MACABRE

MACABRE

(A.k.a. MACABRO; FROZEN TERROR)

Jane (Bernice Stegers) is Italian exploitation's answer to Kerry Katona - drinking spirits in the afternoon in her badboy lover's B&B room, while leaving the kids unattended at home. Back at the family home, her weird daughter Lucy (Veronica Zinny) torments her younger brother.

When Jane's illicit lover Fred (Roberto Posse) turns up, the pair waste no time in jumping into bed and rutting each other's brains out. This makes for fascinating listening downstairs for elderly landlady Mrs Duval (Elisa Kadigia Bove) and her seriously mollycoddled blind son Robert (Stanko Molnar) - an adult who is still bathed naked by his overbearing matriarch.

The fun ends when Jane receives a telephone call advising of an accident at home: Lucy has drowned her brother in the bathtub! Fred races Jane round to her house in his car but en route he collides into another vehicle and is decapitated - leaving Jane covered in blood and screaming.

Cut to "One year later" - Jane checks out of hospital in shades and makes her way straight back to the love-nest, where she is greeted at the entrance by Robert. Mrs Duval's passed away and he's gone to seed in the meantime, if his stubble and smelly-looking grey sweater are anything to go by.

Checking back into her lover's room, Jane spurns Robert's request to join him downstairs for dinner - instead turning her bedroom into a shrine to Fred and alarming her blind landlord through the ceiling with sexual moans of her departed fuck's name.

Then ex-husband Lesley (Fernando Pannullo) turns up to visit with daughter Lucy, who is as screwed up as her mother. She ingratiates herself with Robert while Jane and Lesley share an awkward conversation over tea. This ends with Jane becoming upset and Lesley walking out on her, dragging away Lucy - who promises to return.

And so, back to being alone in her room ... Jane sinks further into dementia as she stalks the streets at night; makes more strange noises in her room for a quietly obsessed Robert to muse over; bathes teasingly naked in front of Robert; and is repeatedly drawn back to something waiting for her under lock and key in the top of her fridge ...

Realising that the object of his affection is seriously unhinged, Robert starts to investigate further into the accident that ended in Jane being held in "Sacred Heart Mental Hospital suffering from shock".

Jane recognises Robert's suspicions and initially attempts to allay them by flirting with him. But things go awry when the demented Lucy keeps popping round to see Mummy, snooping around Jane's room in her absence. Unwisely, Robert becomes even more curious when Jane reacts furiously to her daughter's nosy nature ...

Marking Lamberto Bava's directorial feature debut, MACABRE is a slow-burning exercise in restraint that builds steadily in atmosphere in an agreeable manner - not too dissimilar to the style associated with his father Mario. Indeed, it could also be reasoned that MACABRE holds loosely thematic parallels to Bava Senior's own HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON.

However, the storyline for MACABRE is allegedly based on real-life events - we even get silly on-screen text at the film's close, TV-movie-style, attempting to lend an air of authenticity to proceedings. Hence the action is set in New Orleans just like the real story reputedly was (although the bulk of the film was shot on Italian soil) and co-scribed by Bava Junior with Avati brothers, Pupi and Antonio.

Despite a supposed basis in fact and the talent involved, the storyline is MACABRE's weakest facet. A potboiler relying too heavily on a silly twist that can be seen coming from far too early in the film, the plot feels like one best suited to a 30-minute episode of "Tales of the Unexpected" - and then stretched painfully to feature-length.

Much better, then, are Bava's direction and Stegers' commendably committed performance. Between them, the pair make the trite script work.

Bava shows an acute attention to small details, crafting a very giallo-like atmosphere during the film's early set-up. Building eerily with red herrings and quirky characters introduced skilfully along the way, the director shows self-discipline and pacing that he's not matched subsequently. MACABRE is Bava's best controlled effort, if not his most consistently entertaining (that accolade surely goes to DEMONS).

Stegers dives into her role with aplomb, offering a brave performance in many scenes where she's alone on the screen (and often skimpily clothed). The film's themes take on psycho-sexual analysis, and as such it's easy to compare Stegers' performance to that of Catherine Deneuve in Polanski's REPULSION. Granted, it's hammy in comparison to the latter, but the congruence can be felt.

With nicely saturated colours, decaying art design and an exaggerated score from Ubaldo Continiello that careens between porn-style lounge jazz and ripping off the strains of the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD soundtrack, MACABRE is a relatively bloodless yet nevertheless grim film of ultimately satisfying effect.

Overlooked as a gem of that minor sub-genre of necrophile horror films, MACABRE would suit a night's viewing that also incorporated LOVE ME DEADLY and BEYOND THE DARKNESS.

MACABRE is presented in a highly satisfactory 1.85:1 anamorphic presentation. The disc offers a fantastic picture playback of the film. Although this transfer is slightly darker than that proffered on the Region 1 disc (from Blue Underground and, prior to that, Anchor Bay US), this presentation is much deeper in terms of colour and also sharper in detail. There is minor print damage such as specks on infrequent occasions but, with minimal grain and a smooth texture throughout, it's the best I've seen the film look.

The English mono soundtrack is a tad muffled and quiet. Dialogue does not come across as strongly as the music, and the overall effect is uneven as a result. I also noticed a couple of unfortunate 'pops' on the soundtrack. It's not a travesty by any means, but is worth noting nevertheless.

The disc opens with an attractive animated main menu page that immediately recalls the menu employed on THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY's disc. It's nice to see that there is a uniform pattern emerging here.

Likewise, the static scene-selection menu which offers 9 chapters follows suit.

Extras begin with a 30-second introduction at the beginning of the film from Bava, announcing that this marks MACABRE's 30th anniversary.

"Macabre and the Golden Age of Italian Exploitation" is an 11-minute featurette covering MACABRE and it's place in the rise of violence in Italian exploitation films. If this sounds like an awkward coupling of subjects, then it is. The link between Bava discussing the making of MACABRE (all too brief) and narrator Simon Boyes telling us how controversial CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST was/is is tenuous at best.

But it's still an enjoyable if short walk through clips from MACABRE and trailers for the likes of HORROR OF DRACULA, THE RETURN OF THE GLADIATORS, BLACK SUNDAY, THE VIRGIN OF NUREMBERG and MONDO CANE. Joe Dante is at hand to speak enthusiastically about his pasta-loving compadres, while Lamberto Bava and Ruggero Deodato both speak in broken English with forced yellow English subtitles for those of us that can't cope with accents. The featurette is presented in English audio, in anamorphic 1.85:1.

MACABRE's original theatrical trailer is an old-fashioned hoot, clocking in at 2 minutes in length. It's also presented in anamorphic 1.85:1, with English audio. Be warned - it's riddled with spoilers!

A photo gallery serves 10 stills from the film accompanied by the fine original score. These are presented over the course of a leisurely 2 minutes.

Within the white keepcase, you'll find a beguiling foldout poster of the new DVD artwork.

Beyond that, "Master of Demons" is a glossy 12 page fold-out booklet which benefits from a good interview with Lamberto Bava, along with a healthy dose of colour photographs highlighting MACABRE's seedier elements.

Finally, the reversible double-sided sleeve deserves special mention. Kudos once again to Arrow/Cult Labs for providing the original video cover artwork as an alternate cover. It's very nice indeed.

This is another nice release from Arrow and Cult Labs then, and another fine genre film that finally gets to see the light of day on UK DVD. Recommended.

Review by Stu Willis


 
Released by Arrow Video
Region 2 - PAL
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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