Macabre
Vinegar Syndrome
Original Release Date April 17th, 1980 (Italy)
Written by Pupi Avati, Roberto Gandus, Lamberto Bava, Antonio Avati
Directed by Lamberto Bava
Starring Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny, Roberto Posse, Fernando Pannullo
Language Italian (English dub or subtitles available)
Purchase yours HERE from Vinegar Syndrome
by "Doc" Hunter Bush
MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast
Overview:
Macabre (a.k.a. Macabro, a.k.a. Frozen Terror) comes to Blu-ray and 4K from Vinegar Syndrome. Directed by giallo vet Lamberto Bava, the film takes a subtler approach focusing on slow burn discomfort over gaudy shock tactics. Vinegar Syndrome's release of Macabre looks and sounds very impressive, and includes a selection of bonus features that is nearly overstuffed.
The Movie Itself: 4 stars
Macabre is a tough picture to discuss without inadvertently spoiling anything. There are a lot of interlocking parts and details that set the movie apart from similar thrillers, and describing the film in broad strokes runs the risk of coming off as a shopping list of character traits and events. Needless to say, it's best to go into Macabre knowing as little as possible.
A year after a fatal incident killed her lover and a tragedy shattered her family, Jane Baker (Bernice Stegers) returns to the hotel where she had staged her affair. Robert (Stanko Molnar), the blind owner of the hotel, begins to suspect that she has somehow rekindled the affair, as impossible as that might be. Meanwhile, Jane's estranged young daughter Lucy (Veronica Zinny) begins coming around, searching for somewhere to put her long-simmering anger at her mother, and taking it out on seemingly anyone she encounters.
Macabre isn't a traditional giallo (if it even really counts at all; that's for more scholarly discussions of form and function), but it's no less lurid, no less sensual, and no less deranged. It's just quieter. There is no unseen killer wielding a straight razor, no terrorized woman in the night, there's just a damaged woman trying to put some semblance of her life back together and a shy young man teetering on the edge of an obsession with her.
Bernice Stegers is fantastic; beautiful and intense, while also conveying that the events of a year ago have left her more than a little broken. The unfortunately named Stanko Molnar is incredibly handsome and does an excellent job selling Robert's blindness. The film has very few characters, and largely relies on the tension built between these two, who don't spend very much of the film in the same room. With Macabre (a.k.a. Macabro in the original Italian, and Frozen Terror for the American release) Director / writer Lamberto Bava, along with writers Roberto Gandus, and Pupi and Antonio Avati, have created a truly surprising film, filled with slow burn tension and a continual creeping dread that's hard to look away from.
The Packaging: 3.5 stars
First things first: There is a more elaborate version with a slipcase and a 40-page book of some variety, but I didn't receive that version, so I can't speak to that. That aside, the packaging here is good, as is usual from Vinegar Syndrome. The case is the typical black 4K variety with a reversible cover. One side is an image of Jane kissing the corpse of her dead lover, painted by frequent VS collaborator Wes Benscoter, who rules. The reverse is a reproduction of the original poster featuring a fallen porcelain doll with a crack in its head, bleeding.
Here's my issue: one of the covers, not to mention a lot of the promotional imagery in general, just gives the movie away. I know you want to have something attention-grabbing on the cover, and this film being a little less bombastic than others is, I suppose, short on big shock moments, but still. Perhaps the argument could be made that most people already know the reveal, but I can tell you that I did not. For as long as I'd heard of this flick, that part had eluded me. I'm not, like, furious about it, but it is a little disappointing.
The Video: 3.5 stars
This is a very respectable video transfer. I think this looks as good as anyone could reasonably expect. It's a little soft, and slightly gauzy at times, but I never thought it was robbing me of appreciating any of the finer details. And those are a huge part of the film. Set and shot in New Orleans, with the hotel being set in some elaborately decorated house, almost everything in the background is interesting to look at. The furniture, the wallpaper, everything is incredibly ornate. My favorite thing is the wrought iron railing in the house, which is embellished with plant designs.
