Macabre (1980) User Reviews

Mario Bava's son gives us (a) head...

[Jonny_Numb · 5/10 · 12 July 2006]

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.

It's warm in New Orleans, let's head for the freezer.

[coldwaterpdh · 7/10 · 1 January 2008]

For a debut film, "Macabre" is really impressive! After so much work with his father and with Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava really nailed down the horror genre with his first effort. The ending is so wicked. I'll never forget it! I also like the setting. In my opinion, it's hard to beat New Orleans for a horror movie setting. The city somehow just gives off the scary vibes. The acting is above par for Italian horror films of the early 80's, but it's still a little cheesy.

That having been said, "Macabre" moves excruciatingly slow in parts. I'm talking three minutes for one of the characters to open a door. It's tough to stay focused. But, if you can, the ending is pretty rad.

I've seen this for sale with another Lamberto Bava film, "A Blade in the Dark." I'd recommend getting it that way. I think it's actually cheaper than buying it solo like I did.

7 out of 10, kids.

Nice debut for Lamberto Bava, even better the second time

[udar55 · 7/10 · 1 May 2013]

I saw this as a kid and decided to revisit it as an adult. I'll say it definitely has more impact one me as an adult because I've lived through the mess of a girlfriend having an ex-boyfriend's head in the freezer. Uh, I mean, I am more mature and can understand the psychology of the film better. I barely remembered most of it with the car crash having the most impact on my brain cells. It still packs a wallop and Zinny is indeed one of the creepiest kids to grace Italian cinema from that era. The shot of her half smiling, half grimacing during the dinner scene is really good. What really stood out for me this time was, as Mark mentioned, Stanko Molnar's performance. He is really, really good in this. I also love the trumpet customer who knows no bounds when it comes to inappropriate talk. Like Neil Jordan's THE CRYING GAME, this takes on a completely different tone when you know the film's secret. I got a good laugh when Molnar comes to invite Stegers to dinner and she says, "Uh, I'm busy tonight."

The Finest Work of Lamberto Bava I've Seen Yet

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 1 September 2008]

Italian horror director Lamberto Bava's directorial debut, "Macabre" (sometimes called "Frozen Terror") is a tale of passionate obsession, murder, madness and some blind guy who fixes saxophones. A mother has a secret love, and the blind man slowly but surely stumbles upon it... which takes a bit longer when you're blind. And when he finds out who it is, things get a little creepy. Okay, a lot creepy.

This film has received some heavy criticism from horror historians Travis Crawford and Jim Harper, and for my review I'd like to address their concerns, as I believe they've made some crucial points.

Crawford is mostly praising in his words, calling this film "a humid hothouse hybrid of Tennessee Williams and Edgar Allan Poe", but questions Bava's ability to create his own work. He points to Bava's own words, giving credit to Pupi Avati, a more accomplished Italian director who co-wrote this film. Crawford says Avati "had a significant degree of input into the overall creation of the film", "shaped the stylistic approach" and even "dictated" the "restrained, subtle technique". With Avati also being the one to find the newspaper article on which the story is based, it seems as though this should be credited as his work, with Bava as more of an assistant or apprentice.

Crawford notes that it would be "cynical" to point out that Bava's best work came under the guidance of an accomplished director, or even to say that his other notable film -- the "Demons" series -- were supervised by Dario Argento. But cynical or not, and as much credit as Bava deserves, it's a fair statement to say that his collaborations are much stronger than his solo career. (With regards to "Demons", the style is certainly not like Argento's other work, so how much credit he deserves is debatable.) Harper is also critical. While highlighting this as "a complex and increasingly bizarre tale", he pins the style as reminiscent of Mario Bava, Lamberto's father. Like Crawford, he also notes that Bava's films went downhill after "Demons 2" (1986), when Bava went solo. Where I agree most with Harper is his labeling of the "unfortunate" ending as the "only truly sour note". I can't reveal what the ending is, but it doesn't fit the film at all and takes what would otherwise be a great film and lowers it to slightly better than average. A shame... perhaps it would have been best to cut the last few minutes entirely.

