Tubi Thursday: Rabid (1977)

 Another Cronenberg Film I can check off of the list.

This one feels like a Remake of sorts of Shivers...but bigger and better.

A young woman- Marilyn Chambers- not Burns!- and her boyfriend are injured in a motorcycle crash.

The Doctors- specifically Keloid get experimental with her procedure.

It involves putting her under sedation for a month, which, I can't imagine is good for you.

She experiences a strange side effect.

She has a craving for blood!

The lady attacks another Patient, who then gets amnesia about the event...which is mighty convenient.

Ah, there's the Body Horror I was looking for.

Given that this is 1977 Cronenberg, you only get a taste though.

Do I need to blur this?

She finds her cravings to be hard to resist.

To be fair, she also doesn't try that hard.

She escapes the Hospital- after turning Keloid- and infects people along the way, including a Truck Driver and this poor lady.

See the Shivers comparisons yet?

Marilyn continues to suffer, but also continues to infect.

She's the Typhoid Mary here, as, while she feels pain, the effect on others is far worse.

Dr. Keloid bit off some fingers, but while two Construction Workers use a jackhammer to break through a car door for some blood.

Marilyn's lady friend lets her stay and soon runs afoul of an infected on the Subway.
See the next Review for yet another Subway Scene.

As the WHO calls this a Pandemic, makes people get Rabies-like shots and carry Vaccine Cards (pretty sneaky, David!), Marilyn finally realizes how far she's fallen.

Her boyfriend- not infected- sees her in mid-kill of her friend.

As things aren't getting better- even though it is Christmastime!- she makes a sad, desperate move.

She infects a guy and says that she will prove that she's not the Typhoid Mary.

It ends...poorly.
The End.

Wow, this one is rough...but also quite good.

I thought that Shivers had potential.  It just didn't quite go anywhere, especially limited by its locked off location.

In many ways, this is the Dawn of the Dead to that Film's Night of the Living Dead.

For better or worse, this is the big-time update of that Film.
That and having Chambers here is a big upgrade.

This one has her loose in Montreal and she targets lots of people.

Does she somehow not realize what she's doing?  Weird, no.

If you let the Film build up and deliver, it is a good one.  You get a clear example of the freaky stuff that Cronenberg (and his kin now) were going to share with the World.

Plus, it is a Film in pristine(ish) HD with Marilyn Chambers, so...what was I just talking about?

A freaky Film that takes a bit of time to get going.  Once it gets going, you get some freaky Cronenberg stuff!