Rabid (2019)
An experimental reconstructive medical procedure turns a woman into the differently-symptomatic vampiric carrier of a rabies-like disease in this adaptation/update of David Cronenberg’s cult classic.
Jen and Sylvia Soska's film spends a lot more screen time on its Typhoid Mary, (she’s initially presented as a vegetarian, her transformation becoming even more ‘ironic’ for it,) the fashion industry where she works, and the procedure she undergoes after a second accident, (the movie starts with the main character already orphaned and scarred from a previous vehicular collision.)
The twin directors also include too many overt references to Cronenberg and his other works, (Shivers, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, etc.) including direct references to William S. Burroughs (i.e. a character name and that of his institution whose nature is immediately revealed as not on the up-and-up,) and even a diegetic recording of Burroughs himself discussing vampirism on the soundtrack.
Instead of immediately switching gears to the epidemical aspect though, the film’s modernized focus here is on the story of a 'worm that turns', rebelling against overtly toxic or predatory males and industries, (fashion, daytime television,) that could potentially (or should) have been female empowering, but are ultimately revealed as exploitative.
A hallucinatory element is introduced, (with the character waking up in bed the next day, unsure of the previous night’s depredations,) so even though we are conscious that attacks are happening, we don’t know just how much of what we see is real, (more astute viewers will immediately catch on, even to a small bit of misdirection, however.)
We do eventually get to the George Romero-esque aspects, and of course they are energetic, violent, and quite graphic – more werewolfish (at least for a time,) than zombie-like.
An initial needle-like sublingual organ resembles something I've encountered in short-story literature, but the film's later visuals deviate from Cronenberg's subtle but obvious phallic/vaginal imagery and devolve into Welcome Home Brother Charles' outrageousness.
There is much too much expository dialogue explaining what we already are witnessing onscreen, (after all these zombie films and TV shows I doubt even those unfamiliar with Cronenberg’s film require it.) The result is a perfectly valid, but also clearly a much more mainstream or commercial, spoon-fed and directed effort than the original.
I probably don't even need to point out (other than for future reference) that the directors directly address the concurrent COVID pandemic and its responses; they are however a lot more interested in skewering real-world fashion (or the night-club scene) trends of the last few decades and fictitious mad science rather than address any medical or science research reality.
With Laura Vandervoort, Ben Hollingsworth, and Phil Brooks.
Like its 1977 inspiration, this also happens to be a Christmas movie.
Check it out.
An experimental reconstructive medical procedure turns a woman into the differently-symptomatic vampiric carrier of a rabies-like disease in this adaptation/update of David Cronenberg’s cult classic.
Jen and Sylvia Soska's film spends a lot more screen time on its Typhoid Mary, (she’s initially presented as a vegetarian, her transformation becoming even more ‘ironic’ for it,) the fashion industry where she works, and the procedure she undergoes after a second accident, (the movie starts with the main character already orphaned and scarred from a previous vehicular collision.)
The twin directors also include too many overt references to Cronenberg and his other works, (Shivers, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Naked Lunch, etc.) including direct references to William S. Burroughs (i.e. a character name and that of his institution whose nature is immediately revealed as not on the up-and-up,) and even a diegetic recording of Burroughs himself discussing vampirism on the soundtrack.
Instead of immediately switching gears to the epidemical aspect though, the film’s modernized focus here is on the story of a 'worm that turns', rebelling against overtly toxic or predatory males and industries, (fashion, daytime television,) that could potentially (or should) have been female empowering, but are ultimately revealed as exploitative.
A hallucinatory element is introduced, (with the character waking up in bed the next day, unsure of the previous night’s depredations,) so even though we are conscious that attacks are happening, we don’t know just how much of what we see is real, (more astute viewers will immediately catch on, even to a small bit of misdirection, however.)
We do eventually get to the George Romero-esque aspects, and of course they are energetic, violent, and quite graphic – more werewolfish (at least for a time,) than zombie-like.
An initial needle-like sublingual organ resembles something I've encountered in short-story literature, but the film's later visuals deviate from Cronenberg's subtle but obvious phallic/vaginal imagery and devolve into Welcome Home Brother Charles' outrageousness.
There is much too much expository dialogue explaining what we already are witnessing onscreen, (after all these zombie films and TV shows I doubt even those unfamiliar with Cronenberg’s film require it.) The result is a perfectly valid, but also clearly a much more mainstream or commercial, spoon-fed and directed effort than the original.
I probably don't even need to point out (other than for future reference) that the directors directly address the concurrent COVID pandemic and its responses; they are however a lot more interested in skewering real-world fashion (or the night-club scene) trends of the last few decades and fictitious mad science rather than address any medical or science research reality.
With Laura Vandervoort, Ben Hollingsworth, and Phil Brooks.
Like its 1977 inspiration, this also happens to be a Christmas movie.
Check it out.
statistics: Posted by hermanthegerm — 4:04 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 0 — Views 219