If you're looking for a mystery that paces itself and has a few very gory moments, "Macabre" is a worthy choice. While not on par with Argento's work, or Fulci's, it's a solid effort from Lamberto Bava and any Italian horror fan will like it. Others may be turned off by the slow pace, poor dubbing and inferior sound and picture quality (a staple of Italian film for some reason). Why won't more Italian films come with subtitles? Enjoyment of this film is a matter of taste. But the rich depth of these characters is a welcome change of pace from the splatter scene.

Impressive debut feature from Lamberto Bava

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 13 May 2014]

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.

Never Check The Freezer.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 4/10 · 5 October 2011]

Since finding out from Tim Lucas's interesting commentary for Mario Bava's, stunning,"First ever Giallo" The Girl Who Knew Too Much (also reviewed),that his son Lamberto had followed in his footsteps,I have been very interested in taking a look at his work.

With family friend Guy Morgan (who sadly suddenly passed away in 2019) having recently talked in 2011 about his mixed feelings over Lamberto Bava's second "official" film (A Blade In the Dark-also reviewed),I decided that the best place for me to start was right at the beginning...

View on the film:

Getting co-writer (with Antonio Avati ,Robeto Gandus & fellow film maker Pupi Avati) Lamberto Bava's (solo) directing debut out of the freezer, the writers serve up the impression of "too many cooks in the kitchen" ,that leaves the film to be pulled into two parts,with the first part being a pretty good Gothic Horror,that allows Bava to build up some tension,as he shows Duval attempting to repress his feelings for Jane, (which is performed by a great Stanko Molnar-who is one of the main things that helps to keep this movie together)and uses some well-placed sweeping camera shoots,to show the increasing fear of Duval,as he gets closer to discovering what is being hidden in the fridge.

Sadly,any tense moments in the film are badly damaged from the huge "Erotic Thriller" elements of the film that never truly sizzles. Partly due to the pretty cliché sounding Sax score,but mostly due to Bava unexpectedly not being able to create that much "heat" between the two main characters,which ends up making the suggestive moments in the film not feel hot,but instead freezing cold.

Final view on the film:

An entertaining Gothic mystery Horror,with a good performance from Molnar,let down by the strangely over-cooked "Erotic" Thriller sections of the film.

Lamberto's dad would be proud

[Jerry-93 · 6/10 · 8 November 1999]

After Mario Bava died, his son Lamberto, who worked on all his dad's movies, pretty much had to go out on his own if he wanted to continue in film making. So, go out on his own he did, and this odd entry is his first attempt at filmmaking without the Godfather of Italian Horror by his side.

The plot is an easy one: a woman is having a affair, unbeknownst to her husband and children. After having found out her son has drowned, the woman and her lover race to the hospital, get in a car wreck, and the lover is rather messily decapitated by a guard rail. A year later, the woman is released from an asylum, now separated from her husband, and takes up residence in her old love nest. Her blind landlord, who has a thing for the woman, becomes suspicious when he hears the woman talking to (he presumes) a man, and the sounds of making love. What he doesn't know (or see) is that the woman is actually carrying on an affair with her dead lover's severed head. You can't even imagine where it goes from there.

Like his father before him, Lamberto loves to throw logic out the window (how did she get the head if she was locked in a asylum?). The movie is well shot and effectively staged (style over substance is the Italian gold standard). Stegers is a very strange looking woman, and she scares me, frankly. Posse plays a convincing blind man (although whoever dubbed his dialogue has all of the charisma of a corpse). The only real problem with the movie (besides the terrible shock ending) is the annoying subplot involving Steger's psychotic daughter (she drowned her baby brother, and is the first to find out the truth about her mother's "new" lover). Worth a look for genre fans; others will be rather freaked out by the odd subject matter.

