October is here already and that means that it’s time for another 31 Days of Horror! This year’s theme is well……….pandemic/epidemic horror movies which is the really the theme of this entire year.
To start things off we are starting with some good old fashioned Canadian horror by director David Cronenberg.
Released in 1977 and set in rural Quebec and Montreal, Rose (Marilyn Chambers) and her boyfriend Hart (Frank Moore) are involved in a motorcycle accident out in the countryside. Hart suffers from a broken arm and some bruises but Rose is pinned under the bike while it burns suffering severe burns to her chest.
Fortunately there is a private plastic surgery clinic near the accident and Dr. Dan Keloid (Howard RyshFrankcomes to the rescue and saves Rose with an experimental surgery using morphogenetically neutral grafts. Rose survives but is in a coma for a month. Hart is released from the hospital and goes home to Montreal.
Rose wakes up screaming and a nearby patient comes to help her. The patient can’t remember what happened but his arm is wounded and his one side is numb and the wound won’t stop bleeding. Dr. Keloid sends him to the Montreal General Hospital.
Rose seems fine. But the procedure has altered her. She can’t survive on food. In her armpit she has developed a stinger that stabs her victims and drains their blood, which Rose needs to survive. The victim meanwhile can’t remember the attack and soon after they start becoming violent, foam at the mouth and need to bite someone. The victim soon dies after. And the bite spreads the virus creating more foam raging people.
Soon there are several more victims and a “rabies” outbreak is sweeping across Montreal and martial law is declared. Hart is trying to find Rose and Rose has no idea of the terrifying infection that she has unleashed.
The movie was one of the highest grossing Canadian movies at the time and it gave Marilyn Chamber her first mainstream role.