The most uneven of David Cronenberg’s early commercial horror features, the 1977 “Rabid,” was nonetheless probably the biggest success among them, in large part due to the novelty value of seeing “Behind the Green Door” porn superstar and erstwhile Ivory Snow detergent-box model Marilyn Chambers in a lurid mainstream vehicle. It’s also the one ripest for remake, if only because his just-prior “Shivers” aka “They Came from Within” and ensuing “The Brood” should be left alone — largely reviled upon release, they’re now rightly considered genre classics. Lacking their outrageous ideas and cumulative narrative momentum despite some striking elements, “Rabid” nonetheless has a strong-enough basic concept to warrant revisiting.

In theory, “twisted twins” Jen and Sylvia Soska are fair candidates for that job: Like Cronenberg, they’re Canadian, attracted to body-horror, and have cut their own path from micro-budget projects toward the mainstream. They also claim they dislike remakes as a rule,...