"Rabid" Review

 

by Daniel White

Any horror film where one of the leading characters is a plastic surgeon named Dr. Keloid is signaling to us straight away that along with the macabre, there will be a healthy dose of humor. David Cronenberg's Rabid (1977) may have the look and feel of a fright flick (indeed, some parts of it are quite gruesome) but in the end, it's a satire. A satire of female sexuality as well as the often vapid misuse of cosmetic surgery. Cronenberg takes potshots at the medical profession in general, and how foolish men -- and women -- can be in their pursuit of p*ssy.

Adult film star Marilyn Chambers competently plays Rose, Rabid's primary source of, well, rabidity. After being seriously injured in a motorcycle accident, Typhoid Marilyn is carted off to the nearest medical facility - a hospital that specializes in plastic surgery. In desperate need of a skin graft, the aforementioned Dr. Keloid experiments on our hapless heroine, performing an untested, questionable procedure, which unfortunately, proves disastrous for Rose, as well as all those unlucky Canucks who cross her path.

Cronenberg wanted Sissy Spacek for the role of Rose but the money men put the kibosh on that interesting choice. Seems the idea of the twangy, freckle-faced Texan playing a gal from the north country had them nervous. They feared she wouldn't be believable. Perhaps they were right, but I also think Cronenberg got off on the idea of pornographic princess Chambers playing a lady who uses her sexuality to spread disease.

The movie is shockingly prescient with its theme of sex being a potential spreader of sickness, coming close to five years before the world had encountered AIDS. Is there a degree of exploitation behind the casting of Chambers in the role? I suspect so. Scenes of a forced lesbian rape, hinted-at bestiality and public sex in an adult movie theater are just three of the indignities Chambers is subjected to.

She is also the only cast member who is required to take off her clothes. I wonder if this kind of behavior would have been expected of Miss Spacek. Our Sissy cozying up to a cow? I highly doubt it.

Cronenberg must have had a mad crush on Spacek - she turns up in movie poster form outside a theater showing her breakout performance in Carrie. Maybe that explains his attitude towards Marilyn Chambers - she was a constant reminder that he failed in his bid to land a truly talented actress, ending up instead with a woman who made a name for herself as the Ivory Soap girl gone bad. Rabid is currently streaming on Tubi.