| Macabre | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Lamberto Bava |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Franco Delli Colli [1] |
| Edited by | Piera Gabutti [1] |
| Music by | Ubaldo Continiello [1] |
Production company | A.M.A. Film [1] |
| Distributed by | Medusa Distribuzione |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes [1] |
| Country | Italy [1] |
| Box office | ₤560 million |
Macabre (Italian : Macabro) is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava.
Jane Baker, a woman living in New Orleans, is carrying on an affair with a man, Fred, behind her husband's and children's backs. Her adolescent daughter, Lucy, suspects her mother is cheating on her father. Jane carries on trysts with Fred in an apartment she rents in a boarding house owned by Mrs. Duval, whose blind adult son Robert also lives in the building. While Jane is meeting with Fred for sex, Lucy drowns her little brother Michael in the bathtub and stages it as an accident. When Jane receives news of the death over the phone, Fred offers to drive her home, but they crash into a guardrail en route. Fred is brutally killed in the accident, but Jane survives.
A year later, Jane separates from her husband Leslie and moves in permanently at the Duvals' boardinghouse, which is managed by Robert alone, as his mother has died in the intervening year. On her first night in the boardinghouse, Robert offers to have Jane over for dinner, but she politely declines. Instead, she makes a shrine for Fred in the apartment, and tends to an unseen item locked in the refrigerator freezer box. That night, Robert hears the sound of Jane moaning with pleasure, as though masturbating. The next morning, Leslie and Lucy arrive to visit Jane, but their reunion is awkward. Later, Jane agrees to have a drink with Robert, whom she allows into her apartment while in the bathtub without hesitation, as he is blind. Jane flirts with Robert coyly, asking him if he has a girlfriend. Later, Robert hears Jane moaning and repeatedly calling Fred's name.
Suspicious, Robert has a friend obtain newspaper articles regarding the car accident that killed Fred, and he learns that Jane has been in a psychiatric hospital for the last year. That afternoon, Lucy arrives at the boardinghouse and convinces Robert to allow her into her mother's apartment, where she leaves a photo of her deceased brother on a table. Jane realizes Lucy has been in the apartment upon returning, and chastises Robert for letting her in. Jane briefly attempts to seduce Robert, but pulls away when he responds. Shortly after, he hears Jane greeting "Fred" in the hallway.
On the anniversary of her son Michael's death, Jane spends the day in town and visits his grave. Robert attempts to investigate Jane's apartment, and finds the locked freezer box in the kitchen. He also finds pillows laid out under Jane's bedspread in the shape of a person. His investigation is interrupted when Lucy arrives to visit her mother, but Robert turns her away. Later that night, Robert enters Jane's apartment after hearing loud moaning. He walks past the bedroom, where Jane is masturbating with Fred's severed head. After Jane finishes masturbating, she returns the severed head to the freezer box, where it is discovered by Robert.
Lucy overhears a phone call between her father and Robert, who attempts to inform Leslie of what he has discovered, but Leslie dismisses it as fantasy. Lucy confronts Robert, demanding to know the truth. Lucy breaks into the apartment and discovers Fred's severed head, but proceeds to tell Robert that he has imagined it. That weekend, Robert reluctantly joins Jane and Lucy for dinner; Lucy has prepared soup for them. During the meal, Jane finds an earlobe in her soup, and horrifiedly realizes Lucy has used flesh from Fred's severed head in the recipe. Lucy follows Jane to the bathroom, and goads before admitting to having murdered Michael. Jane strangles Lucy to death before submerging her in the bathtub. Robert, who attempts to run to Lucy's defense, is pushed down the stairs by Jane, and falls unconscious.
Jane retrieves Fred's severed head from the freezer and begins passionately kissing it. Robert awakens and attempts to phone police, but finds Jane has cut the phone cord. Robert enters Jane's apartment and she violently attacks him, but he kills her by smashing her face into the hot oven. He screams for Lucy, and crawls over Jane's bed, where suddenly Fred's severed head attacks him, biting his neck.
