Director, writer: Matthew Reel. Starring: Elske McCain, Trent Haaga, Jeff Sisson

REVIEW: Christian Sellers

Jessicka Rabid seems like the kind of obscure '70's exploitation movie that you could only find on bootleg on eBay.  The whole look and feel of this flick, which marks the feature debut of indie filmmaker Matthew Reel (who had previously cut his teeth on short films), is pure 'grindhouse,' the kind of movie you could imagine being shown in a sleazy New York theatre on a double bill with The Last House on Dead End Street.  There is no denying that Jessicka Rabid is at times uncomfortable viewing, this hardly for everyone's taste and any film that is full of depraved and unsympathetic characters will lose some of its audience, yet for a film so sleazy there is something intriguing about it.  Why do they keep a young woman locked in a cage and treat her like a dog?  Why is she abused by everyone she knows?  What kind of monster will she become?

Reel's style recalls the early work of Abel Ferrara, who frequently mixed arthouse and exploitation with varied degrees of success.  His two most famous works, The Driller Killer and Ms. 45, both focused on the darker side of the human psyche and the violent outbursts caused by abuse, alienation and frustration.  An interesting touch is the use of vintage trailers and a '60's-style voice-over during one segment, further reinforcing the movie's retro feel.  McCain's performance is dialogue-free, instead having to portray Jessicka's various emotions physically, and it is an impressive turn... any role that requires large amounts of nudity and violence will take its toll on any actor, yet what is more surprising is how McCain brought it on herself, contributing material to Reel's script.

There are several aspects of this movie that are likely to offend (aggressive sex, a lesbian scene, various types of abuse) yet these all play a part in Jessicka's slow descent into madness, her first spell in self defense against one of her frequent rapists. Whilst not excessively violent there is a rather nasty decaptation and a close up of the victim's severed head, though the gore is saved for the final act.  Possibly the film's most impressive aspect is the score, composed by newcomer Mario Salvucci, which highlights the intent of each scene by building up the atmosphere before the camera has even started rolling.  A deliriously perverse and sadistic analysis of the evils of man or a shallow and crude excuse for gratuitous nudity, this will be down to personal preference but there is no denying that Jessicka Rabid is hard to shake off!