David Cronenberg has the dubious honor of being called the “King of Venereal Horror,” thanks to his gruesome psycho-sexual tales of terror which include Videodrome, Shivers, and The Fly. So it takes a very specific kind of confidence and ability to remake one of his earlier, more bombastic films—Hell, his name is even synonymous with ungodly mutated glob creatures, if Rick and Morty are to be believed (and of course they are). But, that’s exactly what filmmaking twins Jen and Sylvia Soska are betting on, as the pair will direct a remake of Cronenberg’s 1977 film Rabid.
As Variety reported Friday morning, the Soskas—best known for directing the punk body-modification crime movie American Mary—will take on the project put together by Somerville House Releasing and producers Paul Lalonde and Michael Walker. The current plan is to make a feature film and TV series based on the seminal Canadian horror movie.
Rabid starred former pornographic movie actress Marilyn Chambers as a woman who gets into a horrific car accident and forced to undergo experimental plastic surgery. This ultimately results in her developing a weird stinger-mouth under her arm which she uses to feast on blood and spread a zombie-like virus that eventually cripples and collapses the city of Montreal. This premise seems right up the Soskas’ alley, given that American Mary was all about experimental surgery and even featured the Soskas themselves playing twins so close they pay to swap left arms with each other.
“The work of David Cronenberg is legendary and Rabid is much more than just a horror movie,” the Soskas said. “The real message of his film is powerful, and even more pivotal as we look at the world around us today. It’s an honor to be involved in this love letter to his original, which we handle with the same respect as Paul Schrader’s Cat People, Alexandre Aja‘s The Hills Have Eyes, and John Carpenter‘s The Thing.”
That’s certainly a great attitude to have when it comes to remaking anything, and they used three very good-to-great examples of remakes that both work amazingly well on their own and do justice to the original.
Are you down for a Rabid remake? What other Cronenberg movies should get a facelift? Let us know in the comments below!
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HT: Variety
Image: New World Pictures
Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor and a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. He writes the weekly look at weird or obscure films in Schlock & Awe. Follow him on Twitter!
