Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Rabid Dogs (Enragés)

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Horace Cordier
    Senior Member

  • Rabid Dogs (Enragés)



    Released by: Shout! Factory
    Released on: June 14th, 2016.
    Director: Eric Hannezo
    Cast: Lambert Wilson, Virginie Ledoyen
    Year: 2015
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Horror and action film remakes have always been controversial and frankly that's only been getting more so of late. Hollywood and the indie scene - both foreign and domestic - have churned through so much vintage material at the point that we have been seeing obscurities like Australia's THE LONG WEEKEND get the redux treatment in the last few years. And frankly, it's often been embarrassing.

    So what's the scoop with the French remake of Italian maestro Mario Bava's RABID DOGS aka KIDNAPPED?

    Bluntly? Not guilty.

    RABID DOGS France (í‰NRAGES) has a few things going for it right out of the gate. Bava's original film was so striking because of his artistic vision and canny casting. The plot was a variation on a very simple kidnapping setup. There's enough viewer familiarity with the dramatic setup to get us comfortable quickly. We've seen this situation plenty of times - almost as much as the hostage scenario. So the success or failure of the film is down to those crucial areas of casting, mood and overall vision. The narrative centers around a group of armed bank robbers on a job gone wrong in a large French metropolitan city. After blasting their way out of the bank, the group, led by a man named Sabri (Guillaume Gouix), make a series of blunders that get the heavily militarized cops on their trail and are forced to take hostages to escape the rapidly mounting posse. The first hostage is a woman (Virginie Ledoyen) taken in a parking lot during a brutal police standoff and the second is a father (Lambert Wilson) traveling with his gravely ill daughter who needs a kidney transplant.

    The thugs, aside from Sabri, are straight out of central casting, but at least it's FRENCH central casting so they look and sound cool with the requisite stubble and macho Gallic attitude. The rest of this exercise is swiftly delivered with some finesse and attention to strong pacing. Escape attempts are made, head games are played between hostages and criminals and there's some abject humiliation thrown in with a dash of sexualized sadism. It's worth noting however, that this film is nowhere near as "morally depraved" as Bava's original. After a few innocents get inevitably killed, RABID DOGS moves into its final act and this is where it makes its artistic mark. The group wind up hiding in a rural area that is celebrating a bizarre event called the "Festival Of The Bear" that is like a cross between an NRA hunting rally, Burning Man Festival and Wicker Man style pagan hoedown. Creepy and weird and gorgeously shot it recalls the final scenes of Walter Hill's brilliant SOUTHERN COMFORT.

    RABID DOGS 2015 has a terrific twist ending like its source material so those familiar with the original won't be surprised but everyone else should be. As for the acting, everyone is competent with Gouix's Sabri being good and Wilson being excellent. Wilson does a superb job as the 'everyman' under unimaginable stress. His carefully modulated performance reminds me of Brian Cranston's work in "Breaking Bad".

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    IFC/Midnight's 1080p MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 framed image looks about what you'd expect from a modern film transferred to Blu. Aside from some intentional desaturation, clarity is strong. Black levels are suitably inky, and the HD resolution is only a detriment when it comes to those inevitable CGI blood spurts that have become the bane of the modern action and horror film. Fine detail? Aces. French director íˆric Hannezo has gone for a moody but ultra modern aesthetic. Garish and harsh lighting are the order of the day with some striking nighttime sequences and this transfer handles them all ably.

    Audio is handled by a French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that delivers plenty of crunchy bottom end during the various shootouts and other mayhem. This is a fairly rambunctious sound mix but it never overdoes it or teeters into chaos. Dialogue is always clear. There are well rendered English SDH subtitles for the film as well.

    Extras? Frankly, for this film I'd say they went a bit overboard. The first thing is an hour and a half long making of feature that exhaustively covers every aspect of the production from conception to its initial festival screenings. Parts of it drag but regular fixture director Hannezo - who also narrates - is a fun and enthusiastic guy and he makes this watchable. I'd suggest that this lengthy doc would be of most interest to film students due to the extensive technical details covered and hardcore fans of the film.

