Baiser macabre

The 80's was Italian director Lamberto Bava's decade. Throughout those years he knocked out a series of entertaining horror movies and was one of Italy's best in that period. Macabre was his directorial debut. And it's a pretty well-handled film overall. While it is quite over-the-top, it is much less so than most of Bava's subsequent outings. This one even qualifies as a psychological thriller as well as horror. It tells the tale of a disturbed woman who moves into a boarding house, it seems she has a dark secret though.

Similar to a few early 80's horror films from his contemporary Lucio Fulci, this one is set in America; New Orleans to be precise. In truth, the setting could be absolutely anywhere are this is a claustrophobic tale that is set almost exclusively within the confines of a large old house. Presumably the U.S. location was used as a means of passing this off as an American product which was seen as an easier sell commercially. Whatever the case, this is a pretty good effort from Bava and takes a decidedly different route than most of his Italian peers. It's let down a little by some flaky dialogue and acting but this is really par for the course with these flicks to be honest and doesn't really get that much in the way.

Despite hardly being exactly subtle, it does rely on atmosphere and suspense more than visceral thrills. The idea of the blind landlord trying to figure out just what exactly is happening in his new tenant's room works well in that the film relies on sounds to convey strange goings on. It takes a while until the big reveal actually happens but I am guessing not many people will be at all surprised. But that doesn't detract from the basic macabre idea being a good one. While it was also interesting that the little girl was also psychotic; killer kids are always a winner. Finally, it has to be said that the ending reminded me of the one in the Spanish slasher Pieces in that it was meaningless, completely unnecessary, ridiculous and kind of funny.

For a debut film, "Macabre" is really impressive! After so much work with his father and with Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava really nailed down the horror genre with his first effort. The ending is so wicked. I'll never forget it! I also like the setting. In my opinion, it's hard to beat New Orleans for a horror movie setting. The city somehow just gives off the scary vibes. The acting is above par for Italian horror films of the early 80's, but it's still a little cheesy.

That having been said, "Macabre" moves excruciatingly slow in parts. I'm talking three minutes for one of the characters to open a door. It's tough to stay focused. But, if you can, the ending is pretty rad.

I've seen this for sale with another Lamberto Bava film, "A Blade in the Dark." I'd recommend getting it that way. I think it's actually cheaper than buying it solo like I did.

7 out of 10, kids.

Italian horror director Lamberto Bava's directorial debut, "Macabre" (sometimes called "Frozen Terror") is a tale of passionate obsession, murder, madness and some blind guy who fixes saxophones. A mother has a secret love, and the blind man slowly but surely stumbles upon it... which takes a bit longer when you're blind. And when he finds out who it is, things get a little creepy. Okay, a lot creepy.

This film has received some heavy criticism from horror historians Travis Crawford and Jim Harper, and for my review I'd like to address their concerns, as I believe they've made some crucial points.

Crawford is mostly praising in his words, calling this film "a humid hothouse hybrid of Tennessee Williams and Edgar Allan Poe", but questions Bava's ability to create his own work. He points to Bava's own words, giving credit to Pupi Avati, a more accomplished Italian director who co-wrote this film. Crawford says Avati "had a significant degree of input into the overall creation of the film", "shaped the stylistic approach" and even "dictated" the "restrained, subtle technique". With Avati also being the one to find the newspaper article on which the story is based, it seems as though this should be credited as his work, with Bava as more of an assistant or apprentice.

Crawford notes that it would be "cynical" to point out that Bava's best work came under the guidance of an accomplished director, or even to say that his other notable film -- the "Demons" series -- were supervised by Dario Argento. But cynical or not, and as much credit as Bava deserves, it's a fair statement to say that his collaborations are much stronger than his solo career. (With regards to "Demons", the style is certainly not like Argento's other work, so how much credit he deserves is debatable.) Harper is also critical. While highlighting this as "a complex and increasingly bizarre tale", he pins the style as reminiscent of Mario Bava, Lamberto's father. Like Crawford, he also notes that Bava's films went downhill after "Demons 2" (1986), when Bava went solo. Where I agree most with Harper is his labeling of the "unfortunate" ending as the "only truly sour note". I can't reveal what the ending is, but it doesn't fit the film at all and takes what would otherwise be a great film and lowers it to slightly better than average. A shame... perhaps it would have been best to cut the last few minutes entirely.