Macabre indeed

[chrichtonsworld · 5/10 · 21 February 2010]

When it is indicated that a movie is based on a true story I always am very hesitant to watch such a movie. True stories can be more shocking but most of the time it often is exaggerated. So I always try to ignore the true story angle in order to enhance the viewing experience. "Macabro" is in fact a very simple story with only one mystery. While it has the illusion of being so much more there is no depth at all. The background on the characters is very minimal and in this case much needed to intensify our empathy towards them. Without it most of the main characters seem a bit off. The buildup in tension is decent. The problem is the mystery itself. It just isn't compelling enough to sit through 90 minutes. I agree with the comments given on this board that it would have suited more as a 30 minute episode part of an anthology film or series like "Tales of the unexpected","Twilight Zone" or something similar. The ending is pretty interesting to say the least but hardly surprising although it was intended to. And it can be debated if it was necessary to end like this. I am not out on that one. "Macabro" isn't your typical giallo and will therefore disappoint many fans of this genre. But overall this movie can be entertaining.

Decent Horror from Lamberto Bava

[thalassafischer · 7/10 · 16 July 2023]

It's not Fulci's The Beyond but Macabre is a solid old fashioned horror flick where pretty much everyone is wacko, which is one hundred percent accurate for the deep South.

I wouldn't say this flick frightened me but it is genuinely creepy, not to mention completely gross towards the end. Macabre lives up to its name and fortunately, unlike Lamberto's second project, this film has many of the stylistic elements of Italian films from the 1970s. I definitely would not call this a giallo, though.

The girl who plays Lucy is legitimately hateable and that's no small feat for a child actress. I also genuinely felt for poor Robert.

Head

[Kaliyugaforkix · 5/10 · 4 June 2011]

I love eccentric Italian horror. Not much thought to restraint or good taste, or even simple logic, just go-for-the -jugular, style over substance that after countless years of bland Western movies is very endearing. The maestros of these forgotten pics (the talented or really ballsy ones anyway) offered visionary set pieces that really stood out from the original mainstream flicks they imitated. The first Italian director I discovered was Lucio Fulci, stumbling on a fuzzy, out-of-print videotape of GATES OF HELL which I took away to digest (in the children's ward of my local hospital no less...).

Having read of the insane moments of the director's oeuvre, I eagerly anticipated the grisly highlights (and for anyone whose seen it, they'll have no doubt I wasn't disappointed by the vomitorium on display).I will always treasure Lucio's Gothic cheese operas as the crimson cream of this crop, but that doesn't rule out the other directors who tried their hand concocting bizarre, gaudy delights. I mean, where else can you find such a cavalier attitude towards the wholesome subjects of multiple child murder, necrophilia and cannibalism?

Lamberto Bava, Son of Mario, helms this quirky descent into madness, and it works nicely if somewhat restrained in the excess department. Perhaps that makes it ideal for beginners not wishing to jettison their stomachs over something stronger like GATES and it's brethren. After the double tragedy of the year previous, Jane, divorced mother of now one rents a room in decaying manor owned by a blind handyman. However, all is not as it seems (when is it ever) and before he knows it, the hapless young man is pulled into a perverse family melodrama.

The pace of MACABRE is slow and the plot lacks thrust, but as a more free-flowing attempt at establishing a certain mood instead of a tightly plotted cliff hanger, it mostly works. The lack of goings-on makes it that much more impactive when something nasty does rear its ugly head. In fact, its pretty easy to see how this could've started out as an elaborate sick joke.The opening 10 minutes have an eerie mundane-ness like the calm before a storm. It's somewhat overlong at an hour an a half and some tighter editing could have reduced the padding. There seems to be an awful lot of the characters simply plodding along with their daily routines. Plus the dubbing is eye-gougingly irritating, sadly par for course for a lot of these foreign efforts. Noticeable as well is the setting of New Orleans, which American or not, still feels like Italian soil. Not quite a bad thing, it's interesting to see how a director interprets an alien land. The movie relies too heavily on its surprise ending and I could see that definitely diminishing the enjoyment upon repeat viewings, but overall Bava's debut is a respectable, little grand-guignol flick in the tradition of his legendary daddy, barring the out-of-left-field shock ending which, in light of the very worldly conflict of the preceding 90 minutes, lacks any real bite.

Nice Gothic debut from Lamberto Bava!

