Strange Cronen-names: Dan Keloid

Here’s the late Marilyn Chambers in Rabid, Cronenberg’s follow-up to his fully-fledged debut Shivers. See that poster for Carrie? That’s there for a reason; Cronenberg wanted Sissy Spacek for the lead role in Rabid but the Studio disliked her freckles. True story. 

Rabid mixes highbrow conceptualizing with downright sleaze as only Cronenberg can (or could) do. One minute we’re in the middle of a debate on the progress of morphological tissue transplants, the next we’re witness to  Marilyn’s character Rose  bloodily infecting a victim with her trusty extendable armpit phallus. And the reason she’s got into this state is is due to the handiwork of the gloriously named Dr Dan Keloid of the self-titled Keloid Institute. Now Dan is obviously a fan of Shivers because he’s recycled the same parasitic body-horror scenario but on a slightly larger scale and with slightly less dramatic success. But more sleaze, you see, which shouldn’t be sniffed at.

Like The Fly and Videodrome  this ends on a satisfying downer. I won’t spoil it but suffice to say its bleakness  remains a wonderful antidote to the bleached insincerity of modern blockbuster endings.  Cronenberg’s world may be infested with phallic parasites from the most depraved medical institutes  in 1970s Canada, but it remains more real to me that any shiny piece of crap Cineworld has dribbled out  this century.

Incidentally, Sissy would have been great but Chambers is extraordinary in this.

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• Marilyn Chambers 1952-2009 (somecamerunning.typepad.com)