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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	1977
Country of origin:	Canada
Director:	David Cronenberg
Genre:	Zombie-like infection
Starring:	Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076590/
Tagline:	Pray it doesn't happen to you.
Favourite line:	"Marshall Law has come to Montreal"

A couple are involved in a road traffic accident, and both are badly injured as they are flung from their bike.
Rose (Chambers) is shipped off to a clinic to get some plastic surgery for her wounds, and all seems well.
The surgery undertaken is experimental, and there is the potential for carcinogenic rejection of the grafts resulting in cancer but, chances are, it will graft onto the injured flesh and heal perfectly well.
This is a Cronenberg movie though, so we know there will be another outcome, and indeed there is.
Rose develops an insatiable thirst for blood, which she obtains via a grotesque protuberance underneath her armpit, clutching her victims in a final embrace before extracting the precious life fluid. Once 'bitten' the drained soul themselves become an infectee, and so the cycle of blood lust grows remorselessly, leaving Montreal in the grip of an uncontrollable outbreak.

The plot isn't exactly original, granted, but it is Cronenberg's execution that is mesmeric. Grim, realistic and utterly disturbing this is a nightmarish vision indeed.
Marilyn Chambers, renowned seventies porn star, plays Rose with an understated grace, effectively conveying innocence and fear superbly.
Low budget, but massive in scope never the less, this is an absolute masterpiece.