In mid-1979, Lamberto Bava was summoned to the offices of Pupi Avati with an offer. [2] Bava had previously worked as an assistant director on several productions including those of his father Mario Bava, Joe D'Amato, Ruggero Deodato, and had just finished working with Dario Argento on Inferno . [2] Bava entered the office expecting to be asked to be Avati's assistant on his new film, and found that he was being offered to the direct a film based on a clipping from an American newspaper about a woman who kept her husband's severed head in a refrigerator. [2] The Avatis, Bava and Roberto Gandus spent the next few weeks working on a draft, with Bava left briefly to do some re-shoots for Inferno in the United States. [2] While overseas, Bava learned that Medusa Distribuzione had greenlit the project which led to Bava to start shooting the film in November. [2]
Filming lasted for four weeks. [2] The film was shot in Gardone Riviera and Crespi d'Adda and on location in New Orleans. [1]
Macabre was distributed theatrically in Italy by Medusa Distribuzione on April 17, 1980. [3] [1] The film grossed a total of 560 million Italian lire on its domestic release in Italy. [1] The film was also shown at the Sitges Film Festival in October 1980 in Spain. [1] It was released in the United States as The Frozen Terror on 28 October 1983. [1]
Macabre was released twice on DVD in the United States. The first time was in 2001 by Anchor Bay Entertainment. [4] The second DVD release came from Blue Underground in 2007. [5]
Kim Newman ( Monthly Film Bulletin ) stated that "with only two films, however, Lamberto Bava has established a distinct personality within the genre" noting that Lamberto Bava "favours story-lines as tight and inner-directed as his neurotic characters." [6] Newman noted that Macabre "will probably be remembered as the definitive severed-head-in-the-fridge film." [6]
Mario Bava was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter. His low-budget genre films, known for their distinctive visual flair and stylish technical ingenuity, feature recurring themes and imagery concerning the conflict between illusion and reality, as well as the destructive capacity of human nature. Widely regarded as a pioneer of Italian genre cinema and one of the most influential auteurs of the horror film genre, he is popularly referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the Macabre".
Giuseppe Avati, better known as Pupi Avati, is an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known to horror film fans for his two giallo masterpieces, The House with Laughing Windows (1976) and Zeder (1983).
George Eastman is an Italian actor and screenwriter well known for his frequent collaborations with notorious director Joe D'Amato. He is most famous for his role as the insane, cannibalistic serial killer Klaus Wortmann in the gory 1980 horror film Antropophagus. He also played a similar role in its 1981 follow-up, Absurd. Both films were directed by D'Amato and written by Eastman.
Lamberto Bava is an Italian film director. Born in Rome, Bava began working as an assistant director for his director father Mario Bava. Lamberto co-directed the 1979 television film La Venere d'Ille with his father and in 1980 directed his first solo feature film Macabre.
Blood and Black Lace is a 1964 giallo film directed by Mario Bava and starring Eva Bartok and Cameron Mitchell. The story concerns the brutal murders of a Roman fashion house's models, committed by a masked killer in a desperate attempt to obtain a scandal-revealing diary.
Black Sunday is a 1960 Italian gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava in his official directorial debut, and starring Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici and Enrico Oliveri. Loosely based on Nikolai Gogol's short story "Viy", the film takes place in Moldavia and tells the story of a witch who is put to death by her brother, only to return two centuries later to seek revenge upon his descendants.
I Vampiri is a 1957 Italian horror film directed by Riccardo Freda and completed by the film's cinematographer, Mario Bava. It stars Gianna Maria Canale, Carlo D'Angelo and Dario Michaelis. The film is about a series of murders on young women who are found with their blood drained. The newspapers report on a killer known as the Vampire, which prompts young journalist Pierre Lantin to research the crimes. Lantin investigates the mysterious Du Grand family who lives in a castle occupied by Gisele Du Grand who is in love with Lantin. She lives with her aunt, who hides her face in a veil, as well as the scientist Julian Du Grand, who is trying to find the secret to eternal youth.
