Macabre

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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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!

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.

The first film to be released under the Singapore label Gorylah Pictures set up by Eric Khoo and Mike Wiluan, Darah (or Macabre as it is known internationally) is a one of a kind slasher film from this part of the region, written and directed by the Indonesian duo Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto, collectively known as The Mo Brothers, who actually had a short film version of this made back in 2007 which was simply called Dara, also starring actress Shareefa Daanish as the Mother of all Evil.

As a horror film, it did take its time to set up the premise, rather than to jump headlong into flat out boo-tactics. For about 20 minutes, we're introduced to a group of 4 guys and 2 girls, and their relationship with one another, some by blood, some estranged. They meet in a pub in Bandung and are supposed to go on a road trip to Jakarta, until they are stopped by the beautiful yet mysterious Maya (Imelda Therinne), and in playing the Good Samaritan, decided to drop her off along the way.

So there you have it, a nice handful r of people, some of whom you'll grow to dislike, a road trip, a mysterious lady, and a house in the middle of nowhere. Soon we're introduced to the cool and emotionless Dara (Daanish), and the entourage will soon find themselves in a horrific situation where survival is of the highest order. As I mentioned, it does take a while to build up the premise, and you can feel the calm before the storm with the incessant ticking clock in the audio background, as if counting down the moments where first blood gets drawn.

The eager beaver in me though found it a tad excruciating in the wait, especially when you don't really get to learn much of Dara and her family's background apart from some rapid shots. The directors went straight for the action, and Kimo in an interactive session after the film, had revealed that more of the background of Dara, could be explained in the next film, which they hadn't decided whether to set it forward, or backward in time.

Alas the rating of the film at M18, meant that the editing was a tad choppy, where enough scenes were jarring just because they had lingered on far too longer than the comfort zone afforded. This has a slight impact on the narrative flow, as one minute you see the death blow being applied, and the next you're faced with a jump cut that shows the few seconds after. Thick, crimson blood was also the order of the day from set design to makeup, where everyone gets drenched thoroughly in coagulating plasma no thanks to the insanely violent bloodbath. Genre fans should take delight in watching how

Character-wise, the creators went for the rather contemporary female-superiority style, where guys are made to look really bumbling, and sheer tenacity comes from the females instead, such as Ladya (Julie Estelle) who demonstrates extreme spunk and quick thinking to ensure she comes out of each ordeal as best as she can. You're likely to cheer her on as she takes on the villains, and her solo battle with Dara is a highlight in the film. Dara herself too gives you the creeps especially since Shareefa Daanish put in a measured performance balancing composure, and that mad frenzy baying for blood. It's no wonder she was handed the Best Actress award at the genre Puchon International Film Festival not too long ago.

It's not all blood and gore however, as there were ample time devoted to some slight comedy, especially when the cops come knocking. Serving two purposes in providing light entertainment before the going gets heavy, and also to add to the body count, this episode was perhaps the most fun of the lot, and became a catalyst for the bloodbath to follow in a relatively quickened pace, with dismemberment, slashes, stabs, and strangulation being the norm, with The Mo Brothers keeping things tight.

Darah should appeal to the patient horror fan who can sit through a build up and celebrate when the madness start to descend on the poor victims. It's a little unfortunate though that the real horror was the way this rated version was edited.

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!