Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

PodBill Just what I expected

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

punishmentpark If nothing else, 'Macabro' offers some terrific sightseeing in the beautiful old city of New Orleans, I always like that. Then there is a little nudity to spice things up. The acting is mostly very mediocre (though the blind man is played rather well by Stanko Molnar), and when the lady starts throwing tantrums... it didn't really work for me. The story offers mostly suspense that reminded me a little of Hitchcock, with at times an obvious 'Psycho'-like soundtrack, and with some nice gore as a bonus.All in all, it is certainly a watchable effort by Lamberto Bava, who had some (a lot of?) help from Pupi Avati with the writing. Unfortunately, there are a couple of posters (covers) out there that pretty give away the twist of the head in the freezer. The very end is a sort of lame extra twist, even if it was funny, too. And it's supposed to be based on facts - well, macabre is the right word for it!A good 6 out of 10 seems in order.

Red-Barracuda 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.

trashgang Is it me or is there really something wrong with the Italian flicks. Just take a look at it, it's like most of those giallo's and other much acclaimed flicks. A kill in the beginning, then nothing happens and the last 15 minutes things get started. This here is the first flick from Lamberto Bava (not exactly, he did new scene's for (1974) Cani arrabbiati and the first flick he did was for television, (1979) La Venere d'Ille). Let's face it, it's made in 1980, we already had The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980)and they really were scary and things were happening all through the film. The so-called necro scene's, well, you just don't see anything, sometimes you see a head but then it's too late. The creepiest part is maybe the scene were a girl drowns her little brother. Bernice Stegers, not much know about her, gives the best she can, and goes nude most of the time. Really, when the fridge shows his secrets you already have seen too much of blah blah. Macabre? Not for me.

Tim Hayes 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.