    Next we have six cast interviews with the only really interesting one being, not surprisingly, Wilson. He neatly breaks down his acting methodology and is an engaging subject. The rest are slightly interesting but often cover ground already handled in the feature length documentary. And at almost 45 minutes for these interviews, things get a little repetitive. We then get a 15 minute piece on the film's fx and production design. This is very much insider baseball but it's actually more interesting than some of the cast interviews. Finally, a trailer in HD is included in the package of extras. It is worth noting that all of these items have English subtitles.

    A DVD is also included but it lacks the Blu rays feature length documentary.

    The Final Word:

    As a modern crime film, RABID DOGS 2015 is quite good. Swiftly paced and well shot with some striking imagery and a strong final act, fans of this genre should enjoy it. The French aesthetic also gives it a slightly exotic aura for the English speaking audience. It can't really touch Bava's original but it's no embarrassment either. Recommended.


    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!




















      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • God’s Gun (Kino Lorber) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Kino Lorber
      Released on: February 22nd, 2022.
      Director: Gianfranco Parolini
      Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance
      Year: 1976
      Purchase From Amazon

      God’s Gun – Movie Review:

      Directed by Gianfranco Parolini in 1976, quite late in the spaghetti western boom years, God's Gun (Diamante Lobo in Italy) introduces us to a bad, bad man named Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) who, along with his gang of equally bad, bad men, start wreaking
      ...
      04-17-2024, 12:10 PM
    • Hercules In The Haunted World (Kino Lorber) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Kino Lorber
      Released on: October 8th, 2019.
      Director: Mario Bava
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Reg Park, Leonora Ruffo, Gaia Germani
      Year: 1968
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hercules In The Haunted World – Movie Review:

      Directed by Mario Bava in 1961 and featuring a screenplay by Bava (and Sandro Continenza, Francesco Prosperi and Duccio Tessari), Hercules In The Haunted World (also known as Hercules At The Center Of The Earth and
      ...
      04-17-2024, 12:08 PM
    • The Shape Of Night (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: April 20th, 2024.
      Director: Noburo Nakamura
      Cast: Miyuki Kuwano, Mikijiro Hira
      Year: 1964
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Shape Of Night – Movie Review:

      Directed by Noburo Nakamura for Shochiko in 1964, ‘The Shape Of Night’ follows a young woman named Yoshie Nomoto (Miyuki Kuwano). In the opening scene, she’s working as a streetwalker on the outskirts of town and soon enough, she’s picked
      ...
      04-17-2024, 10:26 AM
    • Tormented (Film Masters) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Film Masters
      Released on: April 23rd, 2024.
      Director: Bert I. Gordon
      Cast: Richard Carlson, Juli Reding, Lugene Sanders, Susan Gordon
      Year: 1963
      Purchase From Amazon

      Tormented – Movie Review:

      The late Bert I. Gordon’s 1963 horror film, ‘Tormented,’ is an effectively spooky ghost story made with an obviously low budget but no less effective for it.

      The story revolves around a professional piano player
      ...
      04-17-2024, 10:19 AM
    • Impulse (Grindhouse Releasing) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Grindhouse Releasing
      Released on: March 12th, 2024.
      Director: William Grefé
      Cast: William Shatner, Jennifer Bishop, Ruth Roman, Harold Sakata
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Impulse – Movie Review:

      Directed by the one and only William Grefé, 1974’s Impulse is one of those rare films that allows you to witness what it would be like if a really sweaty William Shatner got mad at a lady carrying balloons. Before that
      ...
      04-15-2024, 01:20 PM
    • Lola (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Andrew Legge
      Cast: Emma Appleton, Stefanie Martini, Rory Fleck Byrne
      Year: 2022
      Purchase From Amazon

      Lola – Movie Review:

      Irish filmmakers Andrew Legge’s 2022 movie, ‘Lola’, which was made during Covid-19 lockdowns, is a wildly creative movie made in the found footage style that defies expectations, provides plenty of food for thought and manages to make
      ...
      04-10-2024, 04:09 PM
    Working...
    X