It's Day 283 of my One Movie a Day for 2023 challenge, and Day 10 for both my 31 Days of Hallowe'en project/challenge, as well as the 31 Days of Horror Challenge being hosted by Nightmare on Film Street. Plus, we can not forget the 100HorrorMoviesIn92Days challenge I joined this year.
If you've been following along on with this series of posts you've already heard me say that for the last decade, I've done a 13 Days of Hallowe'en that ran from the 19th-31st on my various old social medias, where I did movie reviews, recipes and comedy skits. This year, I decided to just keep the projects/challenges contained on this site and my Letterboxd.
Today's mini theme for my own 31 Days of Hallowe'en is Vampires. In fact, this week is vampire week.
The mini theme for the 31 Days of Horror Challenge being hosted by Nightmare on Film Street is City Slickers. It just happened that I found a movie that hits both those notes. Rabid the 2019 remake.
The story follows a young woman who works at a fashion house. After leaving a party, she ends up in a traffic accident, becoming horribly disfigured. An experimental treatment is offered if she agrees to be a test subject for a new form of skin graft. The treatments work, but she starts to loose time, having hallucinations about killing people. Within days, the city is overrun with an unknown virus that has turned everyone into ghouls. Fearing she's the cause, the woman returns to the doctor who performed the treatments only to find out his own horrible secret.
This is a Canadian remake of the classic Canadian film. The gore in this one is ten times bigger and bloodier than the original 1977 version, which was scarier in it's subtly. This is literally in your face gore. But it works well in telling the story it's telling from a modern perspective.
I find it ironic that this film came out just as the covid pandemic was starting. If you didn't know better, you would think this was in response to the mindset people were having during that time, but this movie was released about 8 months before the pandemic.
I love the use of the colour red throughout this film. It is used to represent the vampires in all their forms. From jealousy, to bloodlust, to rage, even insecurity. As our lead becomes more and more of a vampire, she progresses from light pinks to deep reds in her wardrobe. The boldness of the colour is introduced with the doctor and his medical staff as they begin the treatments, reminding you that something sinister is taking place. Speaking of the doctor, there is one painting hanging in his office that looks like it was a nod to the doctor character David Cronenberg played in the vampire movie Nightbreed. It's a twisted painting of a man in a zippered mask. The original version of Rabid of course being a Cronenberg film.
Come back tomorrow to see what other tricks and treats I have for you.
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