We first meet Rose (Marilyn Chambers) and her boyfriend Hart Read (Frank Moore) speeding down a winding country road aboard a motorcycle. Unbeknownst to them, a disabled vehicle lies around the next blind corner. In an effort to avoid disaster, Hart veers off the road. Suddenly, the bike is airborne and both riders are thrown off. Hart falls free of the crashing bike, but Rose is caught underneath it. Trapped, she can only struggle hopelessly as the bike explodes.

By chance, a patient at the nearby Keloid Clinic, a plastic surgery resort, witnesses the accident through a pair of binoculars. Dr. Dan Keloid (Howard Ryshpan) dispatches an ambulance to help the injured motorcyclists. While Hart manages to escape the incident with rather minor injuries, Rose is severely injured. Bleeding badly from her chest and abdomen, the Dr. decides there's no time to get her to a hospital. Instead, they rush her into surgery at the clinic.

Coincidently the Dr. has been researching a new procedure, which he refers to as a "Neutral Skin Graph." The idea, not unlike what modern science has learned of stem cells, is that by altering skin cells to be "morpho-genetically neutral," they can grow into any part of the human body. While removing sections of skin from Rose's thighs, the Dr. decides to utilize this new technique on his unknowing patient. Her internal abdominal injuries, as well as her external skin wounds, are treated with the specially prepared skin graphs.

One month passes and Rose is still unconscious. Hart's sent back home to Montreal, to get his life in order and await word that Rose has awakened. Well, awaken she does, writhing in pain and screaming to the top of her lungs. One of the patients hears her cries and rushes to her side to help. Soon enough, she regains her bearings and begins to relax. All seems well, until Rose suddenly thrusts towards her helper with the left side of her chest. Happily, she squeezes him tighter, as an increasing flow of blood pours down his side.

It appears the experimental surgery yielded unexpected results. Rose now has an orifice in her left arm pit, from which she can quickly extend a piercing shaft. With this, she feasts and quenches her hunger for human blood. Worse yet, those she preys upon become zombie-like creatures whose excessive foaming from the mouth gives them the appearance of having rabies. Confused and scared, Rose leaves the clinic. With only one place to go where there are people to support her, and feed her, she heads for the city of Montreal.

Perhaps writer and director David Cronenberg's most overlooked early effort, Rabid may also be one of his most unsettling. While it's undeniably a spin on the common vampire and zombie tales, it's also unmistakably a Cronenberg film. The focus is on the ideas that have become his trademark, the melding of human and technology, the devastation of disease, and the unseen horrors within us all. It's an ever powerful, uncompromising vision that's perhaps most relevant today as we advance into the age of genetic engineering and nanotechnology.

Adult film star Marilyn Chambers, while at first seeming an odd choice for such a dark role, delivers a convincing and powerful performance. She seems to thrive on Rose's ailment, displaying a great ability to depict the extremes that go along with it. One moment it's the overpowering pain of withdrawal, due to lack of blood. The next it's the seductive charm required to lure victims close enough to feed. Her obvious beauty certainly helps with the latter, but it's her facial expressions and display of unspoken desire that make the real impact.

Unfortunately, the DVD doesn't fare as well as the movie it presents. Part of Roger Corman's "Director's Series," Rabid gets the typical New Concorde release. It's full frame and has very few extras. The picture shows obvious wear and grain in places, but overall it's fairly good quality. The only additional materials are cast biographies, and trailers for Rabid, Velocity staring Jack Nicholson, and the Bill Paxton, Bill Pullman mindbender Brain Dead. As a positive, the DVD menus are nicely designed featuring eerie distorted video from the film.

While the DVD certainly could have been better, that shouldn't stop you from seeing this film. Rabid's deliberate pacing, subtle but powerful score, and increasingly grim plot combine to produce a genuinely effective horror film. It's a dark, somber tale that'll unnerve you until its chilling climax.