[The_Void · 8/10 · 22 May 2006]

Macabre is a surprisingly relaxed and retrained debut from Lamberto Bava, a horror director famous for schlock including the rock-fuelled gore-fest 'Demons'. The film is supposedly based on actual events that happened in Los Angeles and the story certainly lives up to the title of the film. Lamberto Bava had a lot to live up to with his debut film, given the brilliance of his father, Mario Bava, and while this film isn't on par with his father's best efforts; Lamberto can be proud of his debut film. The film takes place largely in one location; a large mansion owned by a blind man, and this provides a perfect setting for a story as grim as this one. The plot takes in themes of lust, depravity and insanity and follows a mother whose daughter drowns her only son in a bathtub whilst she is spending time with her illicit lover. While on their way back to the house after learning of the 'accident', her lover is killed in a car crash and the events take their toll on the unfortunate mother, who spends the next year in a mental institution. Upon her release, she returns to her boyfriend's home...

Like many Italian thrillers, this one suffers from amazingly poor dubbing; which features some of the worst accents ever seen on screen. That being said, the acting is rather good; with Bernice Stegers convincing as the insane mother, and Veronica Zinny, in her only film role, coming across nicely as her similarly twisted daughter. Stanko Molnar (who also starred in Lamberto's A Blade in the Dark) convinces as the blind man and rounds off the central cast nicely. The action is always restrained, and Lamberto Bava relies on suspense to keep the plot moving. It has to be said that this film isn't as exciting as many Giallo films, but the slow plot comes good in the end as the director boils down to a satisfying conclusion. The central idea behind the plot has been done many times before, but it doesn't matter because it's well done in this film. The director would go on to top this film three years later with the excellent A Blade in the Dark, although on the whole it's a better film than 1987's Delirium. The film is well directed throughout, and while it's not exactly a horror classic; fans of Italian cinema will no doubt find this a satisfying movie overall.

Skilled start

[Polaris_DiB · 7/10 · 2 October 2008]

Mario Bava's son Lamberto Bava takes the reins of directing to mostly successful effect. In this tension-building horror, a woman leaves her children behind to meet with her lover, only to end the day with her son and lover dead. A year of institutionalism later, she returns to the set of her affair in the house of the blind man Robert, and creepy things begin happening... to Robert, it seems like a visitor is coming and having a sexual affair with the woman in the night, but nobody's entering the house. Is she possessed? Is it a ghost? Or is she herself pulling her old forays right out of the grave to continue them as if nothing ever happened?

Macabre is interesting because it actually lives up to expectations in unexpected ways. Basically, Bava the Younger shows off strength in the way he paces his reveals. He gives the viewer just enough time to guess what is behind the door, in the freezer, or up the stairs, and then actually shows it as if it's already revealed. By the time you actually see what's going on, you no longer want it to be the case; it's terrible to be so right all the time. In the meantime, the relationships developed among Robert, the woman, and the woman's daughter provide more than enough dramatic tension to earn the sensationalistic thrills.

So overall the movie is a decent, dark little idiosyncratic horror movie. There are some massive plot holes ("We visit his grave every year" -- interesting habit to have when he hasn't even been dead an entire year yet), some less-well-paced scenes ("This room needs a woman's touch"), and a dishearteningly dumb twist for its final shot ("Robert Duval's death remains a mystery"). But a horror movie seen from the perspective of a blind man, a crazy woman, and her proto-psychopathic daughter is well worth at least a first viewing for horror buffs.

--PolarisDiB

Restrained...oddly enough

[timhayes-1 · 5/10 · 2 September 2007]

Macabre a.k.a. Frozen Terror is the debut feature from Lamberto Bava, the son of famed horror director Mario Bava. Fans may recognize the name from his later collaborations with Dario Argento, Demons and Demons 2. Unlike those two films, which relish in their over the top grue and violence at hyper kinetic speed, Macabre is a slow build film that tends to lean more towards the slow build school of creating suspense. The story is simple and actually based around a true story from New Orleans in the 70s. A woman is in a car accident with her adulterous lover and the lover is decapitated. One year later, the woman is released from the mental asylum and returns to the apartment where her and her lover would rendezvous. Not a lot happens until the final third of the film, but it goes by quick enough and there is the air of dread that Bava creates quite effectively. When the reveal is made, its not much of a shock but the film is handled well enough that that fact can be overlooked. What truly brings the film down however, is some horrid dialogue and some equally atrocious acting by the young girl who plays the woman's daughter. All in all, considering the subject of the film, it is a quite restrained effort and a notable debut.

