Rabies isn’t about rabies.
Touted as Israel’s first slasher (the film’s Hebrew title Kalevet colloquially means anything bad), Rabies isn’t really a slasher either.
Instead, it’s a multi-faceted satire-horror, an exceptional debut (from co-writers/directors Navot Papushado and Aharon Keshales) that subverts expectations.
Four kids on a drive to the woods meet a man who says his sister’s trapped in a box underground. Meanwhile a park ranger and his dog encounter a nutter with a knife.
Then the police turn up and everything gets worse. Juggling pathos and black humour with shocks and gore, this is like Tucker And Dale Vs Evil, as directed by the Coens.
