CM Punk and AJ Mendez have joined the cast of ‘Rabid’.
The UFC fighter and his wife – better known to WWE fans as former Divas Champion AJ Lee – have both landed supporting roles in the upcoming remake of David Cronenberg’s 1977 body horror film of the same name.
The upcoming project will see the couple play Billy and Kira in the movie, which will star Laura Vandervoort and Ben Hollingsworth in leading roles as Rose and Brad.
Paying tribute to the original, the reboot – which is already in production – is set in the world of high fashion, and follows Rose, a young woman whose disfigurement in an accident leads to her undergoing an untested stem-cell treatment.
Although she is turned into the "belle of the ball", the radical transformation comes at a price with her developing a strange ‘phallic stinger’ which she uses to feed on people’s blood but her feeding spreads a virus which causes a zombie-like pandemic.
Writer-director twins Jen and Sylvia Soska – who previously worked together on WWE Studios’ ‘Vendetta’ and ‘See No Evil 2’ – are very excited for the new movie.
They said in a statement: "It’s a tremendous honor to be re-imagining David’s 1977 body horror classic, Rabid, with such incredible support behind us. We are not fans of the current trend of soulless remakes as they disrespect the fans and the original body of work.
"Our ‘Rabid’ is a continuation of the thoughts and conversation David started, but modernized through a female perspective.
"The film will not only honour his original ‘Rabid’ but also Cronenberg’s entire body of work. This would not have been possible without a team behind us that cares about the artist as well as the fans."
Meanwhile, producer Paul Lalonde praise the siblings for their influence on the project, and gushed over their passion for such an exciting film.
He added: "I don’t think there’s any bigger fans of David Cronenberg than the sisters, so it was really exciting when they agreed to helm this project.
"They will put their own stamp on the movie of course, but with nothing but the utmost respect to David, and that’s important when you’re remaking a classic horror film like ‘Rabid’.
"The Soska twins are the hottest young directors in the horror space right now, and our talented cast headed by Laura (Vandervoort) and Ben (Hollingsworth) will give horror fans a rich and chilling character-driven story with plenty of body horror."
CM Punk set for Rabid horror remake