Appropriate title!

[punishmentpark · 6/10 · 25 May 2015]

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.

"Once she kept a lover on the side. But that's nothing compared to what she's keeping in the freezer."

[Backlash007 · 9 September 2007]

~Spoiler~

I've always loved the first two Demons films and wanted to see more of Lamberto Bava's work. So far, I've not been terribly impressed. The Demons franchise may be his only great movies. Macabre does not do much to change my opinion. It definitely is one of the most offbeat movies I've seen though. There's not much horror to it, but there are horrifying scenes. I'm going to get into some heavy spoilers here because I have to stress just how bizarre this one is. The story is about a woman who is cheating on her husband. The second her husband leaves on a business trip, she abandons her two children and runs to be with her lover. Her daughter takes revenge by drowning her little brother in the bathtub. She calls her mother and tells her what happened. The mother and her lover, while racing back to the house, are involved in an accident where the lover is decapitated. A year later the mother moves in with her lover's blind brother and strange things start happening. Yes, stranger than I've already described. The mother keeps the decapitated head locked in the freezer and makes love to it every night while the blind brother is trying to figure out what in the hell is going on in his house. That's the movie in a nutshell. The pacing is really slow and the dubbing is horrid. Also, you know what's going on long before Bava tells you. But it's still quite shocking and the ending is the best part. The last frames will either having you splitting with laughter or confused as hell, or both! It will be the only thing I take away from this movie. I hope A Blade in the Dark is better than this.

this one is way out in left field...

[joshm1977 · 6/10 · 19 January 2006]

I recently purchased this movie along with blade in the dark on a double disk and I had purchased this to see blade in the dark, well after not being to awfully impressed by that one I thought this one would really blow chunks but I thought what the hay I'll give it a shot. I was surprised by this movie it had hardly no action in it and I still didn't fall asleep, I was watching this flick and couldn't turn it off something about will keep you watching it, but I still don't know what that is. I will say I thought this one was better than blade in the dark but neither one are a true masterpiece. demons is still the best lamberto bava film.

Don't look in the fridge!

[james_trevelyan · 3/10 · 27 October 2005]

In fact, don't look at this at all, unless you are a Lamberto Bava/horror aficionado. This is the story of a woman who, following a car wreck in which her lover is decapitated, removes the aforementioned lover's sconce from the scene of the accident and stores it in her freezer. Presumably she does this to keep the noggin nice and fresh. Interestingly enough, this film was inspired by actual events; apparently the real-life incident occurred in New Orleans.

'Macabre' is boring and bloodless. Sure, it is pretty atmospheric, but where oh where is the bloody payoff?! Lucio Fulci's 'City of the Living Dead' had atmosphere to burn, but it also boasted some of the most extreme gore in film history. And, this being Fulci, the balance of the two was just right. 'Macabre' just crawls along inexorably without anything to recommend it. Although... I wonder if this movie inspired the head-in-the-refrigerator opening sequence of 'Friday the 13th Part 2'. It probably did.

There is certainly nothing in 'Macabre' to suggest that its director, Lamberto Bava (son of the legendary Italian horror auteur Mario Bava), would go on to helm the far superior 'A Blade in the Dark' AKA 'House of the Dark Staircase', which he made three years after this yawnfest.

Sadly, 'Macabre' is the kind of film you watch late at night while pleasantly toasted. You fall asleep and, when you awake - no doubt somewhat the worse for wear! - you watch what you missed, only to find that you need not have bothered.

The first gem from Lamberto Bava is not on par with his father's body of work, but overall it's decently scary and mind-boggling at the same time.

[mazec666 · 6/10 · 1 May 2012]

Long before scoring his first international successes with DEMONS (1985) and DEMONS 2 (1986), Lamberto Bava directed this steamy, but imperfect tale of murder, madness and necrophilia.

