By Shout! Studios have picked up the U.S. distribution rights to Jen and Sylvia Soska’s upcoming remake of David Cronenberg’s 1977 body horror, Rabid.
The film is set to begin filming in April, though no casting details have dropped as of yet. Its story sounds on par for what would be expected of an update, in which Rose, after suffering an accident which leaves her scarred beyond recognition, undergoes an experimental stem-cell treatment that makes her beautiful but comes at a price.
Spoilers, but the price is probably that she has to drink blood and turns people into zombies.
The original had about the same plot with Rose pinned under a motorcycle after an accident and burnt beyond recognition. In the original, however, the plastic surgery used to restore Rose involved mutated grafts of her own skin. The stem-cells are a modern angle.
After the surgery, Rose had to drink human blood to sustain herself and used a penis-looking growth that sprouted from a vaginal hole in her armpit to do so. This spread a foaming, violent infection of rabies through the city and caused an epidemic.
There are definitely themes in here that only get better with time. Cities are becoming more dense and claustrophobic, and the fear of some epidemic to decimate us hangs heavy. Not to mention the prevailing idea that medicine is going too far, and it’s hard to disagree when a real-life doctor claims to have successfully transplanted a human head.
The Soska Sisters also have the right tastes and track record for this type of film. 2012’s American Mary was a very cool dark comedy delving into the world of body modification and dysmorphia. The surgery effects were original and interesting, and the focus on themes of female beauty and body identity lent a striking voice. It serves as an excellent blueprint for how the duo may tackle its Rabid remake.
I mean, if there’s one thing I know about a vagina opening in a woman’s armpit and sprouting a pointed penis that drinks blood and infects everyone it touches, it’s that it screams female body identity issues.
There is no official release date ahead of filming.
Berlin: Shout! Studios Takes Soska Sisters’ Remake of David Cronenberg’s ‘Rabid’ for U.S. [THR]
