Rabid [DVD] (D)

Cronenberg’s second commercial feature after “Shivers” (1975) further developed the director’s ongoing preoccupations with sexual voraciousness and horrific bodily contamination of endemic proportions. In “Rabid” a seriously injured victim of a motor cycle accident (Marilyn Chambers), develops a rare form of rabies after undergoing experimental skin graft treatment. As a result she grows a phallic spike in her armpit that triggers a ravenous thirst for human blood. Her infected victims soon become rabid themselves, contaminating others until a whole city is consumed with panic as the population is rapidly devastated. Cronenberg’s trademark visceral visual effects are less lurid and more creepy than in “Shivers”, treading the line between shock and parody without descending into farce. Cast includes Frank Moore, Joe Silver, Howard Ryshpan and Patricia Gage.