Rabid Grannies

Rabid Grannies is a 1988 comedy horror film written and directed by Emmanuel Kervyn, and starring Catherine Ayemerie and Caroline Braeckman as elderly sisters who, following a present from an ostracised black sheep relative, proceed to kill their greedy family.

Rabid Grannies
Theatrical release film poster
Directed byEmmanuel Kervyn
Produced by
  • Jean-Bruno Castelain
  • Pierre Nanta
  • Jonathan Rambert
  • Johan Vandewoestijne
Written byEmmanuel Kervyn
Starring
  • Catherine Ayemerie
  • Caroline Braeckman
Music by
  • Jean-Bruno Castelain
  • Pierre-Damien Castelain
CinematographyHugo Labye
Edited byPhilippe Ravoet
Production
company
Distributed byTroma Entertainment
Release date
1988
Running time
91 minutes
Country
  • Belgium
  • France
  • Netherlands
Language
  • English
  • French
Budget$150,000

An international co-production of Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, it was released and distributed in the United States on VHS and DVD by Troma Entertainment (who also co-produced with Stardust Pictures Nr.1).[1] In 1990, the film was nominated for an International Fantasy Film Award, Best Film for Emmanuel Kervyn.

Plot

Two elderly sisters invite their wonderful nieces and nephews to a dinner party in celebration of the sisters' upcoming birthdays. The one nephew who is not invited is the ostracised black sheep of the family whose devil-worshipping activities have resulted in his being removed from the sisters' inheritance. The rest of the guests are merely putting in time; they are actually only waiting for their aunts to die, leaving them amply endowed via their respective inheritances. Unfortunately for all but the aunts, the nephew sends a party gift that turns the scene into a frolic of the macabre and ruins the party: under the gift's power, the aunts turn into cannibalistic demons and proceed to eat up all of their guests.

Cast
Character Actor
HelenCatherine Aymerie
SuzieCaroline Braeckman
GilbertRichard Cotica
Elizabeth RemingtonDanielle Daven
AlicePatricia Davia
Father PercivalRobert Du Bois
BerthaFlorine Elslande
Victoria RemingtonAnne-Marie Fox
Publicity executiveFranklin Steward Granvel
Miss BarnstablePaule Herreman
ErikaBobette Jouret
JessicaFrançoise Lamoureux
Taxi-driverLe Pepe
Reverend FatherRaymond Lescot
JohnElie Lison
RogerMichel Lombet
HarveyJacques Mayar
RachelFrançoise Moens
Elizabeth, the monsterJoëlle Morane
RaduSébastien Radovitch
Woman at the gateCindy Rimoe
Victoria, the monsterSuzane Vanina
FredGuy Van Riet
Police officerJonathan Rambert
GardinerJan De Ketelare
PeasantJohan Vandewoestijne

Music composers

Jean-Bruno Castelain[2] was the co-composer on Rabid Grannies, producing the original music and score. He also worked on Maniac Nurses (1990) (another Troma Entertainment release) as an executive producer, as well as working on the overall sound, and more specifically sound effects. In 1992, he worked on State of Mind (release through Troma Entertainment as well) as a composer, co-producer, re-recording mixer, and sound recordist.[3]

Pierre-Damien Castelain[4] was the co-composer on Rabid Grannies, working alongside Jean-Bruno to produce the score and original music. He has worked on one documentary since, Une vie de chat, in 2004 as the main composer.

Music mixer

Phillip Lefebvre[5] worked as the Music Mixer on the film. Lefebvre has an extensive filmography, working on The Judge (1984) as director and writer, Antoine Rives, juge de terrorisme (1993) directing five episodes. He also directed an episode of C’est votre historie in 2007 and directed and wrote the screenplay for Une suit (2012). His only music mixing credit is for Rabid Grannies.[3]

Sound department

Chris Ketelaere[6] worked as the sound recordist on Rabid Grannies. Ketelaere's filmography consists currently of only Rabid Grannies.[3]

Julien Naudin[7] provided sound effects for the film. Naudin's filmography is quite extensive, including work as foley artist on The Others (2001), Cell 211 (2009), and Broken Embraces (2009), as well as the sound effects editor for Open Your Eyes (1997). In 2019, Naudin was nominated for a Golden Reel Award in Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR for Foreign Language Feature Film for RedBad (2018)

Frédéric Ullman[8] worked as the sound editor and sound mixer for the film. His filmography includes Killer Elite (2011), for which he was the sound recording engineer, The Rage (2002) as a sound mixer, and District B13 (2004) and Chaos and Desire (2002) for which he is listed as being in charge of sound.

Patrick Tacq[9] worked as the assistant sound editor and assistant sound mixer for Rabid Grannies. His filmography consists solely of Rabid Grannies.

Production

After the production of Lucker the Necrophagus, Johan Vandewoestijne met with director Emmauel Kervyn at the Brussels offices of VDS Films. Emmanuel was a martial art expert and had a project called "Talion" that he wanted to shot with Jean-Claude Van Damme. André Coppens, manager of VDS Films engaged himself to produce the film . After doing long weeks of preparation there came a time when they had to order, for instance raw stock, rent camera equipment, rent lighting and grip material but producer Coppens had no money left on his account. Fortunately Kervyn had the script of an horror movie called 'The Long Night' ready to be used. The movie was shot from October 14th 1988 to January 8th 1989 on location in Kortrijk and in the castle of Ingelmunster[10]. To sell the movie internationnaly ,the director made all the French-speaking cast read their English lines phonetically.

Reception

Due to its unusual subject and title and its graphic scenes of gore, Rabid Grannies is one of the most infamous titles in the Troma library.[11]

Home media release

The film was released and distributed in the United States on VHS and DVD by Troma Entertainment.[12] The Troma DVD removes a lot of the gore from the feature film. These scenes are available to be seen in the bonus features.[13] Its Blu-ray debut was 10 March 2015, presenting the film in a "producer's cut" with the gore scenes reinstated. Special features are the same as the original Troma DVD.

International Fantasy Film Award nomination

In 1990, Rabid Grannies was nominated for one International Fantasy Film Award, Best Film for Emmanuel Kervyn.

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References
  1. Rabid Grannies DVD Archived 19 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Jean-Bruno Castelain
  3. "Rabid Grannies - Filmmakers| IMDbPro". pro.imdb.com. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  4. Pierre-Damien Castelain
  5. Phillip Lefebvre
  6. Chris Ketelaere
  7. Julien Naudin
  8. Frédéric Ullman
  9. Patrick Tacq
  10. http://users.skynet.be/jamesdesert/mov_rabidgrannies.html
  11. Rabid Grannies – Schnittberichte.com
  12. Haikos heisse Ecke – Filmkritiken – Rabid Grannies
  13. "Alternate Versions for Rabid Grannies". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
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