# Rabid (1977 film)

Rabid is a 1977 independent body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg. An international co-production of Canada and the United States, the film stars Marilyn Chambers in the lead role, supported by Frank Moore, Joe Silver, and Howard Ryshpan. Chambers plays a woman who, after being injured in a motorcycle accident and undergoing a surgical operation, develops an orifice under one of her armpits that hides a phallic/clitoral stinger she uses to feed on people's blood. Those she bites become infected, and then feed upon others, spreading the disease exponentially. The result is massive chaos, starting in the Quebec countryside, and ending up in Montreal. Rabid made $1 million in Canada, making it one of the highest-grossing Canadian films of all time. A remake of the same name, directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska, was released in 2019.

## Plot

Rose Miller and her boyfriend, Hart Reed, are involved in a motorcycle accident in the Quebec countryside after encountering a van in the middle of the road. Hart suffers a broken hand, a separated shoulder and a concussion, while Rose is severely injured and burned. They are taken to the Keloid Clinic for Plastic Surgery, where Dr. Dan Keloid performs an experimental procedure on Rose, using morphogenetically neutral grafts to replace her damaged skin and organs. Hart is released after a month, but Rose remains in a coma.
Rose suddenly awakens one night screaming and pierces fellow patient Lloyd Walsh's skin. The doctors are puzzled as Lloyd has no memory of the incident and his blood fails to clot. Unknown to them, Rose's procedure has caused her to mutate, allowing her to survive only on human blood. A red stinger-like organ emerges under her armpit, which she uses to feed on her victims. One night, Rose leaves the clinic and attempts to feed on a cow but becomes sick. A farmer attacks her, but she retaliates by feeding on him and then calls Hart to pick her up. The next day, the farmer transforms into a zombie-like creature and attacks a waitress at a roadside diner. Meanwhile, Lloyd leaves the clinic but, during a taxi ride, begins foaming at the mouth and attacks the driver, resulting in a fatal crash.
At the clinic, Dr. Keloid becomes infected by Rose's stinger, causing chaos as he attacks a nurse during an operation. Rose escapes and hitchhikes to Montreal, where she infects a truck driver. Hart, along with Dr. Keloid's business partner Murray Cypher, teams up with police chief Claude LePointe and public health officials to discuss the escalating epidemic. Hart witnesses an infected police officer before the officer is shot. He calls Rose's friend, Mindy, and asks her to keep Rose at her apartment if she shows up. Rose arrives in Montreal and stays with Mindy. While Mindy watches a news broadcast about a rabies-like epidemic spreading in the city, Rose goes to an adult movie theater and infects a patron. Later, Mindy encounters an infected woman attacking passengers on the subway. Meanwhile, LePointe and his team are attacked by infected workmen. With the outbreak worsening and rabies treatments failing, Dr. Royce Gentry advises a shoot-to-kill policy to prevent further infections. Martial law is declared and the Canadian Army sets up roadblocks, while NBC-suited soldiers help dispose of bodies.
Murray and Hart arrive at Murray's home, where Murray finds his baby dead and is attacked by his infected wife. Hart drives into the abandoned city to search for Rose. An infected person jumps onto his car but is shot by soldiers, who disinfect Hart's vehicle before allowing him to continue. Mindy watches a news report indicating the infection may have originated at the Keloid Clinic. Rose returns to Mindy's apartment and feeds on her. Hart finds Rose in the act and pleads with her to seek treatment, but she denies responsibility for the epidemic. Rose infects a man in the apartment lobby and locks herself in a room with him, planning to test whether he becomes infected. As Hart desperately tries to convince her to leave, the man turns rabid and attacks Rose. The next morning, Rose's body is found in an alley by NBC-suited soldiers, who dispose of her corpse in a garbage truck.