Demons 2 is a 1986 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava and produced by Dario Argento. It is a sequel to Bava's 1985 film Demons and stars David Knight, Nancy Brilli, Coralina Cataldi Tassoni, as well as Argento's youngest daughter, Asia Argento, in her debut film performance at age 10. In the film, demons invade the real world through a television broadcast, turning the residents of an apartment building into bloodthirsty monsters.
The House with Laughing Windows is a 1976 Italian giallo-horror film co-written and directed by Pupi Avati. The film was shot in Lido degli Scacchi in the Ferrara province of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy.
Until Death is a 1988 Italian made-for-TV horror film directed by Lamberto Bava.
A Blade in the Dark is a 1983 Italian giallo film directed by Lamberto Bava. Originally planned for television, the film was made as a nearly two hour piece split into four parts each of which would end with a murder scene. After the film was found to be too gruesome for Italian television censors, it was re-edited into a feature film.
The House of Clocks is an Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. In it, a wealthy older couple is murdered during a robbery by three young perpetrators. The event results in a supernatural reversal of time, symbolized by the fast, counter-clockwise movement of hands on the house's many clocks. Eventually, this leads to the resurrection of the older couple, who subsequently seek to terrorize the three burglars.
Lisa and the Devil is a 1974 horror film directed by Mario Bava. The film was first released in Spain as El diablo se lleva a los muertos and stars Elke Sommer as a young tourist named Lisa who loses her way in Toledo and spends the night at a villa belonging to a mysterious countess and her son.
Shock is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Mario Bava and starring Daria Nicolodi, John Steiner, and David Colin, Jr. Its plot focuses on a woman who moves into the home she shared with her deceased former husband, where she finds herself tormented by supernatural occurrences. It was Bava's last theatrical feature before he died of a heart attack in 1980.
Kill, Baby, Kill is a 1966 Italian gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava and starring Giacomo Rossi Stuart and Erika Blanc. Written by Bava, Romano Migliorini, and Roberto Natale, the film focuses on a small Carpathian village in the early 1900s that is being terrorized by the ghost of a murderous young girl.
Delirium is a 1987 Italian giallo film directed by Lamberto Bava and starring Serena Grandi, David Brandon, George Eastman and Daria Nicolodi. The film is about Gioia, the owner of the adult Pussycat magazine. She is harassed by a killer who sends her photos of her co-workers with her own erotic photography in the background.
The Sweet House of Horrors is an Italian made-for-television horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. The film is about a young couple who are brutally murdered by a burglar and return as spirits to watch over their two young orphaned children, to seek revenge against their murderer, and try to prevent their house from being demolished.
Rabid Dogs is an Italian film directed by Mario Bava, starring Riccardo Cucciolla, Don Backy, Lea Lander, Maurice Poli, George Eastman and Erika Dario. Taking place largely in real time, the film follows a trio of payroll robbers who kidnap a young woman and force a man with a sick child to be their getaway driver, all while trying to avoid being caught by the police.
One on Top of the Other, also known as Perversion Story, is a 1969 giallo film directed by Lucio Fulci. Written by Fulci and Roberto Gianviti, the film stars Jean Sorel, Marisa Mell, Elsa Martinelli, Alberto de Mendoza and John Ireland. The first giallo directed by Fulci, its plot concerns George Dumurrier (Sorel), an unscrupulous San Franciscan doctor who is suspected of orchestrating the death of his asthmatic wife Susan (Mell) as part of an insurance scam, despite her seeming reemergence as Monica Weston, a high-class stripper.
The Young, the Evil and the Savage, also known as Schoolgirl Killer, is a 1968 Italian giallo film directed by Antonio Margheriti.