Exclusive: Tristan Risk Promises Her Character in RABID will Cause “Sleepless Nights”
To my fellow entertainment journalists and bloggers, take this advice: Don’t let the ink dry on your “Best Horror Movies of 2019” lists until you’ve seen Rabid, the remake of David Cronenberg’s seminal body horror classic remade by Jen and Sylvia Soska (aka The Twisted Twins). It’s not only the first (and so far only) remake of a Cronenberg movie, it’s a gruesome and engaging romp that will leave moviegoers rapt and devastated.
Rabid arrives in US theaters and VOD this Friday, December 13th. Give the trailer a spin at the top of the article and peep the synopsis below.
Synopsis:
Horribly disfigured after a freak accident, doctors perform a radical medical procedure on an aspiring young fashion designer. But when the bandages come off, the side effects soon cause her to develop an insatiable appetite for human blood.
Related Article: EXCLUSIVE: JEN SOSKA CONFIRMS TRISTAN RISK’S MULTIPLE ROLES IN RABID + RECENT SCREENING DETAILS
Today, Dread Central is launching a full week of Rabid coverage with an exclusive conversation with Tristan Risk, a famous actress/model/burlesque artist/filmmaker who’s been in the Soska’s inner circle since she appeared in American Mary back in 2012. We discussed her relationship with the Twisted Twins, her role in Rabid, and what makes the film definitively Canadian. Read on!
Dread Central: I’ve heard the story about how you met Jen and Sylvia Soska at the Vancouver premiere of their first film, Dead Hooker in a Trunk. Your working relationship looks like a genuine friendship. True?
Tristan Risk: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know if I’d have a career without them. American Mary was the thing that got me started, and then to also be in “T is for Torture Porn” [in The ABCs of Death 2]. When this opportunity with Rabid came along and they were, like, “We’ve got these places where ok, it’s going to take a certain someone to pull this off; let’s see if Risk will do it”. I was very excited to be part of that because yeah, as a Canadian, it’s a source of pride to be included in one of the great works of cinema, and this was a double-barreled one, a Soska’s film and based on a Cronenberg film.
DC: Are you as much of a Cronenberg fan as the Soskas?
TR: I’m not as rabid a fan as they are [laughs] but it’s really hard to top their knowledge and academia about him as an artist is incredible so I don’t think I can even scratch that surface. I definitely appreciate his films and what he’s contributed to Canadian cinema, I’m incredibly into his style of body horror but when I think when it comes to number one fans, no one is going to beat the Soska’s.
Related Article: PLAY TRISTAN RISK’S PARLOUR TRICKS ON YOUTUBE NOW!
DC: You play several roles in Rabid, and one of them is a secret/spoiler. Without revealing too much, what can you say about this mysterious character?
TR: I got to play something that is going to make people really grossed out, and not just because of the visual aspect of it, but the implications of what the character is and what she represents. And I think there are going to be some people who have some sleepless nights. And when I was putting this character in that moment, that’s what I was thinking about, just kind of how people are going to take this and I’m like, this is going to weird a whole lot of people out and if a kid sees this at too young an age, that kid is going to have some serious questions later in life, I feel.
DC: You’ve been conveying a real sense of Canadian pride when it comes to Rabid.
TR: It’s nice to see more Canadian stories and supporting other Canadian crews and performers and just a lot of the homegrown talent that goes into it. And Rabid was a very much made in Canada with Canadian content. And despite having all this talent we mostly wind up working, obviously in Vancouver, for a lot of American productions. But as far as the remake, what didn’t get farmed out to the Americans and the corporations, we kept everything in Canada and we used a lot of the same crew that David Cronenberg himself used. That was pretty cool for me; that was a cool part of the process. It was like, “Oh, I wonder how this is going to hold up for the OG crew, this?”
In addition to Risk, Rabid stars Laura Vandervoort, Benjamin Hollingsworth, and Ted Atherton. Check back every day for more cast interviews, culminating with an exclusive on the film’s release date, December 13th.
Related Article: INTERVIEW: JEN AND SYLVIA SOSKA TALK RABID, DAVID CRONENBERG, AND TRANSHUMANISM
Are you excited to check out Rabid this weekend? What do you think of our exclusive interview with Tristan Risk? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