A philandering wife named Jane Baker (Bernice Stegers) constantly has numerous affairs with a man unbeknownst to her family. Unfortunately, her happiness becomes short-lived when he gets fatally injured in a car accident which leaves Jane completely traumatized. After staying at a mental institution for nearly a year, Jane decides to continue her forbidden, murderous desires without suffering the consequences.

The reviews about this movie have ranged from mixed to positive so far, but I can why MACABRE kind of fails on many levels. The beautiful and shapely Stegers gives her character a borderline, over-the-top performance that's not Shakespearean by any means, but at least she makes the movie worthwhile and watchable. Does anybody else think that Bernice Stegers looks like a deranged version of Susan Sarandon? Or is it just me? And what about that blind landlord named Robert Duval (yep, that's the character's name) played by Stanko Molnar. Does he look like the illegitimate father of Cillian Murphy or what? And who could forget our little child thespian Veronica Zinny who does nothing but talk, complain, talk and complain. Jesus, Alyssa Milano's acting is Oscar-caliber compared to her. On the other hand, the dubbing is hilariously amusing as the voice actors attempt to do American Southern accents with comical results.

On a positive note, the film does exceed on the technological side. The jazzy score is reminiscent of Jerry Goldsmith's music for CHINATOWN with some comforting percussions. The cinematography is classy and sophisticated, but the editing is a little choppy.

MACABRE could've had the potential to be a Spaghetti Slasher classic, but it's the acting that really brought the whole movie down a notch. It does have an intriguing premise, atmospheric tone, and a shockingly, creative twist without resorting to the usual American slasher film formula.

The first gem from Lamberto Bava is not on par with his father's body of work, but overall it's decently scary and mind-boggling at the same time.

Mysterious and horrifying atmosphere and intense sequences of terror and shocking in its ending

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 12 December 2008]

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

Creepy and different.

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 3 March 2019]

It's notable that Lamberto Bava's debut was released in the middle of the Italian splatter era, and yet it's fairly restrained. Don't worry though - the subject matter is appropriately sick. In fact, this is one of most bizarre love stories you'll ever see.

In what at first seems like it is a prologue to another film, Bernice Stegers watches her husband leave for work, then telephones someone who is obviously her lover. Telling her gardner to keep an eye on her two children, Bernice heads for a guesthouse run by blind Stanko Molnar, where she meets her lover Fred. Bernice's daughter Lucy is no fool however, and 'phones the guesthouse looking for her mother. Soon after being given the brush off, Lucy drowns her brother in the bath and phones her mother again to tell her that her son had drowned in the bath by accident. Rushing home in a car driven by Fred, Bernice is caught up in a car crash that kills Fred.

A year later, Bernice is released from a mental hospital, seemingly cured. She heads straight for the guesthouse and sets up shop there, much to Stanko's delight. He thinks he's in with a chance, but that night he hears Bernice welcome home Fred and have noisy sex while Stanko looks confused. Has she got another lover called Fred? Is she just insane? Or has Fred come back from the dead?

Unlike his father, Lamberto Bava is a much more erratic director. For every fun-fest like Demons, we also get the unbearable The Ogre. Macabre at first seems as if its going to be a boring slog, but the whole strange set up is fascinating and the twist is a killer (if you act like Stanko's character and open the DVD case without having the artwork spoil the film for you). Due to being blind, Stanko doesn't quite know what to make of all the strange noise and strange behaviour (and he can even see the shrine Bernice built for Fred). Bernice Stegers puts in a good turn as the lady who can put on a front while possibly being totally insane, but her daughter puts her to shame in that respect, being a scheming, evil kid manipulating poor Stanko and her own father to get her own way.

There's not much gore, but I wonder if Peter Jackson was taking notes when he used that 'ear in the custard' bit for Brain Dead. The only thing slightly off is the forced New Orleans accents used to dub the actors. Still, a good debut.

nothing happens

[trashgang · 4/10 · 30 December 2010]

Is it me or is there really something wrong with the Italian flicks. Just take a look at it, it's like most of those giallo's and other much acclaimed flicks. A kill in the beginning, then nothing happens and the last 15 minutes things get started. This here is the first flick from Lamberto Bava (not exactly, he did new scene's for (1974) Cani arrabbiati and the first flick he did was for television, (1979) La Venere d'Ille). Let's face it, it's made in 1980, we already had The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980)and they really were scary and things were happening all through the film. The so-called necro scene's, well, you just don't see anything, sometimes you see a head but then it's too late. The creepiest part is maybe the scene were a girl drowns her little brother. Bernice Stegers, not much know about her, gives the best she can, and goes nude most of the time. Really, when the fridge shows his secrets you already have seen too much of blah blah. Macabre? Not for me.