If you're looking for a mystery that paces itself and has a few very gory moments, "Macabre" is a worthy choice. While not on par with Argento's work, or Fulci's, it's a solid effort from Lamberto Bava and any Italian horror fan will like it. Others may be turned off by the slow pace, poor dubbing and inferior sound and picture quality (a staple of Italian film for some reason). Why won't more Italian films come with subtitles? Enjoyment of this film is a matter of taste. But the rich depth of these characters is a welcome change of pace from the splatter scene.

Macabre a.k.a. Frozen Terror is the debut feature from Lamberto Bava, the son of famed horror director Mario Bava. Fans may recognize the name from his later collaborations with Dario Argento, Demons and Demons 2. Unlike those two films, which relish in their over the top grue and violence at hyper kinetic speed, Macabre is a slow build film that tends to lean more towards the slow build school of creating suspense. The story is simple and actually based around a true story from New Orleans in the 70s. A woman is in a car accident with her adulterous lover and the lover is decapitated. One year later, the woman is released from the mental asylum and returns to the apartment where her and her lover would rendezvous. Not a lot happens until the final third of the film, but it goes by quick enough and there is the air of dread that Bava creates quite effectively. When the reveal is made, its not much of a shock but the film is handled well enough that that fact can be overlooked. What truly brings the film down however, is some horrid dialogue and some equally atrocious acting by the young girl who plays the woman's daughter. All in all, considering the subject of the film, it is a quite restrained effort and a notable debut.

I love eccentric Italian horror. Not much thought to restraint or good taste, or even simple logic, just go-for-the -jugular, style over substance that after countless years of bland Western movies is very endearing. The maestros of these forgotten pics (the talented or really ballsy ones anyway) offered visionary set pieces that really stood out from the original mainstream flicks they imitated. The first Italian director I discovered was Lucio Fulci, stumbling on a fuzzy, out-of-print videotape of GATES OF HELL which I took away to digest (in the children's ward of my local hospital no less...).

Having read of the insane moments of the director's oeuvre, I eagerly anticipated the grisly highlights (and for anyone whose seen it, they'll have no doubt I wasn't disappointed by the vomitorium on display).I will always treasure Lucio's Gothic cheese operas as the crimson cream of this crop, but that doesn't rule out the other directors who tried their hand concocting bizarre, gaudy delights. I mean, where else can you find such a cavalier attitude towards the wholesome subjects of multiple child murder, necrophilia and cannibalism?

Lamberto Bava, Son of Mario, helms this quirky descent into madness, and it works nicely if somewhat restrained in the excess department. Perhaps that makes it ideal for beginners not wishing to jettison their stomachs over something stronger like GATES and it's brethren. After the double tragedy of the year previous, Jane, divorced mother of now one rents a room in decaying manor owned by a blind handyman. However, all is not as it seems (when is it ever) and before he knows it, the hapless young man is pulled into a perverse family melodrama.

The pace of MACABRE is slow and the plot lacks thrust, but as a more free-flowing attempt at establishing a certain mood instead of a tightly plotted cliff hanger, it mostly works. The lack of goings-on makes it that much more impactive when something nasty does rear its ugly head. In fact, its pretty easy to see how this could've started out as an elaborate sick joke.The opening 10 minutes have an eerie mundane-ness like the calm before a storm. It's somewhat overlong at an hour an a half and some tighter editing could have reduced the padding. There seems to be an awful lot of the characters simply plodding along with their daily routines. Plus the dubbing is eye-gougingly irritating, sadly par for course for a lot of these foreign efforts. Noticeable as well is the setting of New Orleans, which American or not, still feels like Italian soil. Not quite a bad thing, it's interesting to see how a director interprets an alien land. The movie relies too heavily on its surprise ending and I could see that definitely diminishing the enjoyment upon repeat viewings, but overall Bava's debut is a respectable, little grand-guignol flick in the tradition of his legendary daddy, barring the out-of-left-field shock ending which, in light of the very worldly conflict of the preceding 90 minutes, lacks any real bite.