Macabre-1980

Director Lamberto Bava

Starring Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar

Scott’s Review #1,165

Reviewed July 26, 2021

Grade: A-

With a pedigree for horror, director Lamberto Bava has a lot to live up to.

He is the son of Mario Bava, deemed the “Master of Italian Horror” for creepies like Black Sunday (1960) and Black Sabbath (1963), and worked alongside Dario Argento, another famous Italian horror director.

Lamberto certainly learned his craft exceptionally well, and he created a terrific, gruesome horror film, Macabre (1980), that lives up to its name.

I won’t spoil the fun by revealing too much, but the experience of watching his film will stay with the audience long after it ends.

Nightmares anyone?

Let’s say that one won’t look at one’s libido and the human head in the same way ever again.

Sadly, Bava wouldn’t remain in the feature film industry for very long. After assisting Argento with his films throughout the 1980s, Bava would move to the television industry. But what a lasting impression he makes with Macabre.

The horrific tale mixes murder, madness, and perverse (or perverted) passion. A lonely New Orleans wife and mother, Jane Baker, played by Bernice Stegers, carries on a torrid affair without her family’s knowledge.

After sneaking around and arousing her daughter Lucy’s (Veronica Zinny) suspicions, a violent accident leaves her lover, Fred, dead.

Devastated, Jane does a stint in a mental institution. Supposedly cured, she leaves determined to pursue her forbidden desires and ends up moving in with her dead lover’s blind brother, Robert (Stanko Molnar).

But what secret or ghastly desires does she hold dear to her heart, and what oddity resides in her refrigerator?

You’re probably wondering why a director with Italian roots as strong as Bava’s would choose the cajun and gumbo-infused city of New Orleans- I was too.

Why not choose a more gothic locale like Rome? The setting is even more jarring, given the film’s British and Italian actors.

Rumor has it the events in the film took place in New Orleans, but I’m not sure I buy that.

Be that as it may, something about this weird setting is unsettling. But somehow it works, given the story’s bizarre nature. It’s so out there that, for some reason, it affects.

The running time is just right at one hour and thirty minutes, and with such a low budget, any longer might have felt distracting or made the pace too much.

Stegers is fabulous in the central role. She is controlled yet neurotic, madly in love with her beau, on the brink of instability. She is also a strong, feminist woman as she brazenly carries on with her affair unconcerned with the consequences, though death isn’t exactly what she expects.

Regardless, Stegers does a fine job and carries the action throughout.

It’s tough to tell at the time whether Bava is going for a mid-level camp or a complete over-the-top bizarro. He knows the tricks of the trade and avoids the popular slasher effects, such as gore and blood. This is to his credit.

Instead, he floods Macabre with juicy atmospheric elements and a perfect mood. This mood grows creepier as the plot develops, reaching a crescendo at the conclusion, when Richard, Lucy, Jane, and even the deceased Fred adjourn for a savory dinner, where the events will never be seen coming.

Macabre (1980) is a forgotten masterpiece that I highly recommend for fans of Italian-style horror and those seeking a ghoulish, titillating journey into the macabre.

How appropriate.