Rabid

David Cronenberg’s classic outbreak horror introduces us to a young woman (Marilyn Chambers) who hungers for human blood after an experimental plastic surgery goes wrong.

David Cronenberg’s preoccupation with the notion of 'body horror' is developed further in this early cult favourite from the acclaimed filmmaker. After a motorcycle crash, Rose (Marilyn Chambers) receives some experimental plastic surgery with the unfortunate side effect that she awakens with a hunger for human blood. Her bloodlust kickstarts a terrifying epidemic, as each person she infects transforms into a crazed, homicidal zombie. Things quickly spiral out of control - with gruesome consequences. Continuing the body-horror trajectory Cronenberg initiated in his earlier Shivers (1975) , Rabid is both a horrifying allegory and a frenzied thrill-ride.

An important example of cult Canadian cinema as much as an auteur-driven genre film, Rabid finds Cronenberg developing his ideas around horrors that come from within, and is prime example of the director's signature fusion of decay, dread, and terror.