Tribeca 2011 Review: RABIES

There is a fundamental flaw with RABIES that will unfortunately hold it back from the major success it could have been. I am of course talking about the fact the film is in Hebrew. Because people hate to read at the movies, it will not get a wide theatrical release (unless it gets the HIGH TENSION treatment) and some people will skip it when it hits video & VOD. It’s a real shame because RABIES is one of the best and most inventive horror films I have seen in a while.

A quick summary makes the film seem like an overly clichéd backwoods slasher but its brilliant execution reveals that it is so much more. The film opens with a girl caught in a trap while her brother attempts to rescue her, a group of young tennis players lost in the woods and a kindhearted park ranger doing a routine inspection with his trusty dog. A little later we meet two cops; one is quite crooked while the other is dealing with personal issues. We are even introduced to a psychotic killer that doesn’t wear a mask or have any supernatural abilities; he’s just a man with a large knife. This all sounds pretty standard, right?

What if I told you the psycho killer doesn’t actually kill anyone yet the body count at the end of the film still meets the typical slasher quota? Shortly after we are introduced to the killer, he gets knocked out. Confusion, jealousy, mistrust, poor judgment, and several accidents put the potential victims at odds with each other. Their secluded surroundings full of bear traps, land mines, and other dangerous obstacles only add to the mayhem.

RABIES plays with genre conventions and does it well. The acting is surprisingly strong across the board and really brings you into the story. Unfortunately, there were a few times where I was unable to read the subtitles because this is by far one of the brightest horror movie you will ever see. The entire film takes place over the course of a sunny afternoon and many of the characters are dressed entirely in white. The fact they were able to make such a suspenseful horror film in broad daylight shows you how talented the writer/director duo of Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado really are. Unfortunately it made the pale yellow subtitles hard to read at times but I never lost my place in the film nor lost any interest in the characters. In fact, I believe you can watch the entire film sans subtitles and still enjoy it but then you’d miss out on some of the brutally clever dialogue. There are some hilarious jokes and lines that elevate the film to a very darkly humorous level. The pacing and cinematography are equally great.

I really loved how the film plays out in seemingly real time and that the filmmakers are not afraid to have key moments occur off screen. The scenes not shown are largely unnecessary and keeping them out keeps the film fast-paced. It even adds to the suspense at times. This approach to the story really works well throughout but I was surprised to see that it ends in the same style. While each storyline is interconnected, there was no grand finale where everything comes together. Instead each story has it’s own ending. This is where my one real big problem with the film lies. I actually liked each individual ending and wouldn’t change anything about them. However, I feel they made a huge mistake in the order of the endings. There is one very short scene that I believe should have come a little later in the film.  (To keep this review spoiler free, I will not describe the scene but will gladly tell you if you message me after you see it.) It would have worked far better as the final resolution. They could keep everything else exactly the same, including the tag within the credits, but just change the order of the finale. I know it is a very minor complaint but it is really the only thing that bothered me about the film.

I highly recommend you check out RABIES for yourself. And from now until May 1^st, you can watch it online for free. Just go to the Tribeca Film Festival online streaming room at http://www.tribecafilm.com/tribecaonline/streaming-room/ and reserve a seat for the next free online screening. If you don’t get a chance to watch it now, be sure to keep an eye out for it. The film has the distinction of being Israel’s first ever horror film and it has set the bar absurdly high.

Jerry Cavallaro  – www.StuckLikeChuck.com