Rabies (2010) (aka: Kalevet) starring Lior Ashkenazi, Ania Bukstein, Danny Geva, Yael Grobglas directed by Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado Movie Review

Rabies (2010)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Rabies (2010) (aka: Kalevet)

Twisted Wood

Four friends heading to play tennis in a tournament manage to get themselves lost when they take a wrong turn down a country road into some woods. It is in the woods that they run in to a desperate man who says his sister is trapped down a hole and the men agree to go with him to help whilst the girls remain at the jeep and call the police. But when the men reach the point where the brother had left his sister she is no longer there and to make matters worse when the cops arrive they decide to come on to the female friends. The girls escape in to the woods but with the cops chasing after them and in to a world of traps and an old mine field as well as the killer it is a dangerous place to be.

First things first and who ever decided to give this movie the name "Rabies" needs to be fired because that word immediately brings to mind dogs frothing at the mouth and barking wildly which is not what this movie is about. But beyond that and I like "Rabies", I mean I like the movie, as this is an interesting take on people being in danger from a psycho killer in the woods. And with "Rabies" being an Israeli movie and so in a foreign language it has an extra layer of intrigue as you are forced to pay even more attention to it in order to follow what is going on.

What makes "Rabies" so entertaining is that whilst we have this set up of a psycho in the woods the movie isn't really about people being in danger from him directly. Yes we see him with the girl who was trapped but he is not always the threat. Instead what we have is a series of knock on events; the girls who call the cops find themselves being chased by one of them who tries it on with them, a park ranger who ends up involved through being in the woods at the time when all this is going on finds himself in over his head. And there is plenty more in fact if "Rabies" has one real issue it is the number of characters and individual stories as it can't do justice to them although each has its plus points and some stand out scenes especially with one which sees a guy standing in an old bear trap which could snap shut on his legs at any time.

What this all boils down to is that "Rabies" is a very good horror movie and has plenty of clever ideas going on which keep you involved in this unfolding horror. Its biggest problem is not that it is a foreign language movie, that works in its favour, but the fact it has so much going on it can't do justice to it all in just 90 minutes.


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