Sick Product of a Sick System

Good concept, poorly executed.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

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.

Jane is on her way to a boarding house with her lover leaving her children at home.Her daughter decides to take the opportunity to drown her brother in a bathtub.When receiving news of the "accident", the couple rush back but are involved in a car accident that decapitates the boyfriend.Years later Jane rents the room where she would have been staying with her lover.The only other occupant of the house,a blind man,starts to become suspicious of exactly what she's doing in her room at night and why the freezer is kept chained up…"Macabro" by Lamberto Bava is a sleazy and perverse fun.The action is slow-moving,but the final necrophilia scene has to be seen to be believed.8 decapitated heads out of 10.

~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.

New Orleans wife Jane Baker is secretly having a steamy affair, when one day she receives news of a terrible accident of one of her children. In the rush to get the hospital, her lover crashes the car and is decapitated. After spending time in a mental institution, she returns the boarding house to stay, which were she would meet her lover. The blind landlord Robert Duval holds a crush on her, but her affections are for someone else and when he hears her calling out her former lovers name every night. He knows something is not quite right. After the disappointment that was "A Blade in the Dark", I got around to watching Lamberto Bava's low-cost debut film "Macabre" and I was extremely entrenched by this sedate, tightly constructed Gothic horror oddity. The morbid premise is atypically straightforward, therefore predictable, but on the other hand strangely fascinating as the mood and atmosphere sweeps you up then trying for anything graphic and blaring with punch. Lamberto's stylish trimmings notably display an edgy, conniving sense of simmering tension amongst the chamber piece structure. Ubaldo Continiello's smoothly tailored jazz score of sorrow melts well with Franco Delli Colli's aesthetic handling of the agile photography. The editing gets the right feel. Writers Pupi Avati, Lamberto Bava, Antonio Avati and Roberto Gandus' twisted material dabbles successfully into the psychological obsession and passion of love (or maybe the perversely forbidden sexual fulfilment) and the increasing frustration for attention. Boy it's demented, and unusual. Just wait for the crackpot ending! The clear-cut script works well with its foreseeable, bleak mystery to keep you infatuated, by setting up a likable intimate protagonist Robert and rally up anxiety ridden situations. Bernice Stegers's performance of Jane smokes it up with an ever-growing desire and very assured impact. Stanko Molnar doesn't lose ground either, with his stupendous portrayal of Robert. Veronica Zinny potently gets on your nerves with a creepy turn as Jane's daughter Lucy.