In Camelford, while swinging his van across a narrow road to make a u- turn, a driver stalls the vehicle that does not restart. Hart Read (Frank Moore) is driving his motorcycle with his girlfriend Rose (Marilyn Chambers) and he drives off the road to avoid the collision. Hart suffers minor injuries while Rosie is injured and burned by the flames when the motorcycle explodes. The ambulance from the nearby Keloid Clinic for Plastic Surgery brings the couple and Rose, who is in coma, is submitted to an emergency surgery and to an experimental plastic-surgery technique by Dr. Dan Keloid (Howard Ryshpan) to retrieve her skin in the chest and abdomen. Hart is discharged but Rose stays in coma in the intensive care unit (ICU) to recover. Out of the blue, Rose awakens from her coma one month later and screams. A nurse helps her but is wounded by her and then he cannot remember what has happened to him. He is sent to a hospital in Montreal while Rose realizes that she needs to feed with blood. However her victims become zombie-like creatures. Rose flees from the clinic to Montreal to meet her friend Mindy Kent (Susan Roman) spreading her infection in the big city. Meanwhile Hart is seeking for her.
"Rabid" is a horror film by David Cronenberg that becomes better with time. In the present days, with so many news and unknown worldwide diseases, the idea of an infection that spreads in a geometric progression turning people into zombie-like creatures is totally feasible. Marilyn Chambers, from the cult adult film "Behind the Green Door", surprises with a good performance. The conclusion is deceptive and could be better, maybe due to lack of budget. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Enraivecida na Fúria do Sexo" ("Rabid in the Fury of Sex")
