After a horrific motorcycle accident, Rose Miller awakens from a coma in the mysterious Keloid Clinic that specialises in plastic surgery. She now has an insatiable thirst for blood and a ‘stinger’ in her armpit that she uses to ‘feed’ off the blood of other humans. This, in turn, transforms them into rabid zombies.

Rabid is an entry in David Cronenberg’s body of work when he was making exclusively intelligent and thought-provoking Canadian horror films. All of the ingredients are here- the shadowy medical institute, the body horror, the character names that are pure Cronenberg (Dan Keloid, Mindy Kent, Murray Cypher, to name but a few). Croneberg’s films have a certain air or distance that also makes them highly idiosyncratic, and which I absolutely adore. The gross special effects are here also, and as always, they’ve aged beautifully.

I love the fact that the lead character is played by Marilyn Chambers the Ivory Soap girl who years later started acting in porno movies. She’s really fantastic here, as are all of the cast.

Rabid seems to presage the AIDS epidemic by just a few years, which is interesting. I always see Cronenberg as the JG Ballard of horror, as he reports on an issue and makes an intelligent and thought-provoking film out of it. High praise indeed.

4 out of 5 stars