A kinky and disturbing offering that definitely lives up to its name

[happyendingrocks · 8/10 · 9 October 2012]

Lamberto Bava's directorial debut is a relatively restrained affair compared to the continuances of the Giallo family legacy he would become best known for, but in terms of gruesome and shocking content Macabre is a tough act to follow, and it's a safe bet that even if the heir apparent had never made another movie after this one, his name would still be well-remembered by genre fans today. Though the meticulously measured pace here is more in line with a straight thriller than a horror film, there's no ignoring Macabre's startling potency as an unsavory slice of of repugnant ribaldry, and the deeply erotic underscoring of the main storyline makes the resolution of the plot all the more unsettling when it arrives.

The film follows the morbid journey of Jane Baker, a bored housewife who regards her relationships with her dull husband and two intrusive children as unwelcome distractions from the adulterous embrace of her younger lover, Fred. After leaving her kids unattended at her house so she can steal away and meet her lothario, Jane shares a passionate carnal exchange with Fred while his landlord listens on in the next room. Meanwhile, Jane's in-the-know sociopathic preteen daughter opts to spoil her forbidden visit by issuing perhaps the loudest cry for help ever heard: the lass sadistically drowns her younger brother in the bathtub. When Jane is contacted at Fred's apartment and told about her son's death, her and Fred race to the scene. Unfortunately for her, and more unfortunately for Fred, the duo is involved in a brutal car accident on the way, which results in Fred being decapitated by a metal guardrail that flies through the windshield.

Mind you, this all occurs before the film even hits the ten minute mark, but the bleak opening that launches Macabre only scratches the surface of the grisly tidings in store for us here.

Jumping forward a year, Jane is released from a sanitarium and quickly engages in a course of conduct that reveals she is most assuredly not cured. She moves into the apartment formerly occupied by her deceased lover and promptly sets up a creepy shrine featuring mementos of their relationship, the centerpiece of which is a photograph of him that she stares at while she pleasures herself. Clearly, her desire for Fred has not abated despite his debilitating deadness, and as her madness takes center stage, she begins having conversations with him as if he were still alive and spicing up their postmortem trysting by shopping for lingerie to wear during their special intimate time. Meanwhile, the amorously interested landlord, who's blind but not stupid, starts to grow suspicious about the amount of time Jane spends up in her room moaning in ecstasy and screaming "Fred! Fred!" over and over again, and he begins unraveling the truth of her sinister secret.

If you already know the final twist in store here, I'm not sure how much impact the film's climactic sequence will have for you. I was lucky enough to see Macabre before I had the reveal ruined for me, so I'll refrain from sharing anything about it in the hopes that you'll have the same chillingly rewarding experience that I did. However, in case you have stumbled across the spoiler, I would like to mention that I'm banging out this write-up after watching Macabre for the second time, and I've discovered that knowing how this tale ends does not strip the happenings of their jarring and visceral power.

Bava obviously studied the work of the genre's masters very closely, and the intricately crafted suspense that drives the film makes Macabre a truly engrossing and memorable experience. The director opts to let the story speak for itself, eschewing flashy camera-work and psychedelic lighting in favor of a more straight-forward and wholly realistic narrative presentation, an approach that serves the material well. You can feel free to grumble about the occasionally intrusive dubbing and the overblown performance by the young actress who plays Jane's daughter, but as a whole Bava coaxes impressive and believable performances out of his leads, which greatly augments the assertive "based on a true story" tag at the beginning of the film.

