For years, Mario Bava’s roughie kidnapping
thriller was bottled-up unseen in court due to insolvency and estate issues.
Some staid bankruptcy judge must have really gotten an eyeful if he ever had to
watch it. The sexual violence is toned down, but human nature is just as
sinister in Éric Hannezo’s French Canadian remake of Rabid Dogs (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.
Although he was indelibly associated with
the genre, Bava’s Rabid Dogs was not
a Giallo, per se. However, Hannezo certainly gets his Giallo money’s worth
during the throwback opening credit sequence. Four armed robbers have executed
a daring daylight bank heist, but there will soon be only three of them. With
their getaway plans in disarray, the bandits take two hostages, but they will
quickly be left with only one. However, the elegant married woman is certainly
an effective bargaining chip. The cops back off after the accidental death of
the first hostage, allowing the criminals to slip out of the commercial
district. Unfortunately, their escape involves further hostage taking.
The poor carjacked father was taking his
daughter to the hospital for a long-awaited transplant. Still, he is pretty
cool under pressure, all things considered, but he is played by Lambert Wilson,
so it rather follows. Blessedly, her medication should keep her zonked out
throughout the ordeal. In the short term, the creepy Vincent’s rapey
fascination with the woman hostage will cause most of the problems. Sabri,
their new de facto leader will try to restrain him, but the woman is clearly
looking to bolt at the first opportunity.
For those familiar with the original, Hannezo
and co-screenwriters Benjamin Rataud and Yannick Dahan dispense with the
hitchhiker sequence, which sure lightens it the heck up. However, they add a
really weird “Burning Man”-style gathering, as Ben Wheatley might re-conceive
it.
In addition to their famous names and
class value, Wilson and Virginie Ledoyen add plenty of brooding tension to the
film. Ledoyen elevates the woman beyond typical victims, emphasizing her
proactive assertiveness. (The film is still a far cry from a feminist
manifesto, but what can we expect, given its exploitation lineage.) Guillaume
Gouix, Franck Gastambide, and François
Arnaud all lose their cool quite spectacularly as the robbers. However, cult
film fans might not realize that is Alleluia’s
Laurent Lucas as the ringleader, since he dons the gang’s intimidating, vaguely
S&M looking motorcycle helmet for most of his scenes.