Popular reviews

• 

  Review by gal pacino ★★★ 3

  cronenberg, mid-1970s: folks, i got a terrifying movie premise for ya: the human body. but with an extra hole :o 
  executives: ugh fine david but just this once, okay?
  cronenberg: yes ... “once” .........

• 

  Review by demi adejuyigbe 7

  one thing i love about cronenberg is that he's really good at setting up a trusted voice/solution in his films and then having them fall prey to whatever virus/monster we're following. one thing i do not love about cronenberg is that he has nobody to tell him to toss the post-it from his idea wall with the words "ravenous elbow pussy" on it

• 

  Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★½ 4

  Well, it seems that the 2020 pandemic was one vampiric armpit pussy away from becoming Cronenberg’s dream vacation. That was close. 😰​

• 

  Review by Branson Reese

  "Did you see Smooth Eddy? He didn't look so good"
  "What are you talking about, Smooth Eddy always looks good"

• 

  Review by matt lynch ★★★½

  A sex-negative apocalypse that's cautionary instead of potentially transformative seems totally uncharacteristic for Cronenberg, and that he robs Marilyn Chambers of much agency other than as a selfish-gene carrier only makes this feel more disorganized. Still, the clinical depiction of the precipice of a body-horror doomsday remains extremely confident, and it seems like every other scene (a newly minted monster confronts an ex-lover, sex as a catalyst for violent change, corporate technological/scientific hubris) contains the kernel of a later Cronenberg film.

• 

  Review by Sean Baker 4

  Must have been a subconscious selection because I wasn't intending to watch a film about a spreading virus right now. But I plucked the Scream Factory Blu-ray release off my shelf and revisited this classic.

  Marilyn Chambers is great. Wish she did more mainstream.

  Scream Factory release is solid as usual.

  - NEW 2K Scan From The Negative At Director David Cronenberg’s Preferred Aspect Ratio (1.66:1)
  - NEW Audio Interview With Author Jill C. Nelson (Golden Goddesses: 25 Legendary Women Of Classic Erotic Cinema, 1968-1985) And Marilyn Chambers' Personal Appearances Manager Ken Leicht
  - NEW Young And Rabid – An Interview With Actress Susan Roman
  - Audio Commentary With Writer/Director David Cronenberg
  - Audio Commentary With William Beard, Author Of…

• 

  Review by Matthew Christman ★★★ 1

  What that arm mouth do?

• 

  Review by thearkofkaark ★★½

  Director David Cronenberg would go on to make many films far superior to Rabid, but as an early example of one of his body horrors it's worth a look.

  Cronenberg cast porn star Marilyn Chambers in the lead role after the studio rejected his first choice of Sissy Spacek (which seems crazy in hindsight given she was on the cusp of her Carrie stardom, a poster for which can be seen at one point in this film), and she gives one of the best performances here. In truth she isn't given much competition, as the majority of the acting on display comes across as amateurish.

  To be fair, the cast don't have much to work with, as the characters are…

• 

  Review by Lou (rhymes with wow!) ★★★½ 6

  I mean.. I would totally let Marilyn Chambers sting me with her phallus-shaped armpit stinger!

• 

  Review by Disgustipated ★★★★ 10

  I actually watched Rabid some time ago but I was reading a chapter about Shivers and Rabid yesterday in Ernest Mathijs' book about Cronenberg and it inspired me.

  So much commentary about Cronenberg is centred on the notion of Body Horror. Mathijs certainly does not neglect it. But he also expounded on a framework that placed Shivers and Rabid in the context of a new revolutionary type of horror film that fundamentally shifted the genre into a new realm of realism and relevance.

  He sketched out a few points and I felt bothered to paraphrase (more or less) for my own interest and thought I may as well share.

  1) People were really starting to dig these new genre films,…

• 

  Review by 𝔏𝕚𝕫𝕫𝕪 ѕαℓ𝔱 🌹 🥀 ★★★★ 8

  What's the deal with me thinking that I am picking shlocky horror films to lighten the mood, but instead the experience leaves me with the feeling that I wish to be discarded into a dumpster and have it torched at dawn?

  It transpired previously with It's Alive. A film about a mutated infant that commits vicious murders when he's enraged? Sweet. I won't get into it, but yeah, it was pretty fucking depressing. And now here we have Rabid, which states "A young woman develops a strange phallic growth on her body and a thirst for human blood". A strange...phallic growth?! Oh my, it sounded like I hit the jackpot for an absurdly enjoyable ride. But once again, I was…

• 

  Review by belial_carboni ★★★½ 2

  After watching a Cronenberg film it's difficult not to watch another. I just loved burying myself in those late 70s Canadian vibes. The familiar scenery, cold climate, Christmas decorations and morbid visuals are just what I crave this time of year.

  Rabid takes what Cronenberg accomplished in Shivers and offers a more structured and polished offering. While not as risky or progressive as Shivers Rabid still delivers a mean spirited and terrifying experience. Infectious arm pit parasites, murderous rabies outbreaks and widespread violence and carnage make this a bleak affair. Especially that ending! Dayum.

  This has never been a top five Cronenberg film for me but I love it just the same. Cronenberg made some of the most viscerally charged films in his early days and there's really nothing else that comes close. A unique style that could never be duplicated.