David Cronenberg: All 21 Films Ranked From Worst To Best

15. Rabid

Rabid, which followed Shivers, is one of Cronenberg's darkest and least "subtle" allegories for sexual promiscuity and parasitic STDs. Unlike its predecessor, though, it is more character-focused and displays a warmth and dramatic complexity that was lacking in Cronenberg's first few films. Essentially the story of a woman that develops a vaginal wound in her armpit, from which she is able to launch a phallic stinger, the story of infection progresses in much the same way as Shivers. However, Rabid's superior effects and eerie foregrounding of the "sexual" armpit, as well as its connotations of rape, make it a more shocking and interesting example of the director's themes at work.