Rabid [1977]

Country of Origin: Canada
Year of Production: 1977
Running Times: 91 mins
Format: Eastmancolor 35mm
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Cinema Entertainment Enterprises Ltd / Cinépix / Famous Players Film Company / The Canadian Film Development Corporation [CFDC] / The Dilbar Syndicate
Executive Producers: André Link, Ivan Reitman
Producer: John Dunning
Co-Producer: Don Carmody
Associate Producer: Danny Goldberg
Production Manager: Don Carmody
Assistant Production Manager: Sarah Dundas

SCRIPT
Script: David Cronenberg

DIRECTION
Director: David Cronenberg
2nd Unit Director: Jean LaFleur
1st Assistant Director: John Fretz
2nd Assistant Director: Phil Desjardins

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: René Verzier
1st Assistant Camera: Denis Gingras
2nd Assistant Camera: Jean-Jacques Gervais
2nd Unit Camera Operator: Louis D'Ernstead
Gaffer: John Berrie
Best Boy Electric: Jean-Paul Houle
Key Grip: John Daoust
Grip: Marc D'Ernstead
Best Boy Grip: André Ouellette
Stills: Joel Sussman

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Jean LaFleur
Assistant Editor: Debbie Karjala

MUSIC
Music: Howard Shore
Music Supervisor: Ivan Reitman

SOUND
Sound Supervisor: Danny Goldberg
Sound Recordist: Richard Lightstone
Boom Operator: Jim Thompson
Re-Recording Mixer: Joe Grimaldi
Assistant Sound Editor: Patrick Dodd
Post-Sync Recording: Austin Grimaldi
Sound Assistant: Len Blum

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Supervisor: Mireille Recton
2nd Unit Make Up: Sharron Wall
Assistant Make Up: Heather Allan
Wardrobe Supervisor: Erla Gliserman
Wardrobe Assistant: Carolynne Roberts

SPECIAL MAKE UP EFFECTS
Special Make Up Design: Joe Blasco
Special Make Up: Byrd Holland
Special Make Up Effects Assistant: Kathy Flynn
Sculptor Lab Work: Mike Bacarella [uncredited]

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Al Griswold
Special Effects Assistant: Joe Elzner

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Claude Marchand
Property Master: Jean Lavigne
Property Assistant: Andrew Deskin
Set Constructor: Roméo Turcotte

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Tanya Mahilloff
Production Assistants: Tricia Cahill, Caroline Zeifman, Jacqueline Carmody, John Caradonna, Norma Bailey
Wrangler: Claude Moreau

LOCATIONS
Locations: Montréal, Québec, Canada

CASTING
Casting: Sharron Wall

CAST
Marilyn Chambers [Rose]
Frank Moore [Hart Read]
Joe Silver [Murray Cypher]
Howard Ryshpan [Dr Dan Keloid]
Patricia Gage [Dr Roxanne Keloid]
Susan Roman [Mindy Kent]
Roger Periard [Lloyd Walsh]
Lynne Deragon [Nurse Louise]
Terry Schonblum [Judy Glasberg]
Victor Désy [Claude LaPointe]
Julie Anna [Nurse Rita]
Gary McKeehan [Smooth Eddy]
Terence G. Ross [farmer]
Miguel Fernandes [man in cinema]
Robert O'Ree [Police Sergeant]
Greg Van Riel [young man in plaza]
Jérôme Tiberghien [Dr Karl]
Allan Moyle [young man in lobby]
Richard W. Farrell [camper man]
Jeannette Casenave [camper lady]
Karl Wasserman [camper child]
John Boylan [young cop in plaza]
Malcolm Nelthorpe [older cop in plaza]
Vlasta Vrana [cop at clinic]
Kirk McColl [Desk Sergeant]
Jack Messinger [policeman on highway]
Yvon Lecompte [policeman]
Grant Lowe [trucker]
John Gilbert [Dr Royce Gentry]
Tony Angelo [dispatcher]
Peter McNeill [loader]
Una Kay [Jackie]
Madeleine Pageau [Beatrice Owen]
Mark Walker [Steve]
Bob Silverman [man in hospital]
Monique Bélisle [Sheila]
Ronald Mlodzik [male patient]
Isabelle Lajeunesse [waitress]
Terry Donald [cook]
Louis Negin [Maxim]
Robert V. Girolami [newscaster]
Harry Hill [Stasiuk]
Kathy Keefler [interviewer]
Marcel Fournier [cab driver]
Valda Dalton [lady in car]
Murray Smith [interviewer]
Riva Spier [Cecile]
Denis Lacroix [drunken indian]
Sherman Maness [Indian]
Basil Fitzgibbon [crazy in plaza]

Following a horrific motorcycle accident, Rose's life is saved by radical plastic surgery. But the procedure has a terrible side-effect – a phallic organ grows in her armpit and she develops a thirst for human blood. She's also carrying a rabies-like disease which she spreads throughout the city while remaining immune to the illness herself. As martial law is declared, Rose comes to realise what she's become...

A rather under-rated Cronenberg offering which takes the ending of his previous Shivers [1975] and expands it, wreaking havoc on an entire city. Porn star Marilyn Chambers is very effective as the tragic Rose, though some of the supporting cast leave a little to be desired. It refines some of Cronenberg's core obsessions and contains some of his most memorably disturbing images.

Australia
Video Distributor: Roadshow Home Video

Canada
Theatrical Distributor: Cinépix Film Properties Inc

USA
Theatrical Distributors: Viacom; New World Pictures
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: R

Finland
Rating: K-18

France
Rating: -16

Ireland
Rating: 18

Norway
Rating: 18

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: R

West Germany
Rating: 18

1977
Catalonian International Film Festival, Sitges, Spain
Medalla Sitges en Plata de Ley Best Screenplay [David Cronenberg] - winner
Best Special Effects [Al Griswold] - winner

1976
November
1: Canada – filming begins

December
5: Canada – filming ends

1977
April
8: Canada, USA – theatrical release

August
3: France – theatrical release

December
9: Denmark – theatrical release

1978
October
16: Sweden – theatrical release

November
26: Finland – theatrical release

Pray it doesn't happen to you.

You can't trust your mother, your best friend, your next door neighbour...

One minute they're perfectly normal THE NEXT...

Coma Profundo – Portugese title
Rabid - Der brüllende Tod – German title
Rabid, sete di sangue – Italian title
Rage – French / US title
Überfall der teuflischen Bestien – German title
Verenimijät – Finnish title

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
The American Nightmare [2000]
Long Live the New Flesh: The Films of David Cronenberg [1987]
Naked Making Lunch [1992]

NEWSPAPERS

A Capital, Guia TV 27 July 1990 [Portugal]
Review [Roberto Do Vale]

KEYWORDS

doctors, martial law, medicine, military, motorcycles, motorcycle crashes, rabies, scientists, surgery, traffic accidents, vampires

Last Updated: 6 March, 2007