The colors and shadows are all wonderfully realized. There is a lot of darkness in the hotel, partially because, as a blind man, Robert doesn't require the lights on to move around, leading to some really excellently blocked sequences. But, the important detail is that the shadows have real depth; some are deep and dark as pitch, while others are subtle grey washes over things, adding mood.
The Audio: 3.5 stars
The majority of the score is pretty minimal, but when it does rear its head so to speak, it's a really interesting combination of bass guitar, harmonica, and synths with a sort of xylophone tone. There's also a piece of music that I kept thinking sounded like perfect, era appropriate "date night" music for a film or tv series, but it was NEVER used in anything approaching a "date" scene. This is something I've noticed in a lot of, especially but not exclusively Italian films, where I will realize that the piece of music in the scene feels obviously tailored for a completely different type of scene. I don't mind it, I enjoy the anachronism of it all. "Fun" fact: composer Ubaldo Continiello also composed the music for a flick I love, the fantastically named Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976).
The dialogue here has obviously been dubbed. This was a pretty common practice in Italian cinema of the era, and some people just do not like it. It's a bit of artifice that, for some, draws attention to the fact that you are watching a movie, and prevents them from achieving full immersion. Obviously, I am not one of them, but it's something you kind of never stop noticing, you just learn to love it, I guess. For the most part, the dub matching is extremely good, with the only issue being some of Lucy's dialogue. But the mix and balance of all audio elements were excellent.
The Supplements: 4 stars
This is a loaded release. First of all, this offers all three versions of the film: Macabro (Italian), Macabre (International), and Frozen Terror (American), all of which are available with either the Italian or English audio. As of this writing, I've only extensively checked out the International version / Macabre, but I'm really curious about what differences there will be between the others. On top of that, the bonus features are fantastic: interviews with multiple folks who are directly responsible for the film, and knowledgeable experts all shed light on the production from its inception to it's cultural impact over time.
While all of them were filled with interesting tidbits, perhaps my favorite one is that co-writer Pupi Avati admitted to setting the film in New Orleans because he was a fan of the music scene there and wanted an excuse to go. It's essentially the same scheme Adam Sandler does with his original movies, and y'know what: more power to them both.
- Commentary with film historians Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth, & Nathaniel Thompson
- Bloody Beginning, interview with director/co-writer Lamberto Bava (17:19) (HD)
- New Orleans Gothic, interview with co-writer Pupi Avati (9:55) (HD)
- A Head for Producing, interview with co-writer / co-producer Antonion Avati (18:18) (HD)
- Macabre Love, an appreciation by Macabre expert Mark Thompson Ashworth (22:55) (HD)
- Jazzing for a Murder, film music historian Pierpaolo De Sanctis on the work of composer Ubaldo Continiello (22:19) (HD)
- Q&A with Lamberto Bava (58:47) (SD)
- Danse Macabre, archival interview with co-writer Roberto Gandus (24:02) (SD)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2:17) (SD)
- International Theatrical Trailer (2:17) (SD)
Final Thoughts: Recommended
I love giallo films, even though I'm not exceptionally knowledgeable about them, and as far as I'm concerned, Macabre counts (reminder: I have no idea whether this is even a remotely controversial statement). I always love the outliers of any genre. I like when a horror movie is funny without necessarily being a horror-comedy; I love when an entry in a franchise stretches what is possible within that established universe. To that end, I really enjoyed how surprised I was by this picture.
Macabre feels like a dime store novel: lean, mean, and floridly detailed. There are shocks, but you'll see them coming from a ways off and dread them the entire time. When the assorted chickens of the Baker family come home to roost, you'll be pleasantly shocked to see how bluntly and directly everything wraps up. After spending most of the movie creeping through the shadows, it feels revelatory when everything is drawn out into the light. The experience is a lot of nasty fun and this release is most definitely Recommended.
