Rabies, which premiered earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, has the distinction of being the first Slasher Horror film to come out of Israel. This is the début feature of Aharon Keshlers, an Israeli cinema critic who was tired of the country’s endless dramas and war stories. Making this film, he says, is “A dream come true.”
Produced by United Channel Movies, Rabies stars Lior Ashkenazi, Ania Bukstein, Danny Geva, (mega-hottie) Yael Grobglas, and Ran Danker (all Israeli A-List actors).
Read the synopsis, watch the trailer, and view the poster after the jump…
Luckily I found a trailer with subtitles, since my Hebrew skills are extremely rusty to say the least.
A psychotic serial killer on the loose in the woods crosses paths with a group of unsuspecting teenagers. Soon people are dying one by one… but the bad guy isn’t who you think. Turning genre conventions on their head with a smart script and plenty of unexpected scares, Rabies is a surprising début worthy of its mantle as Israel’s first-ever slasher horror film.
Clearly this is a complex film with a large cast, but the thing I’m most confused about is what any of this has to do with rabies? Does the ranger’s old dog, Buba, have rabies? Do the four tennis players catch rabies from the dog after they hit it with their car? The woman on the poster looks a bit rabid—and where’s that blood dripping from? A recent tracheotomy?
Film critic Cara Casumumano wrote:
Rabies‘ careful escalation draws viewers and protagonists alike convincingly into the film’s snowballing cycles of violence and fear, grounding its grisly content and high-concept premise in an uncommonly believable world rarely seen within the horror formula.
I find it very interesting that Rabies is a Horror movie that was produced in a country at war. Ironic, perhaps, since Horror is not an uncommon part of “real life” for many Israelis (as well as Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and others). What effect did this have on the filmmakers and how will this factor into my analysis of the film?
Sure, America is also a country at war, but our bombs and rockets hit targets thousands of miles away—not in our backyards. Then again, America can still be a pretty violent, terrifying place to live as well—especially if you’re living in Oakland. But I digress…
Saucy Josh writes a blog for intelligent Horror Movie aficionados called Blood and Guts for Grown Ups: https://bloodandgutsforgrownups.wordpress.com/
[TribecaFilm][BD][UHM]