Rabid

Director - Jen Soska (Dead Hooker in a Trunk, See No Evil 2), and Sylvia Soska (American Mary, ABCs of Death 2)
Starring - Laura Vandervoort (Jigsaw, Bitten), Benjamin Hollingsworth (A Flesh Offering, Once Upon a Time), and Ted Atherton (V-Wars, Max Payne)
Release Date - 2019
Genre - Horror
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I'm curious to see how well some of you take this review.  In the past I've been accused of being sexist in several horror groups because I'm not a fan of the Soska Sisters.  I've seen most of their work going all the way back to their Vomit Gore days and I'm not a fan.  Gender has nothing to do with this.  I'm a fan of several female directors and I judge the film not those responsible for it.  Hell, in many cases I never know who is involved with a project until after seeing it.  Regardless, when I heard that Cronenberg's classic was getting a remake I was all for it.  I'm a huge fan of Cronenberg and I absolutely love most remakes so I was excited for it regardless of who directed it.  Thank you Shout Studios for sending this one my way.  

     The film follows an aspiring fashion designer who is often mocked by her peers.  After a horrible biking accident she is left horribly disfigured and marks herself as a monster.  After some time she is taken to an experimental research facility to try and reconstruct her face using stim cells.  The procedure works perfectly but something is wrong.  Rose starts to crave blood and starts hallucinating that she is killing people.  After some time she pays the doctor a visit and quickly discovers that she is just a pawn in his bigger game using stim cells to create immortality.

     I had high hopes for this one.  I really enjoy the original film and the Soskas have a lot at their disposal to get this film where it needed to be but it just couldn't make it there.  The movie had some cool moments but at the end of the day it was forgettable and another example of Wal-Mart horror which is painfully mediocre.  The acting in this one is very inconsistent.  I really liked the lead.  Laura Vandervoort  does a fantastic job going from everyone's doormat to the center of attention.  Then she delivers an intense performance with her feverish scenes that really made the character worth watching.  Sadly, the supporting cast is not the same.  Some of the cast delivers a solid performance while others are extremely flat.  In some cases it looks like the name was cast and not the talent.  The story for this one takes a lot of the elements from the original film but is unable to put it together into something new and fun.  In fact, the original film mixed body horror with infected (zombies) where this one felt like a zombie flick post 2010.  This film just feels like a rushed zombie flick that you can get for a dime a dozen that reminded me a lot of the most recent Day of the Dead film.  The film did deliver some unintentional laughs in way of the infected growling and snarling.  It was so goofy and I couldn't help but laugh pretty fucking hard when I heard them.  I, for the life of me, can't see how anyone thought that was a good idea.  Finally, the film doesn't care to cover the viewer in blood.  We get so much blood and some solid practical effects.  The ending of the film and the effects during this scene is the highlight of the film.  Fans of traditional effects will truly appreciate this.  Overall, Rabid wasn't for me.  The film took a lot of the story from the original but was unable to deliver an effective adaption of it.  If you dig the Soskas you may enjoy this one but the film just fell flat for me.  Skip it.