'Rabid' (2019)

I'd seen trailers for 'Rabid', on Youtube, and promised myself that I'd give it a go if and when I got the chance. Well, the chance finally came a couple of days ago when I had a little store credit in CEX and the DVD was right in front of me on the shelf. I picked it up as I'd just had my year end review, for work, and needed something to take my mind off it (the review went fine as it happens, I just needed to put a little space between it and me, you know how it is).

For what it's worth, I've never seen the David Cronenberg original (although it's free on Prime so that will change soon), the only Cronenberg film that I've ever seen is 'Videodrome' (which was fun but really weird, I didn't get it at all...) so if you're looking for a comparison piece, this won't be your final stop for that. Nope, what I'm all about here is what kind of a film 'Rabid' is in its own right. The short answer is, not a bad film at all. I think there may well even be an excellent film hidden in 'Rabid', you're going to have to do a lot of digging to get to it though...

An aspiring fashion designer undergoes a radical untested stem-cell treatment after being disfigured in an accident. Although the procedure transforms her into a ravishing beauty, the lasting side effects leave her with an uncontrollable taste for blood, resulting in several torrid encounters and a trail of infected victims. As the illness mutates and the contagion spreads out of control, the infected rampage through the city in a violent and gruesome killing spree.

When 'Rabid' settles on what it wants to be, it is really good and I mean really good. A brilliant mix of gore and unsettling tension. You want shocks? 'Rabid' will make you jump and then look over your shoulder, sheepishly, to see if anyone saw you. You want gore? You are literally watching a movie about rabid humans attacking whatever is in front of them and biting it. 'Rabid' is brilliant for that and really doesn't pull any punches in its delivery. When it's on song, 'Rabid' is a vicious little slice of gore with a dark energy that makes the plot fly along.

The big problem is that there are a lot other things in the plot that all want their time in the spotlight and there's not enough room to do it all justice. Everything gets it's moment but it's literally only a moment. 'Rabid' has some interesting things to say about the fashion industry but there's not enough time for us to really open up and listen.'Rabid' also felt like it had something to say about empowering women in the face of a really shitty world (Rose gets a lot of chances to take revenge for how she has been treated in a male dominated world) but again, there's no time to run with that concept and see where it takes us. It gets to the point where the detail in the ending is glossed over and that's not how you want a movie to go about its buiness. Even the 'rabies' outbreak itself is glossed over and resolved offscreen and that just feels criminal when you're half expecting to spend some time with an apocalyptic rabies outbreak in the city. Where were the screaming hordes? I want my rabid screaming hordes dammit! The other negative point is that the actors don't really have much time to develop their characters because the film has so much else that it wants to get done.and that's not cool, especially when you're Laura Vendervoort and you've clearly agot a lot more that you want to give to this movie.

It's a shame because it could have been an excellent movie with a little more balance between these elements. 'Rabid' certainly gave me what I wanted when I watched it.

'Rabid' then is a lot of fun but it just feels like there is a well of untapped potential sat directly benath it that no-one has to sought to tap as the film neeeds to do three or more thing things first. It was entertaining though and it has me keen to finally track a copy of the original 'Rabid' to see how that one panned out in the end (I'm hoping for better things from the original to be honest).

Not an awful film then but if you do end up watching it, give it a week (after watching) and then see how much you can remember about it...

P.S. Wrath James White's novel, 'Voracious' does all of this a lot better. It's difficult to track down but worth finding a copy if you can...