop to twist and turn to nothing short of hilarious results. Add to the great script, a competent cast and a fast paced, atmospheric and suspenseful direction, and you got yourself a pretty good film.

Recommended!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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