The Rage, Siberian Rabies

Unless it is Moscow, Russia looks like another planet.  The Siberian wilderness, though half radioactive, is stunning. Mountains, snow, Arctic wildlife, rabies and heroin addicts! Wait!  What? Oh, our movie today is set in the Siberian Arctic region and throws rabies at us in the form of fierce meat eaters. Let us look at 2023's "The Rage" ("Beshenstvo"), directed by Dmitriy Dyachenko.

Igor (Aleksey Serebryakov) is a tough man with a couple of big problems. He did some no-nos and now he is due to go to prison on Monday for the next two years. This gives him the weekend to help his son, Vovka (Vsevolod Volodin) a young twenty something who is addicted to heroin. Igor is determined that his son kick the habit and has a brilliant idea. Kidnap him, chain him, bring him to the Arctic region of Siberia, and make him go cold turkey and kick the habit. First stop is a small village, where it is 40 below zero, where Igor has a cabin. There, the attacks start.  Rabid wolves converge and eat some of the townspeople. Vovka? He really needs a hit and he will do anything to get one. Igor? He'll chain his son up in the cellar to prevent this. After a couple of the townspeople are eaten by rabid wolves the town cop Abyzov (Evgeniy Tkachuk) shows up and steals Vovka's hidden supply and threatens to take him to jail.

Igor takes Vovka out of the cellar and snowmobiles north to a little hunting cabin.  The rabid wolves follow. Abyzov follows. Town good guy Roman (Aleksandr Ustyugev) follows. Now all these appetizers, I mean humans converge on the cabin and so do the wolves. Now these peeps are  trapped inside. Uh oh...someone has broken in and has been living in it for a week, a hunter (Kirill Polukhin)...who is rabid after being attacked. Oh, that cold turkey thing? Yeah...Vovka is turning into a monster as his dad just doesn't understand the science of addiction. Oh, the hunter...he's dying as he froths at the mouth and warns Igor and company that the wolves are nothing...the real monster is on its way.

Just what is more monstrous than rabid wolves?  Will both Igor and Vovka survive even though the son's heroin addiction pretty much has him consumed? Are the rabid antagonists a metaphor for the Ukrainian Army that is proving to be more pesky than the Russians would like? This is a good one filled with beautiful Siberian snow covered scenery and a nightmarish man versus nature motif.  See "The Rage" and be glad half of your country isn't radioactive.