Macabre

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!

I came across this film when I was reading the message boards for ABC's of Death. One of the directors made this movie Macabre a few years ago and for some strange reason, it flew completely under my radar. It was difficult to find a copy with English hardcoded subtitles, but I eventually found one. In a gory scale of 1 to 10, this Indonesian film comes in around 15. We're talking seriously bizarre, gory violence. The film is basically about a group of friends that pick up a girl, stranded on the side of the road, and take her home where her unusually young looking mother invites them to stay for dinner. That's all you need to know because as you can imagine, after that point, things get nuts. If you've seen many horror movies from any of the Asian countries, the subject matter will be familiar. The story is nothing super original, it's still good, but it's definitely been done before. The gore, on the other hand, is pretty gnarly. Especially the last 20 minutes… If you have an appetite for gore and an iron stomach, you're gonna want to drop this one in your Netflix queue.

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"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.

I've never seen an Indonesian film before, and the last film I'd expect from there is some gory horror film as I know they're a very conservative country who even reject Lady Gaga! Macabre is much more sickening than Gaga. The formula has been used many times before but to me it's far from tired. I love horror films that take place in a house run by a demented, murdering family. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Frontiers come to mind (both are favourites of mine) and Macabre offers quite an impressive and thrilling spin! We've all heard the story before, but a lot of films tend to get it very wrong, focusing on way too much exposition before getting down to the horror. Macabre gets down to it quite quickly, giving us an interesting half hour build up before all hell breaks loose! The great thing about Macabre is that it is never boring, there is always something going on very much like the remake of Mother's Day. One big problem with Macabre is that it's over-populated with way too many characters who all look very similar, or don't really have much character to them. Macabre lacks the character development that is needed in the slasher department, however that's not to say that aren't some character's to root for.

At one point the film becomes so over-populated it's nay on impossible to tell what's going on! However, part of Macabre's entertainment value lies in its chaos. Make no mistake, Macabre is an extremely solid and very re-watchable horror film that would be perfect for those nights where you have a little party! It's a non-stop roller-coaster ride which serves up some extremely nasty treats. The character of Dara is memorably creepy and she's certainly a person you would not like to mess with. Her wide eyes, scraped-back hair and slow mechanical voice makes her a fantastic villain and one that you're not likely to forget.

Another great thing about Macabre is that it has a very similar idea to blood and gore as French horror. That means it doesn't hold back! I think every scene features some pretty horrific gore which all adds to the entertainment and thrills. There are some really great practical effects, and inventive kills that should have horror fans drooling at the mouth. Macabre has been likened to Inside but I personally don't see that, other than there being a pregnant character in both films, and both showing a liberal idea to the use of blood, Macabre is much more Frontiers-esque. However, I don't think that Macabre is up to Frontiers' perfection.

Frontiers exceeds in every way possible. Through the directing, writing, character development, music and editing. Whilst Macabre is pretty solid on the writing front some of the directing is slightly off-key, although most of the time it's pretty impressive with the Mo Brothers being sure not to film the action too shaky or too close so we can't see what the hell is going on! Macabre is quite choppy on the editing front and some of the lighting is also quite amateurish. However, I don't want to dwell too much on the negatives because this is actually a really good film and one which I enjoyed very much.

Whilst Macabre may not be the horror masterpiece the trailer would suggest it still serves up some hardcore horror thrills that makes a good substitute for French horror. It's way better than most American stuff to come out and is never boring. In fact, I would've liked to have seen even more! The ending is creepy and the supernatural ideas also add an original and quite disturbing quality to the film. My only real gripe is that I bought the UK version and it might just be my DVD but it seemed incredibly blotchy to me, making the blacks appear more greyish-blue than black, which is a shame with the film spending the majority of the time in the dark! It kind of spoilt the experience for me. Hopefully the film will get a well deserved wider release with a better transfer. Highly recommend to all you horror lovers!