RABID is my favourite early Cronenberg film - it captures a coldly clinical and gritty kind of '70s horror in a perfect way, similar to the works of Romero from the era. So when I heard that the directors of AMERICAN MARY were making a new version, I wasn't particularly interested. How would it improve? The answer is it doesn't, not by a long shot, and instead it turns out to be typically cheap and digital-looking and entirely routine. The film shares superficial similarities with the likes of THE NEON DEMON, another overrated yawner, but turns out to be nothing more than an exercise in bloodshed and mayhem. It might be gruelling but it's also largely depressing, with superficial writing and nobody to root for throughout. A waste of time, then.

This is a remake of the more erotic "Rabid" from 1977 with Marilyn Chambers. Rose Miller (Laura Vandervoort) works for the pretentious designer (pardon my redundancy) Gunter (Mackenzie Gray). She aspires to be a designer herself but has low self-esteem because of a scarred face. An accident causes further damage. Rose undergoes an experimental treatment that makes her beautiful and craving meat. The armpit creature in the first film now comes out of the neck.

I liked the original better. This film is a watered-down version without a message.

Guide: F-word. sex? no nudity.

I thought it was important to watch the original. I couldn't do that beforehand, but only after I watched the Soska sisters remake. But it is different in many aspects so it wasn't too bad doing it this way (I usually like to watch an original first and then the remake if I can). The effects here obviously up the ante, but the original had some great ones too.

One of the main differences here is that we get to learn our main actress first, before the inciting incident. This may feel like time wasted or as a nice little touch. Let's go for the latter. The Soskas do have an affinity for Cronenberg and you can tell. They also assembled a nice cast overall, even though someone like CM Punk (can't recall his real name) is quite a cardboard cutout and very cliche for example. But you can tell he has fun with his litle role as is anyone else involved.

The Soskas did change enough for it to make sense to watch both movies. So if you are into horror movies, and don't mind a bit of social commentary thrown in for good measure, you could do worse