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Director: David Cronenberg Starring: Marilyn Chambers, Joe Silver, Howard Ryshpan, Patricia Gage, Susan Roman, Frank Moore Screenplay: David Cronenberg Country: Canada

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The other thing we should get out of the way is that the leading lady of Rabid is porno star Marilyn Chambers (Behind the Green Door, Insatiable). Cronenberg initially wanted Sissy Spacek for the lead role, but the producers knew that Chambers wanted to break into "legit" films and would certainly be a draw card for the curious public – serious marquee value. A lot was made of Cronenberg's hiring of Chambers in the role of Rose, the film's "heroine" (it ain't the right term, but "protagonist" sounds so bland), not the least by Cronenberg's landlady, who evicted the director once she heard he was making a film with "that woman". Certainly it was a controversial choice, but also an astute one both from an artistic as well as a commercial view – when all's said and done, Chambers is quite good in the role, especially when you consider it was a her first serious role, and a reasonably dialogue-heavy one. From the perspective of the shallow male, she's also hot, which certainly doesn't hurt the viewing experience. It's odd to think, after watching Rabid, that Chambers had previously turned down roles in both Magnum Force and The Man With The Golden Gun because of the violence those films contained.

Rose is a young woman with a problem. A few of them, in fact. Firstly, she's been in a motorcycle accident which has disfigured and nearly killed her, while only slightly injuring her boyfriend. Secondly, and more importantly, after surgery and a skin graft at plastic surgery centre, The Keloid Clinic (Cronenberg should never be allowed to name people or places in his films – the symbolism nearly always comes across as heavy-handed; keloid is scar tissue), something very strange has happened to her indeed.

Even at this early stage of the movie, it's pretty easy to see that this is a much more assured, more professionally made film than Shivers, Cronenberg's feature film debut. Not just in the use of the camera, but also in terms of the script, and the performances Cronenberg gets out of his actors. Some of his thematic whipping boys from the first film are still the same – medical science and sexuality – but the treatment of them is in finer detail, less raw and more refined while still retaining his trademark visceral wallop. Cronenberg's eye is unflinching at the best of times, and the things he shows us are gritty and grotesque, but never simply for the exploitative or prurient interest, although I guess that some people could take that away from a film like Rabid, although I think it'd be missing the point a little. To me it'd be like watching Scanners solely to see the exploding head.

Rose has developed a strange kind of organ in her armpit, a penetrative phallic organ emerging from a sphincter-like opening that, in tune with her newly heightened sex drive has her become a predatory creature, and one who infects those she comes into close contact with – if it doesn't kill them outright, that is. And Rose doesn't discriminate in terms of who she pursues, either, completely losing control of herself in the moment. If Shivers is Cronenberg's essay at a zombie film, then Rabid seems more like a vampire film, just with more overtly sexual imagery. The infected become savage, insatiable monsters craving immediate gratification – but unable to feed naturally, they crave only blood. Rose retains her equanimity more than most, kind of like Typhoid Mary, although still falling prey to her appetites. As the infection spreads through the clinic (a memorable scene includes a doctor cutting off a nurse's finger and sucking blood from its stump) and its environs, the government claim that the problem is rabies; with the infected's animalistic behaviour and foaming at the mouth, it's easy to see why – but they are, of course, wrong.

As Rose escapes from the clinic and hitches her way home, the contagion spreads, gradually building up to epidemic proportions. One thing that's kind of interesting is that the infected attack solely for feeding, whereas Rose's sickness (and given Cronenberg's penchant for symbolic names in his early films, I'm assuming she's been named for William Blake's poem "The Sick Rose", an early cautionary tale about venereal disease – "O Rose, thou art sick" indeed) has a very strong sexual element to it. In some regards the differences between Rose and her victims (and the victims' victims, and so on) is kind of like the differences between the vampire Barlow and his victims in Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot (forget the film, it's a different character altogether) – the originator can still deal with regular folks, is eloquent, generally in control of their bloodlust, but the victims are inhuman appetites on legs with little or no restraint, possessed of only the most basic of reasoning skills. Before you take me to task for extending the vampire metaphor, we are told via doctors and the media that the infected here have one urge only – to bite other humans. Plus, as we see with Rose, when they try eat regular food, vomiting ensues (remember Caleb trying to eat the candy bar after being vampirised in Near Dark?). Blood appears to be their only goal.

Rose gets back to civilisation and promptly heads to an adult cinema to get the fix she's been jonesing for. And so the contagion spreads further, and the news media spreads the unhappy news that the best way to deal with the infected is to shoot them down. Montreal becomes little better than a warzone as the military move in to take control. An interesting moment features Rose coming into contact with one of her "children" – the look of disgust on her face is apparent, and kind of incongruous given her own proclivities. If you look at the film as being a metaphor for addiction it kind of makes sense, however – if you're a drinking person, think about times when you've seen people who've rendered themselves a mess in public and the disgust you've felt at seeing them as such, despite the fact you've done the same thing yourself.

The military crackdown becomes even harsher as the film moves into its final act, and that's where the synopsis ends, as the numbers of the infected rise drastically, and stronger measures have to be taken to curb the rising bodycount, and Rose's tale reaches its almost inevitable conclusion. Cronenberg's usual existential themes are present throughout the film – the idea that nobody can ever really know another person, and would barely be capable of knowing themselves at best, the family unit doesn't really exist, we're only one step away from our primitive roots – civilisation being only that thinnest of veneers – it's not really what you'd call happy viewing in that regard, but then, you don't sit down to watch a film called Rabid thinking you're going to walk away whistling the theme song, do you?