FrightFest 2011 Review: Rabies

• 24th Aug 2011

Israel hops on the schlock band wagon with this darkly comic film, Rabies.

Never mind the title – we are not talking some sort of outbreak caused by someone getting bitten by a fox,- but we are talking people going crazy in the woods fuelled through misconception, misunderstanding and just plain old good and bad intentions.

The film opens with a girl trapped in a hole and her brother trying to help her out.  The day comes and four young tennis players travelling accidently knock down the brother – and whilst he isn’t dead, he does drag the boys back into the woods to help rescue his sister. The two girls they leave behind get accosted by the inept local police; meanwhile the sister has in the interim been rescued from an attacker by a local park ranger.

This is just the beginning – From here it’s all a case of mistaken identity, tempers and Jealousy flaring at each other as the characters spent the next few hours causing all sorts of mayhem that leads to bloody murder.

Rabies is a very original film in that it balances some of the darkest humour you are likely to have seen for a while, but counter balances it with some of the most sentimental pauses you are likely to find in this type of horror.

It’s almost shocking how vile a character can behave, and yet how sympathetic you can be towards them later when you discover a thing or two about them. To say any more about the plot or details would be to spoil the journey the viewer takes. Suffice to say blood hounds get their fill of gore and body count, and those seeking something beyond mere horror will be taken by the films more composed moments.

Rabies is screening at FrightFest on Friday 26th at 17.15pm and Sunday 28th at 13.15pm.

Steven Hurst