Macabre (1980) Macabro (original title)

Director:

Lamberto Bava

Writers:

Lamberto Bava
Pupi Avati
(more)

Release Date:

17 April 1980 (Italy)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Prepare yourself for the Shock of a Lifetime!

Plot:

A middle-aged woman, traumatized from the death of her adulterous lover, moves into a room at a New Orleans boarding house where the blind landlord becomes suspicious to her activities of continuing her affair with her dead lover.

Plot Keywords:

Accident | Controversy | Divorce | Mental Illness | Disembodied Head

Cast

Bernice Stegers	...	Jane Baker
Stanko Molnar	...	Robert Duval
Veronica Zinny	...	Lucy Baker
Roberto Posse	...	Fred Kellerman
Ferdinando Orlandi	...	Mr. Wells
Fernando Pannullo	...	Leslie Baker
Elisa Kadigia Bove	...	Mrs. Duval
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carolyn De Fonseca	...	Jane Baker (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
Lamberto Bava

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Antonio Avati
Pupi Avati
Lamberto Bava
Roberto Gandus

Produced by
Antonio Avati	....	producer
Gianni Minervini	....	producer

Original Music by
Ubaldo Continiello

Cinematography by
Franco Delli Colli

Film Editing by
Piera Gabutti

Set Decoration by
Katia Dottori

Costume Design by
Katia Dottori

Makeup Department
Carboni	....	wig maker
Alfonso Cioffi	....	makeup artist
Rocchetti	....	wig maker

Production Management
Giovanni Amadei	....	production manager (as Gianni Amadei)
Alessandro Vivarelli	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Rossana Rocchi	....	assistant director (as Rosanna Rocchi Bava)

Sound Department
Luciano Anzellotti	....	sound effects
Massimo Anzellotti	....	sound effects
John Gayford	....	director of dialogue recording: English version
Gianni Zampagni	....	sound

Special Effects by
Antonio Corridori	....	special effects
Angelo Mattei	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Giovanni Canfarelli Modica	....	assistant camera
Roberto Cuccoli	....	generator operator
Michele Pellegrini	....	chief electrician
Mario Pizzi	....	grip
Antonio Schiavo Lena	....	camera operator (as Antonio Schiavo-Lena)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gian Franco Basile	....	costume designer: Bernice Stegers

Editorial Department
Carlo D'Alessandro	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Dario Amadei	....	assistant: L. Bava
Fiorella Bologna	....	cashier
Raffaello Forti	....	administrator
Francesco Gesualdi	....	production assistant
Rosa Mercurio	....	production secretary

Production Companies

• A.M.A. Film

Distributors

• Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) (1983) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Lightning Video (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Les Films Jacques Leitienne (1981) (France) (theatrical)
• Arrow Film Distributors (2009) (UK) (DVD) (as Arrow Video)
• Art House Video (????) (Greece) (VHS)
• Blue Underground (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• CMV Laservision (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (video)
• Filmex (1980s) (Finland) (VHS) (uncut)
• Future Film (2011) (Finland) (DVD)
• Go Video (1982) (UK) (VHS)
• Sunrise Tapes (198?) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Vestron Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Video Search of Miami (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Videotime (1980s) (Finland) (VHS) (cut)

Other Companies

• Rocchetti e Carboni  wigs

Also Known As:

"Macabro" - Italy (original title)

Runtime:

89 min | Greece:85 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1986) | Finland:K-18 (re-rating) | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Italy:VM14 | Australia:M | France:-16 | Norway:(Banned) (original rating) | Norway:16 (video rating) | UK:18 | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

A.M.A. Film

Trivia:

The film was inspired by an actual crime that occurred in New Orleans, which is why the film was shot there.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Horror Business (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Jane in Love

Restrained...oddly enough

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.