Rabid, 1977

 

A motorcycle accident outside of a remote plastic surgery center prompts an emergency experimental procedure on an otherwise terminal victim.

Some side effects ensue.

Written and directed by David Cronenberg, (The Fly, Shivers, Naked Lunch, Scanners, Videodrome, et cetera,) so a viewer should go into this knowing not to expect the expected.

So, bike wreck/medical guinea pig, Rose, (played quite capably by former adult film star, Marylin Chambers, BTW,) comes around after a month or so, with a whole new medical issue...

    And need.

In short, Rose craves human blood. Her new, (and experimental,) skin grafts have developed an unusual, um ‘appendage?’ that emergences from a new, well, ‘orifice,’ I guess you’d call it, through which she feeds on her victims.

"Armpit stinger!"

And, her attack is contagious. Those upon whom she has fed become all angry and bite-y, foaming at the mouth and irrational. Very shortly, the whole hospital is full-on bedlam.

So, Rose, packs up and blows the scene, hitting the road, all hitch-hike-y and sampling some of the highway denizens. These human ‘meals-on-wheels,’ once infected with Rose’s armpit venom, become, (wait for it…) RABID! Yeah. She’s making zombies and doesn’t even know it.

Not long after, epic status is reached and the streets of Quebec are under martial law.

This was a tough one, I won’t lie. The premise was just plain weird, but the setting, soundtrack, atmosphere, even the acting! was all pretty decent. It being an older film, (1977) it was obviously influenced by Romero’s work, most noticeably ‘The Crazies.’ (Not bad for source material!)

    Held up the a more objective grading measure, the Zombie Movie Rubric, and Rabid earned  itself 2.22 out of 4 points.  Which is fairly respectable given its bizarre starting point.

Not sure if it earns a ‘hearty’ recommendation, but I’ve seen a lot worse. (Heck! I’ve seen a lot worse this week alone!) 

    And it was good to see Marilyn Chambers with her clothes on.

Still interested? Well, here is the YouTube trailer: RABID, 1977   

And, if you have a little more time on your hands, here is the full-length death, also available on YouTube. RABID, 1977 

Shock Waves, (1977)

       A dilapidated pleasure boat with a few passengers has a collision with a sunken wreck off of an island, deserted except for an old abandoned hotel and its sole occupant - an accented and scarred Peter Cushing.

It isn’t long before some undead S.S. arrive, (NAZI ZOMBIES!!!,) up from the waters to wreak havoc and general unpleasantness as our rapidly-dwindling-in-numbers stranded castaways look for a way off of the island.

As Cushing’s Former S.S. Commander character explains, these ‘undead’ are the result of a Nazi experiment attempting to create perfect, unstoppable soldiers- an experiment that has obviously gone slightly wrong. His division was designed for underwater service, for submarines that would never need to surface. However, before their deployment, the war ended and he scuttled his ship, (the aforementioned sunken wreck,) hoping to entrap his cargo of “Death Corps” among the wreckage. He stayed on the island in a self-imposed exile awaiting the inevitable.

      End synopsis.

      So, first things first: The Nazi Zombies! Silent, emotionless and creepy as hell! The always-worn goggles do a lot to assist with the lack of humanity on their very Aryan look, and the zombie make-up, (done by Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things’ Alan Ormsby,) is subtle and effective.  

      Water is the element of these reanimated antagonists and as such, drowning appears to be their preferred method of dispatching victims. This leads to a fairly bloodless film. Neither a good nor a bad thing, but just another difference Shock Waves has from your average Living Dead film. Whether a fan of such a gore-free movie or not, the Death Corps rising up from the water is right on par with the emergence from the graves scene in Return of the Living Dead, (ALSO directed by Ken Wiederhorn, by the way!!!)  

      Acting is top notch, as one would expect from such horror veterans like John Carradine and Peter Cushing, as well as other seasoned actors, and the story is different and engaging. It is really only in pacing where Shock Waves suffers - and then, really only in the first half. It is very slow to get going. But patience really pays off, as Shock Waves delivers a classic and scary entry into the whole Zombie Horror genre.

      Graded on my Zombie Movie Rubric, Shock Waves walked off with a 3.556 out of a total of 4 points. But check out the YouTube trailer here for yourself:  SHOCK WAVES.

I realize that Nazi Zombies aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. But me? I dug it. I highly recommend this one for fans of that whole sub-genre and of horror flicks in general!

Shock Waves, 1977

Oh, and check out this cool scan of the “Blue Underground” DVD itself. How cool is this!?!

Right!?!