Don't get me wrong, Macabre certainly isn't perfect and its flaws are glaring. While the payoff for the main puzzle is huge, once the revolting facts are revealed and there are still 20 minutes of run-time left to fill, the climax has almost nowhere to go, so the third act spirals into implausible hysterics. There's also the dicey predicament of the blind landlord, who is repeatedly led on and humiliated by Jane, yet still opts not to call the authorities once he discovers she's bat-guano insane. The final frame is a real head-scratcher too, and while the scene injects one last jump into the movie, it also undermines much of our understanding about the events which unfold here.

However, for most of its reels, Macabre sustains an aura of dread and darkness that borders on brilliance, and the measure of absolute sickness the film achieves is thoroughly impressive. Bava would eventually go onto more widely-beloved works than this, but as far as humble beginnings go Macabre was one hell of a way for him to lose his film-making virginity. The emphasis on story over gore may turn off fans looking for a more splatter-fueled excursion, but devotees who have a sincere appreciation for the more subtle shades of the genre will find a lot to like here. Highly recommended.

A mean-spirited and dull horror entry.

[gridoon · 3/10 · 3 June 2001]

Lamberto Bava, the son of Mario, made an unpromising directorial debut with this disappointing horror film that's (supposedly ?) based on an actual event. This was probably intended to be shocking its violence and provocative in its sex, but it's merely exploitative, unpleasant and ultimately dumb - not to mention deadly dull, since it lacks even the characteristic sense of visual style that is evident in other Italian thrillers (like "4 Flies on Grey Velvet", for example). (*1/2)

He ain't his Pappy, but he ain't half bad...

[jtk57 · 9 July 2001]

I saw this video under the title of "Frozen Terror", and I actually liked it, but it started so slowly that I was having some serious reservations for the first half. We start off with a very intense woman in New Orleans abandoning her children at home while she goes off to a love nest to have loud sex with a mustache-romeo. Things go downhill from there as her intense, evil-doing daughter commits a heinous crime against her own flesh and blood. In a rush to get home, Moms bed-buddy gets his just deserts courtesy of a protruding guardrail and she is put in a mental ward for 5 years. This Mother was one screwed up chick, and now she's even worse off, worshipping a makeshift altar to her dead lover and having, you guessed it, loud sex with... well I hate to be the spoiler here. As far as the other characters go, the daughter is totally wicked with a mean sadistic streak like she would be at home plucking the wings off flies or driving her parents insane. The blind guy with the nice eyes does a good job too, but I found myself wondering why the hell he would be so darn nosey?! If you couldn't see, would you be into poking around an apartment, sniffing for clues, while the off-her-nut occupant was right in the next room? This did make for some nervous moments. The ending was a shock, but seconds later was obviously very silly when you think about it. Yes there are plenty of plot holes but hey, this is Italian giallo cinema and some of us like our plots perforated, thank you. As far as production values go, the colors of the movie were kind of bland to me, especially in comparison to a movie like "Bay of Blood" by Pappa Bava. The clothes and interiors were shades of beige and brown.. who knows maybe I had an older transfer and the DVD is awesome? Lamberto makes some stabs at giving us a feel for the sleazy city of New Orleans, and is sometimes successful, such as when the "heroine" is wandering through the streets and is accosted by young street urchins, who give her the old "soft shoe" for good measure. Anyway, this movie has some cool parts and is somewhat entertaining, but the dragging portions weigh it down enough to make it probably a "one-time viewer" for genre fans.

A very strange horror film...

[MovieGuy01 · 7/10 · 10 October 2009]

I found the film Macabrae to be a very strange film, and quite disturbing as well. A New Orleans housewife leaves her daughter and son home alone so he can go and meet her lover. While driving with him, she receives a call that her son has died. She drives rushing to her house which results in a horrible accident. Her lover dies and she is sent to a mental institution to recover from the trauma. Upon her release from the mental institution a year later she moves into the boarding house where they would stay together. The landlord of the house has died and her blind son is left to maintain the house. he becomes attracted to her more each day then suddenly he feels that something is not quite right. he keeps hearing noises coming from the upstairs bedroom, almost as if someone was with the woman, this carries on for a few nights then he gets suspicious after going in to the kitchen. and finds the freezer door locked up, what he does not know is that she is carrying on her affair with hear dead lovers severed head!! this film i found to be disturbing in parts but was an enjoyable film