Rabid 4K 1977

An epidemic is, in essence, one of the greatest fears of our time. Of course, an epidemic that is transmitted by airborne droplets is more frightening, and its portrayal on screen requires a more subtle approach, but the zombie style is quite cinematic and visually appealing for horror films.

So Cronenberg, continuing and quoting his “Crimps,” slightly reducing the eroticism, but instead inviting the rather successful porn actress Marilyn Chambers to play the title role, shoots his “Rabid.”

And although the film can easily be placed alongside the works of George Romero, or, say, 28 Days Later, which in some moments references The Brood, Cronenberg's film is qualitatively different from the others in its angle of presentation.

The story does not focus on the private struggle of a group of people surrounded by danger, nor on the consequences of the epidemic, but rather on its methodical and gradual development, the emergence of the “virus,” its initial transmission, and then its spread.

Instead of a personal zombie horror film, we have a social horror film with references to religion and Freudianism, with a number of technical problems, but with an extraordinary atmosphere of inner fear, a unique story structure, and Cronenberg's philosophy of body horror.