Macabre (1983)

Excellent but underrated film

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

If nothing else, 'Macabro' offers some terrific sightseeing in the beautiful old city of New Orleans, I always like that. Then there is a little nudity to spice things up. The acting is mostly very mediocre (though the blind man is played rather well by Stanko Molnar), and when the lady starts throwing tantrums... it didn't really work for me. The story offers mostly suspense that reminded me a little of Hitchcock, with at times an obvious 'Psycho'-like soundtrack, and with some nice gore as a bonus.All in all, it is certainly a watchable effort by Lamberto Bava, who had some (a lot of?) help from Pupi Avati with the writing. Unfortunately, there are a couple of posters (covers) out there that pretty give away the twist of the head in the freezer. The very end is a sort of lame extra twist, even if it was funny, too. And it's supposed to be based on facts - well, macabre is the right word for it!A good 6 out of 10 seems in order.

The 80's was Italian director Lamberto Bava's decade. Throughout those years he knocked out a series of entertaining horror movies and was one of Italy's best in that period. Macabre was his directorial debut. And it's a pretty well-handled film overall. While it is quite over-the-top, it is much less so than most of Bava's subsequent outings. This one even qualifies as a psychological thriller as well as horror. It tells the tale of a disturbed woman who moves into a boarding house, it seems she has a dark secret though.Similar to a few early 80's horror films from his contemporary Lucio Fulci, this one is set in America; New Orleans to be precise. In truth, the setting could be absolutely anywhere are this is a claustrophobic tale that is set almost exclusively within the confines of a large old house. Presumably the U.S. location was used as a means of passing this off as an American product which was seen as an easier sell commercially. Whatever the case, this is a pretty good effort from Bava and takes a decidedly different route than most of his Italian peers. It's let down a little by some flaky dialogue and acting but this is really par for the course with these flicks to be honest and doesn't really get that much in the way.Despite hardly being exactly subtle, it does rely on atmosphere and suspense more than visceral thrills. The idea of the blind landlord trying to figure out just what exactly is happening in his new tenant's room works well in that the film relies on sounds to convey strange goings on. It takes a while until the big reveal actually happens but I am guessing not many people will be at all surprised. But that doesn't detract from the basic macabre idea being a good one. While it was also interesting that the little girl was also psychotic; killer kids are always a winner. Finally, it has to be said that the ending reminded me of the one in the Spanish slasher Pieces in that it was meaningless, completely unnecessary, ridiculous and kind of funny.

The events happen in New Orlans where a middle-aged woman named Jane Baker(Bernice Stegers)is traumatized by a car crash in which died his adulterous lover Fred Kellerman(Robert Posse) and she's interned into a mental hospital. Years later she moves at New Orleans boarding house whose proprietary is a blind young named Robert Duval(Stanko Molnar). The situation comes towards an incredible final, genuinely highlights plenty of horror, terror, quirky sex and macabre happening which arise some memorably horrific set-pieces.The film is reportedly based on real deeds.This macabre final packs tension, mystery,chills, thrills and scabrous scenes on its ending part.Gloomy and sinister plot with final'tour of force' is written by Pupi Avati, also terror movies director .First feature picture by Lamberto Bava is surprisingly made and startling visual content of his shockers. His camera stalks in sinister style throughout the Jane's room, Robert's room, up-stars and down-stars . Strikingly shot for the most part in a traditional mansion from New Orleans and are also well photographed streets, slums, wheel-ship and cemetery of the city . Very atmospheric color with shades of ochre and deep translucently orange-red by Franco Delli Colli , cameraman of ¨Last man on Earth, and Django kill¨. Compelling direction by Lamberto Bava, a terror films expert, such as he proved in ¨Demons 1, 2, A blade in the dark, Shark: red on the ocean¨, though today he only directs television movies : ¨Fantaghiro and following, Caribbean pirates¨ among others. Acceptable and passable atmospheric film-making from genre master Bava's son. A must see for horror fans

You gotta admit, the idea is ingeniously twisted in its simplicity...Jane (Bernice Stegers), an adulterous New Orleans housewife, is involved in a car crash that decapitates her lover. One year later, she is discharged from a mental hospital and returns to her lover's former residence, where she is lusted after by blind caretaker Robert (Stanko Molnar) and plagued by visits from her Greyhound-faced daughter Lucy (Veronica Zinny).Questions arise: What is the explanation for those lustful, lovemaking noises coming from the upstairs apartment? Why is Jane so protective of her freezer? Will Robert ever get a chance to tap that action? Will Lucy ever shut the f*ck up? With strong location shooting in New Orleans and an accompanying jazzy score, you can practically feel the sweltering menace in the air.True to its title, "Macabre" is generally restrained in tone, instead opting to create a very effective mood of overall bizarro. At its best, it has the feel of a polished anthology entry (such material would be right at home on "The Twilight Zone" or even "Masters of Horror"); at its worst, it feels overlong and silly. The third-act twist, while pretty predictable, works because the cast is so ravenously committed to the material. As a result, "Macabre" is a finely polished debut from Lamberto Bava (son of Mario), suspenseful and mysterious (in a supernatural kind of way), but just too overdrawn.