## Cast

* Marilyn Chambers as Rose Miller
* Frank Moore as Hart Read
* Joe Silver as Murray Cypher
* Howard Ryshpan as Dan Keloid
* Patricia Gage as Roxanne Keloid
* Susan Roman as Mindy Kent
* J. Roger Periard as Lloyd Walsh
* Lynne Deragon as Nurse Louise
* Terry Schonblum as Judy Glasberg
* Victor Désy as Claude LaPointe
* Julie Anna as Nurse Rita
* Gary McKeehan as Smooth Eddy
* Terence G. Ross as the Farmer
* Allan Moyle as the young man in the lobby
* John Boylan as the young cop in the plaza
* Vlasta Vrana as the cop at the clinic
* Peter MacNeill as the loader
* Louis Negin as Maxim

## Production

Cinépix requested another film from David Cronenberg following the success of Shivers. Criticism from Robert Fulford about the Canadian Film Development Corporation's funding of Shivers made it more difficult for Cronenberg to gain funding for his films. The CFDC funded the film through cross-collateralization with Convoy, which was never completed, to avoid a direct connection.
Initially titled Mosquitoes Cronenberg had difficulty writing the script due to the broader nature of the film's city setting compared to Shivers which took place in one apartment complex. At one point he told John Dunning that "John, I just woke up this morning and realized this is nuts. Do you know what this movie's about? This woman grows a cock thing in her armpit and sucks people's blood through it. It's ridiculous! I can't do this. It's not going to work".
The film was shot from 1 November to 5 December 1976, on a budget of $530,000 (equivalent to $2,677,267 in 2023), with $200,000 coming from the CFDC. According to Cronenberg, at the time, the only CFDC films that had turned a profit were the two that he had made for the corporation, Shivers and Crimes of the Future. Cronenberg's editing decisions to tighten and reduce the film's runtime produced criticism such as his removal of a scene, which he regretted cutting, explaining the development of the armpit orifice.
Cronenberg wanted Sissy Spacek to play the lead character after seeing her performance in Badlands. However, Dunning rejected her citing her freckles and her Texan accent. Marilyn Chambers was suggested by Ivan Reitman. Reitman heard that Chambers was looking for a mainstream role and had existing name recognition. Cronenberg agreed to cast her, even though he had not seen her best-known movie, Behind the Green Door. Cronenberg would later say that he had been impressed by Chambers and her work ethic during the filming of Rabid. Spacek would star in the hit film Carrie; Cronenberg included a poster for that movie in the background of a scene in Rabid.

## Release

The film was distributed by Cinépix in Canada and released on 8 April 1977, in Montreal. It was released theatrically in the United States by New World Pictures in 1977. Rabid and Shivers were re-released as a double feature in Paris in December 1994.

### Box office

Rabid grossed $100,000 in the first ten days after opening in Montreal. The film was one of the highest-grossing Canadian films of all time, making $1 million in Canada.

### Critical reception

Variety called Rabid "an extremely violent, sometimes nauseating, picture". Les Wedman of the Vancouver Sun described the movie's story as "dreadful" and criticized the film for "relying heavily on shocking special effects" as opposed to suspense. He opined that, with the exception of Joe Silver, "there isn't a decent performance in the movie." Martin Malina, who reviewed the film alongside similar films Demon Seed and Audrey Rose in the same column of the Montreal Star, said that it "has some genuinely frightening moments but they are few, and the story progresses in fits and starts. The dialogue is witless, the exposition awkward, and the film spends far too much time travelling in cars between one gory scene and another.". Clyde Gilmour of The Toronto Star noted of the film's box office success, but stated that he was "not sure what this proves, except possibly that Canadians, when they really try, can make nauseating movies as efficiently as Americans."
Conversely, Time Out called the film "far better staged" than Shivers, and concluded, "None of the other recent apocalypse movies has shown so much political or cinematic sophistication."
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 78% of 27 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.3/10.

## Home media

Warner Home Video released Rabid on VHS in 1983. In 2000, it was released on DVD by New Concorde Home Entertainment. E1 Entertainment put out a Special Edition DVD in 2004. The film was rereleased on DVD and Blu-ray for Region B by Arrow Video on February 16, 2015. Scream Factory released the movie on Blu-ray on November 22, 2016.

## Remake

A remake of the film, directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska and starring Laura Vandervoort as Rose, was released on December 13, 2019.

## Related works

A novelization by Richard Lewis was published in 1978. Faber and Faber released the screenplay in 2002 in a collection of the scripts for Cronenberg's first four feature films.