Posts Tagged ‘Rabid’

IN ISOLATION WITH…: ACTOR AND STAR OF ‘RABID’ LAURA VANDERVOORT!

Check out episode eight of Richard’s new web series, “In Isolation With…” It’s the talk show where we make a connection without actually making contact! Today, broadcasting directly from Isolation Studios (a.k.a. my home office), we meet Laura Vandervoort, star of “Rabid,” new to VOD this week. We talk about her recent consultation with a dog psychic, why you should never drink the fake blood on a movie set and her hand washing tips. Come visit with us! In isolation we are united!

Watch the whole thing on YouTube or at CTVNEWS.ca!

NEWSTALK 1010: RICHARD CROUSE SHOW w Kristian Bruun and Laura Vandervoort!

On the May 10, 2020 episode of The Richard Crouse Show, Richard speaks to Kristian Bruun, star of “Orphan Black,” “Carter” and “Ready or Not.” Join us to hear about life as a Los Angeles-based actor during the pandemic, how packs of coyotes have been spotted in his neighbourhood and how his character Donnie from “Orphan Black” would fare during self-isolation. Then, we meet Laura Vandervoort, star of “Rabid,” new to VOD this week. We talk about her recent consultation with a dog psychic, why you should never drink the fake blood on a movie set and her hand washing tips. Come visit with us! In isolation we are united!

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

Here’s some info on The Richard Crouse Show!:

Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Ethan Hawke, director Brad Bird, comedian Gilbert Gottfried, Eric Roberts, Brian Henson, Jonathan Goldsmith a.k.a. “The most interesting man in the world,” and best selling author Linwood Barclay.

Click HERE to catch up on shows you might have missed!

CTV NEWSCHANNEL: NEW MOVIES COMING TO VOD AND STREAMING SERVICES!

Richard and CTV NewsChannel anchor Angie Seth discuss the family drama of “Tammy’s Always Dying,” the Cronenberg remake “Rabid,” the social commentary of “Blood Quantum” and the culinary adventure “Nose to Tail.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

RICHARD’S WEEKEND STREAMING REVIEWS FROM CP24! FRIDAY MAY 1, 2020.

Richard and CP24 anchor Nick Dixon have a look at the new movies coming to VOD and streaming services including drunken dramedy “Tammy’s Always Dying,” the Cronenberg remake “Rabid” and the zombie braaiiiins of “Blood Quantum.”

Watch the whole thing HERE!

CFRA IN OTTAWA: THE BILL CARROLL MORNING SHOW MOVIE REVIEWS!

Richard sits in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to VOD and streaming services including the drunken dramedy “Tammy’s Always Dying,” the Cronenberg remake “Rabid,” the guts and glory of “Blood Quantum” and the restaurant drama “Nose to Tail.”

Listen to the whole thing HERE!

RABID: 3 STARS. “story of a disease spread by humans released during pandemic.”

A remake of David Cronenberg’s lurid, low-budget 1977 body-horror chiller, “Rabid” comes to VOD in the middle of a pandemic with the story of a disease spread by human contact.

Laura Vandervoort is Rose, an “ugly duckling” fashion designer working for the Zoolander-esque Gunter (Mackenzie Gray). When he isn’t belittling her work, her cocaine-snorting colleagues Bev and Ellie (played co-writers and directors Bev and Ellie Soska) treat her with disdain. Even her BFF, a model named Chelsea (Hanneke Talbot) barely rises to the real definition of the word friend. One night, after an incident at a nightclub Rose is involved in a terrible motorcycle accident. In the hospital she is covered in bandages, suffering from internal trauma and disfiguring damage to her face. Her only hope at returning to normal life is an experimental treatment from Dr. William Burroughs (Ted Atherton), a megalomaniacal surgeon whose stem-cell procedures are just slightly outside the boundaries of accepted science.

The surgery is a success and this time when she takes off the bandages she is met with an idealized version of her face. She is no longer an ugly duckling and with her new image comes a new, highly confident attitude. The people at the design studio now take her work seriously and the velvet ropes of nightclubs, barricades that once kept her on the outside, suddenly disappear.

On the downside, the procedure has left her with a vampiric lust for blood and soon she is feasting on the innards of nightclubber Billy (CM Punk) and soap opera star Dominic (Stephen Huszar). Each time she feeds, she also spreads a deadly strain of rabies, raising fears of a widespread outbreak of virus villainy.

The new “Rabid” takes some liberties with the source material. Through his star, former porn star Marilyn Chambers, Cronenberg examined large social issues like consumerism, gender equality and political impropriety. The Soska Sisters retain the bones of the story but shift their focus to Rose’s inner life as she transmutes into a form she doesn’t understand. Vandervoort effectively portrays Rose’s quandry, bringing out an emotional core to the story missing from the 1977 original.

“Rabid” works best when it lets itself go. There are some outrageous and gruesome special effects—a fight between an aging soap opera star and a younger rival is ferocious, fearless and bloody good fun—but that sense of unpredictability and savagery doesn’t translate to the rest of the film. It’s a shame because a sharper edge would have helped “Rabid” become its own thing and not simply a remake of an older, much-loved horror movie.