Macabre

MACABRE is one of those tasty blood-gushingly psychological tortures in three neat and tidy acts. Even the trailer is hard to watch without looking away. Act One has two newly weds, Adjie and Astrid, with three of their best friends. Chill out, relax in Bandung, Indonesia. Head for Jakarta, but give a lift home to a strange girl who says she's been robbed. In her mother's house, we enter the pristine, bourgeois world of Dara, who insists on repaying kindness with food and drink. And torture. Once drugged, our guests enter a blood-dripping, nightmarish world of no escape, their bodies neatly sliced one by one and professionally packaged. Astrid gives birth. Dara's calm, sophisticated composure never breaks its stride. She coolly empathises with Astrid's pain before pointing out that baby and hubby will experience even more. Viewing permitted. As the film is introduced at the end of a all-night film programme, we are told not to worry if we are already tired. The plot is simple and nothing to fret over. "Pink blobs are people, red buckets are blood, and whirring things are chainsaws." A classic story where the point isn't revealed till the end, and the suspense, sadistic pain, and surreal nastiness doesn't stop for a second. A satisfying if rather colourful conclusion to the long night at Edinburgh's Dead By Dawn horror film festival.

Have you seen a recent french movie called "Inside" (International title)? If you have and enjoyed it, you will also enjoy this one. A "fun" and very bloody movie, that definitely is not for the faint-hearted.

But it takes it's time to get started. If you can "wait" for 20 minutes or so, the "ride" will start and you can lean back and enjoy. It's not overly plotted or has any real good acting in it, but then again, do you really need those things, in a movie like this? Of course it has quite some flaws, but again, if you let yourself go with the flow on this one, you can enjoy it. Just know what you watch, if you like those kinda things and you will have a good time.

One of the highlights of my Cannes 2010 festival, Macabre dishes up the deaths in very assured and bloodily violent form. In a nutshell: 6 young people end up trapped in a house with a very nasty matriarch and her equally nasty offspring. Yes, there is a reason why the baddies do what they do, but you need to see the film for that!

It's true, as has already been posted here, Macabre does not break any new ground and perhaps jaded palettes will find little here to their taste, but like a well engineered German car, the film delivers the goods in messy style. Breaking with, say, the US tradition, those whom you think would or deserve to survive, do not, nor does the order of their going follow typical genre rules. Unlike in British horror films there is also no humour to alleviate the situation, although local audiences will clearly get a laugh from the stupidly bumbling police - I found them overplayed and irritating - who fortunately also provide more fodder for the maniacs!

"Macabre" is a very entertaining horror movie that had managed to sneak under my radar until now. And I really have been missing out on something great here.

First of all, this is not your average Asian horror movie; so don't expect any ladies in white dresses with their hair covering their faces. It was really refreshing to see an Asian slasher horror movie of this caliber. Lots of blood here and a good amount of scenes that will make you squirm.

Secondly, then this movie is really intense, and the Mo Brothers (Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto) really stepped up and delivered a great movie here under their directorial skills. And it was a great breath of fresh air to the Asian horror genre.

The story is about six friends on their way from Bandung to Jakarta when they stop to help a distressed young woman named Maya. Inviting them back to her home to show her gratitude, the six friends are introduced to Maya's mother Dara, and they are in for a night that will abruptly change and end their lives forever.

The acting in "Macabre" was really good, and everyone were doing really great jobs. But one stood out more than the rest; Shareepa Daanish in the role of Dara. She was simply phenomenal.

"Macabre" is a well-worthy addition to any horror fan's movie collection. And it most definitely is worth watching because it is a very unique Asian horror movie. And with this movie, the Mo Brothers definitely put Indonesia on the horror movie map.

Newly-weds Adjie and Astrid, Adjie's sister Ladya and a few of their friends fall prey to the wicked cannibal family led by evil Dara in the Mo-Brothers directed 'Macabre'. While the scenario is inspired from various cult-slashers of the late 70s and early 80s, the treatment is what makes it stand its own ground.

'Macabre' is indeed a lot more violent and gory film than you'd expect. The first 30 minutes neatly sets up the premise and nastiness follows suit. There are some skilfully choreographed kills and the writing is campy enough to draw cheers from the viewer. Although one initially hesitates to root for the protagonists as they consistently seem to be making bad decisions, the latter half is executed with sufficient flair. There are quite a few edge-of- the-seat moments.

Julie Estelle as Ladya puts up a good effort while Shareefa Daanish who plays Dara is menacing. Shareefa's striking features add to the character: her wide eyes and stone-faced expression (until the climax), her unhurried movement and other-worldly tone of speech are intimidating. The rest of the ensemble do their best with what's handed out to them. The violence is gratuitous (easily on par with Rob Zombie's films); dialogues are sparsely used to convey the intentions and emotions of the antagonists. In fact a lot more is conveyed through expressions and actions than through excessive babbling. This helps 'Macabre' carve out a niche of its own in the slasher genre.

Recommended for the lovers of horror, gore and slasher films. This definitely ain't for the weak-hearted!