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.

Well, i love horror movie. I think the latest Chucky 2013 stupid. Sorry for my bad English but my review is the true color of my honesty.

Had my chances to watch this movie last night as i never heard about this movie until someone mention this movie in a forum, saying my country banned this movie. I watch with high expectation and God, its crazy and scary and i wont say fun but this movie definitely not for pregnant woman, for one who cant accept the reality of horror and for one with faint heart or heart disease.

Its not a ghost story but related to black magic, cannibalism and such. From a country such as Malaysia and knowing that one such killer ever existed in my country (a movie named Dukun tells the true horror about the incident), Darah is crazy and believable.

God. Horror fan should add this movie in their top list.

"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.

After seeing the movie "V/H/S/2" I loved the episode called "Safe Haven". Reading up about the two directors I happened to see these previous horror films called "Dara" and "Macabre". Apparently Dara is a short and I can't seem to get my hands on it at the moment. But I got to see the blue ray version of "Macabre" and man was I blown away! I may seem to over blow it but if you find yourself watching it and saying it's OK but not all that" just keep watching because the horror and the action just keep amping up up up until you think there can be no more and then there is still more! It's one of the goriest movies I have seen but it's done so well and used effectively to shock and disturb/scare you that it really works. Not just gore for gore sake and not like some of the zombie type genre that show so much it gets mundane or even comical. This stuff is intense!!! Best horror movie I have seen in years. It's not in English and you'll have to read the subtitles but it's well worth it for those who have a problem with that. The only thing that bothers me about it is I am spoiled and wan't more. Now I'll go through that phase where I have to watch 20 more junk horror flicks before I find another diamond like this. Hope not. Great movie. 9 out of 10 for me!

There were a few things that kept me from putting "Macabre" (2009) on my high priority list. This movie is a feature length spin-off of the "Darah" short film that was originally part of the horror anthology entitled "Takut: Faces of Fear" (2008). I wasn't particularly fond of the short film. It had some good violence but the protagonists irritated me a bit too much (especially their moronic decision-making). Obviously, I put off watching the spin-off for months. Another factor is that I'm still timid with regards to Indonesian horror films due to the scarce number of online reviews and ratings that make the selection process analogous to walking in a mine field. There's really no way to predict whether you're in for an instant classic like "The Forbidden Door" (2009), a cool flick like "Kuntilanak" (2006), or a total turd bomb like "Hantu Perawan Jeruk Purut" (2008).

I finally ended up watching "Macabre" tonight and I must say that it was more entertaining than I thought it would be. Within the opening five minutes I already felt at ease once I saw the lovely Julie Estelle grace the screen. Even when she's in a bad movie like "Kuntilanak 2" (2007) she still makes it somewhat watchable, so her unexpected presence automatically raises my rating of this film by 1 or 2 points. Now, fans of Julie's ghost movies are in for a shocking experience when watching "Macabre" because her role here demands a much more physical, emotional performance. She pulls it off very well and this is likely the best performance of her young career.

The plot is basic and involves a group of friends who help a young woman by giving her a ride to her home. Things get nasty when her family turns out to be homicidal maniacs. In this sense "Macabre" follows a similar route taken by films such as "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) and "House of 1000 Corpses" (2003). There's nothing new here, but in this genre it's the execution that counts and in this film there's a healthy dose of gritty, nasty, bloody violence and gore to keep most horror fans satisfied. It doesn't reach the glorious blood overload of "Inside" (2007) (one of my top 10 favorite horror films of the decade), but it holds its own. After the brief setup this is a non-stop mix of suspense and bloodshed. A few of the death scenes are certainly memorable and will help "Macabre" to carve out it's own little identity in the genre.

One major problem that I have with loony, murderous family movies is obnoxious antagonists. Just because you're a ruthless, sick family unit doesn't mean that you have to yap your mouths all the time and act like juvenile lunatics. (One of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan of Rob Zombie's movies.) I much prefer the quiet, intelligent, menacing killers who calculate and go about their business with a twisted calmness. You know, the seemingly normal folk that are serving you tea and biscuits one minute and then slicing you in half with a chainsaw the next minute. In "Macabre" that's exactly what they are, and in some ways those quieter qualities help to muffle the bad decision-making that frequently creeps its head in movies such as this. What I mean by this is that the intelligent antagonists quickly handicap the protagonists, which limits their options and creates an entirely realistic scenario. The filmmakers loosen the reigns later on though and eventually the sense of realism recedes until you're left with some unrealistic elements. There are a few bone-headed decisions, but not enough to significantly detract from the positives. In addition, some of these characters take an incredible amount of brutality without kicking the bucket. On the positive side this provides for some long-lasting showdowns as well as some sweet death scenes.

"Macabre" is definitely worth seeking out, and would make a great Indonesian horror triple feature with "The Forbidden Door" (2009) and "Kuntilanak" (2006). Actually, you can add "The Raid" (2011) and "The Raid 2" (2014) as well to mix up the evening with some fantastic martial arts action.